Vibeke Lind

Dover Press and I go way back. When I was a university student interested in crafts, Dover books were the only ones I could afford. So I am used to these books being what they are – reproductions of other work. Although Dover sometimes reproduces teaching books, more often Dover books are for reference only. Dover calligraphy books come to mind with their page after page of decorative script with almost no words.

"Knitting in the Nordic Tradition" is a book written by Ms Lind in 1981 and show more translated from the Danish by Annette Allen Jensen in 1984 and published by Lark Books. Dover has reproduced several Lark titles recently.

"Knitting in the Nordic Tradition" is an ethnographic work detailing Nordic knitting traditions. It is not intended to be a teaching book. Dover has reprinted it and slapped on an ugly cover.

Even given that this is only a reproduction, Dover could have done a better job. First with the cover, which does not really do justice to the book content. Then with the photos. The photos in the book are copies of older black and white ethnographic type photos and many of them are quite interesting. Others though, should have been cleaned up and sharpened because they are quite dark and hard to see.

Ms Lind uses an old fashioned hand-drawn pattern system that knitters might want to type out in the modern system.

I am not sure that the instructions for fulling will be understood today when we never do it, but fulled sweaters were vital parts of a fisherman's wardrobe.

This is one craft book where the electronic version might be more satisfying than the physical book because in my experience Dover narrow-bound books flip closed while you are trying to use them. The digital version will stay open where you want it.

Oh, and by the way, Louse coat is exactly the right translation. These coats had little white specks on them that looked like crawling lice. The name is still used today.

I received a review copy of "Knitting in the Nordic Tradition" by Vibeke Lind (Dover) through NetGalley.com. show less

I was thrilled when I saw this book show up on netgalley, and immediately downloaded and looked at it. Unfortunately I forgot about the review part, but the fault was mine, not the lovely book!

This book is fascinating for someone like me, who's a geek who loves math, history, and knitting, and anything that combines all three is pretty cool! If you are looking just for patterns, then the book may be a little dry for you, but I enjoyed it and love reading about the history of historical show more knitting traditions.

Unfortunately, I have to give the book 3 stars because the book is in black and white - there is no excuse for that in this day and age, especially in a knitting book! The charts can be read, but the three color charts are not easily read. The book is written ala Elizabeth Zimmermann - more pithy recipes then step by step directions, which I like but may be a turn off for some knitters, especially newer knitters. The book is definitely not recommended for newer knitters, but is highly recommended for someone who enjoys the history of knitting and is interested in doing a little bit of work with their knitting :)





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received a free copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for my honest review, and I was not paid for said review show less

This is one of my top ten favorite knitting books. Not a how-to-knit for beginners but a great book for knitters looking to expand their repertoire of design options.

The title perfectly expresses the contents of the book. The author introduces a number of knitting traditions from Nordic countries, including Iceland, Norway, and the Faroe Islands, and proceeds to show how varied designs today can be derived from the historical background, yet remain firmly within the tradition.