I & I - 2011, Page 36

36 I&I
It used to be only grandmothers who knitted, or so it seemed,
as if knitting was some sort of activity you were only permit-
ted to do when you reached a certain age and status. Young
women thought that if you did not get a woolen sweater from
your mother, then you would buy it in a store, of course.
To be sure, many young women belonged to knitting clubs,
but that generally meant that you would meet with your friends
to gossip. Knitting was not strictly forbidden, but it was certainly
not necessary.
All this changed in 2008. When debts went up and pay came
down, the monthly paycheck had to be stretched a bit. Why not
start knitting for your baby or even yourself?
Suddenly it was rediscovered that knitting can be fun. And
everybody joined in as co-authors of a new knitwear pattern
book Prjónaperlur—prjónad frá grasrótinni (“Knitwear Pearls—
knitting from the grassroots”), Erla Sigurlaug Sigurdardóttir and
Halldóra Skarphédinsdóttir, discovered. “There is such growth in
knitting in Iceland and we were curious to find out what people
were knitting” says Erla. “So we contacted knitters who we knew
weren’t following conventional patterns but rather knitting and
crocheting from their own heads.”
Valdís Vífilsdóttir at Tinna, which publishes knitting maga-
zines, said that roughly ten percent of the Icelandic population
are knitters, mostly women, and the practice is growing in popu-
larity. Approximately 4,000 people subscribe to their magazines
and Tinna’s online knitting club has around 12,000 members.
An export opportunity
The knitting revolution has also been expanding in an un-
expected way. There is significant interest among foreign
knitting enthusiasts in luxury trips to Iceland where they
can knit in an Icelandic environment. Knitting Iceland is a
new company offering such customized trips to the country,
among other projects. “It is a completely new target group
in tourism in Iceland. Organizing knitting trips to the country
have never been done before to my knowledge,” says Rag-
nheidur Eiríksdóttir, who runs Knitting Iceland with knitwear
designer Hélène Magnusson.
“With this idea we were included in a project called Export
Increase and Economic Growth at the Trade Council of Ice-
land, and there we have worked on organizing and market-
ing such trips since October 2009,” Eiríksdóttir added.
knitting is cooL
The crisis in Iceland has changed attitudes towards old values.
Iceland is now caught by knitting fever.