I haven't posted for awhile because I was very busy preparing for my class I taught at Camp Stitches last week. It was held at Asilomar, a lovely venue, right on the ocean near Monterey, California. It was a relief to be in 65 plus degrees weather with no humidity after Maryland's upper 80s and 90s with crushing humidity.
The
Lusekofte is a sweater from the 1800s that was worn by the men and boys in the Setesdal Valley in south central Norway. It has never lost its popularity and now just about everyone wears them in Norway.
One interesting part of this sweater is that fabric was applied to the cuffs and front panel, and the collar if the sweater had one. These were embroidered--sometimes elaborately, sometimes very simply.
Annemor Sunbø stayed at my house a few times and taught me the "antikk" embroidery. You can check out her book on the
Lusekofter (plural for
Lusekofte)
There is a lot of sewing in this class and I brought my little Featherweight sewing machine along. (You can see it on the back table.) The knitting part is fairly straight-forward. The hand embroidery and the assembly of the sweater are what take so long.
I taught the Norwegian Setesdal
Lusekofte for three days. Everyone worked so hard and I am so proud of my class and the sweet sweaters everyone made. Lambchops was especially pleased with her new sweater!
It was a wonderful experience, being with a smaller group of students and staying with them for 3 days. I really prefer that so I can get to know the knitters. I am hoping I can go back to Asilomar next year to teach. It will be held September 11-15.
