A Norwegian Kofte

Kofte is the name for a knitted jacket with stranded work. Originally it meant just a garment made from thick wool, both woven and knitted sweaters and jackets, but now it is mainly used for jackets.

Beautiful embroideries
Beautiful embroideries

I found a wikipedia page about it (in Norwegian…), but I add here some photos of the kofte my mother made for me more than 15 years ago. It is quite similar to a traditional pattern from a part of Norway called Setesdal, but I am not sure where she found this variant. It has the traditional “lice” pattern with single white stitches on the dark background.  KofteI am particularly fond of the embroideries she made; it makes it very special.

There is quite a huge interest in designing “novel” kofte patterns here in Norway at the moment. It has recently been a competition and several of the fabulous entries can be viewed in a  Facebook group! Test sleeve for kofteI did not enter but have had an idea for one a would like to make inspired by the yarn from a small Norwegian yarn company called Telespinn. They make high quality mohair yarn in wonderful colours! This is my first “sleeve test”, I want to have a white background and several colours in the pattern (but maybe only red “lice”). I am making some adjustments now and we’ll see how it goes! It might turn out to be too “noisy”, but it is worth a try!


Comments

15 responses to “A Norwegian Kofte”

  1. Your jacket is beautiful, truly a work of art and of love. I like your swatch, good for you to try out designing. Keep us posted on the progress.

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    1. Thank you! Next post might be about the progress….!

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  2. Your mama has mad skills. What an extraordinary jacket. Her embroidery is terrific.

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    1. Thank you! Will make sure she sees these post, she knits alot and gives most of it away! 🙂

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  3. The Kofte your mother made for you is stunning, she is so talented. I love the design you are working on!

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    1. Thank you; my Mother has been knitting her whole life and has a speed and technique which is hard to match 🙂

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  4. Beautiful kofte! The detail and embroidery are amazing! I really like your design too 😀

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    1. Thanks! My mother will be so flattered by all the comments on her work!

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  5. I love the Kofte your mother made you, and the ribbon trim and clasps are the perfect finishing touches. I’ve knitted a few Dale of Norway patterns, which was a lot of fun, and I love the motifs used in Norwegian stranded color work. I love the sample you are working on. The X pattern in the middle looks like butterflies.

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    1. Thanks! Dale has so much of the traditional patterns! And we’ll see if mine will be too “modern”…

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  6. Oh how beautiful !! Your jacket is just gorgeous…sweater envy going on.

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    1. I have a wonderful “knitting mum” – she knits stuff to all grandchildren but also to us grown-up kids 🙂

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  7. WOW! What a beautiful jacket! I love the embroidery which just pops on the black background.

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    1. This a type of embroidery that is very common in our traditional costumes (Bunad), and some regions use such a kofte with their Bunad!

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  8. […] details about the start of it before, you can find it here and about my more traditional one here. And a few more lessons learned when knitting without any pattern… such […]

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