Every year about this time, I find myself pining for winter wear—or even just an accessory (a hat, a scarf) to freshen up my tired Minnesota winter uniform of black down coat and black fleece-lined boots. Rather than venturing to Macy’s or REI, I decided to do an Internet search for “Norwegian mittens” and happily came across helloyarn.com, a website that celebrates all things knitting.Hello Yarn is a knitting shop in Pennsylvania, and its owner, Adrian Bizilia, is a self-proclaimed knitting fanatic who raves about Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition, Terri Shea’s book about traditional Norwegian stranded mittens. Bizilia blogs, “It is filled with so many beautiful patterns. One pair, called NHM #10, are especially gorgeous and dainty. They are copied from a pair of mittens housed at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle, WA, that feature a lovely scroll on the back, as well as the date (1932) and someone’s initials.”
Now the amusing part: I’m not even a knitter. But my mother is, and I can’t wait to give her this book—and maybe some yarn so that she can get started right away on my first pair of Selbu mittens. As she and I discover the tradition of Norwegian Selbu knitting together, I might finally catch the knitting bug, too. My mom would be thrilled!Photo from http://www.visitselbu.no/eng/museer.html