One of the books I got with my birthday money is Squares, Stripes & Lice by Hanne Dale and Siri Angela Gamborg, and edited by Ann Kristin Ramstrom, The title refers to different patterns that appear in northern European knitting. The basis of this book is a history of the Norwegian knitting and textile industry, as exemplified by the Salhus Tricotagefabrik (Salhus Knitting Factory), which is now the Norwegian Knitting Industry Museum. So you get a lot of history with your knitting. If you like that sort of thing, you will like this book. The topics range through social, economic and fashion history – not super deeply, but with enough detail so you feel like you’ve learned a little something.
One really nice touch to the history is that they include little vignettes and quotes from longtime workers at the factory, which was in operation for 130 years and just closed in 1989. The writers made a conscious effort to honor the factory workers, which I appreciated, being the descendent of workers in various types of factories.
There are knitting pattern here, yes, and they are based on patterns taken from the factory’s extensive archive and reworked by current designers into more modern garments. Each stitch pattern is shown in several colorways and is worked into several different projects, such as pullovers, cardigans, gloves, cowls, wrist warmers, scarves, hats, dresses and skirts, and also pillow covers. Which is kind of nice – if you’d like to try out the patterns but don’t really want to get too involved – pillow cover. Perfect! Also, given the tendency to take one stitch pattern and use it for multiple designs, if you’ve ever wanted to knit matching sweaters, this book may be the thing that gets you there.
This books somewhat reminds me of another knitting book in a similar vein, The Ohio Knitting Mills Knitting Book.
There are differences between these books, of course. They are looking at very different styles of garments, from different times and places. Also the Ohio Knitting Mill book is much lighter in tone. There’s a bit of history there, but not as much as in Squares, Stripes & Lice. But essentially both are looking to take vintage/historical knitting patterns and update them for current use, at least as part of their mission, and both succeed very well.
Squares, Stripes & Lice has some interesting history, if you are into that. But you could very easily skip right past all of that, and just get to the knitting! There are quite a few patterns here, a majority of them very nice. I’ve got several of them marked and in the queue already 🙂
Read any good books (knitting or otherwise) lately? Do tell!
Quite A Yarn 
I like that the first book contains interviews with former mill workers. That preservation of history is so important. But, lice? 🙃
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That is one of the many great things about this book for sure! LOL – lice is a knitting pattern. It’s basically little diagonal lines of colorwork.
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I figured it was like little dots, but as a middle school secretary, my mind always goes to the dark side.
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Lol! Yep – little dots is exactly right!
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There’s my Twiggy dress I need to knit. But seriously, those books look great! I just checked several Clara Parkes books out of the library: Knitter’s Book of Wool, Knitlandia, and A Stash of One’s Own. I finally got a bedside lamp so I can spend some time reading before bed.
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Those are great books – well written and very thought provoking. Enjoy! I love A Stash of One’s Own – so many different viewpoints! And the Knitter’s Book of Wool is a really helpful resource
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Did you know that Clara Parkes is my BFF?
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She is pretty cool! Maybe she can be all of our BFF 🙂
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Can you introduce me? Actually I subscribe to her Daily Respite and on Fridays we chat, with a whole lot of other people too, of course. So I don’t think she knows who I am, and probably doesn’t remember me from that Knitters Review Retreat way back when, but I’m pretending she’s my BFF too.
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You went to a Knitters Review Retreat? I want to hear all about that.
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Yes!
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It was a long time ago, like 10-15 years? It was in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But I’ll tell you all about it on Sunday.
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Love the cover photo. But what about the lice? Is it a stitch pattern, or are there stories about lice in the book?
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It’s a stitch pattern. No actual lice bug stories in the book.
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lol!
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I love history and knitting mashups! This book looks very tempting.
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It is very interesting! And lots of nice patterns, too
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I adore the dress on the front of the Ohio knitting mill book, possibly 60’s style? Love it! X
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Definitely 60’s style! It is very cool – maybe incentive to start knitting?
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Hmm perhaps. Possibly in preparation for Comic con x
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There are a lot of fandom-based knit patterns out there!
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Thank you, I’ll have a look
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Knitting and history? That sounds wonderful. I’m currently reading No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting. It is really interesting, but I’m struggling with it at the moment because I have to think and I’m taking sleeping pills.
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That sounds really interesting! And also it sounds like it would be hard to read when you need to take sleeping pills. I will have to look for that!
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Oh that sounds like a really great book. It also sounds similar to the Knitting in America book I bought a while ago
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It is very interesting!
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The Squares, Stripes, and Lice book looks so interesting! And I don’t even consider myself a knitter. I love to read history and I am a descendent of factory workers too. And you get some patterns with the book as well – what a wonderful bonus. The “lice” were definitely not what I had in mind when I first read the title! 🙂
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It is very interesting – you might like it!
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Yay for fun reads! What bang for your bucks you got in these new books.
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Yes, they are great books! Very well worth getting.
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