Books
Books with Franklin: Great Danes
I’ve spent the past many months living in the valley of the shadow of unreviewed books. As an excuse I can only plead: quenelles and cookies.
Traditional Danish Sweaters: 200 Stars and Other Classic Motifs from Historic Sweaters (Trafalgar Square) is the English edition of a long-awaited new work by legendary Danish designer and teacher Vivian Høxbro, perhaps best known outside Scandinavia for her books Domino Knitting and Shadow Knitting.
Traditional Danish Sweaters is a departure from both of these. This is an evident labor of love, illuminating a chapter of knitting history that even hardcore knitting history nerds (myself included) may not have encountered before.
The title refers to a quite specific garment, often called a “star sweater” in modern Danish (and the book’s original title); but originally called “bindtrøie” (knitted sweaters) or “nattrøie” (night sweaters). The author refers to them throughout almost exclusively as “night sweaters.”
What’s a Night Sweater?
The night sweater has its roots in fine, knitted silk undershirts worn in Northern Europe by the well-to-do as far back as the sixteenth century. By the nineteenth century, undershirts knit from wool had become a fundamental part of everyday (and night) dress for working-class women across Denmark, as well as in parts of Norway and Sweden. They were placed over a linen shift and beneath a woven bodice, and worn (the name aside) both day and night. By the end of the nineteenth century, they had almost disappeared as Danish women abandoned regional dress in favor of more fashionable, international styles.
If they were just a form of knitted underwear–and even the Danish gave up on them–is there enough to the night sweater to justify an entire book?
Heck ja.
Høxbro’s book is the perfect example of how much can be learned from even a humble, everyday article of clothing if you take the time to look closely. The nearly ninety historic examples she studied (plus odd sleeves and other bits) show a fascinating range of approaches to construction, design, finishing, and decoration.
Decoration?
Eskilstrup.
Yes, decoration. Even though very little of the night sweater was seen during the day, they were richly covered in knit/purl textures, traveling stitches, knitted braids, sideways stitches, and even embroidery and silk ribbon trim.
The stitch dictionary within the book offers pages and pages of variations on the characteristic eight-pointed star that gives the sweater its modern Danish name, along with pages and pages of lattices to contain them and texture panels to surround them.
The construction details are just as fascinating to anyone who takes an interest in how knitted garments are built. Knitted sleeves on woven fabric bodies. Necklines reinforced and finished with woven ribbons; clever reinforced vents at the waist; interesting treatments of shoulders and sleeves.
I spend most days up to my grafted armpits in knitting patterns, yet I found myself sputtering with surprise all the way through.
A Rich History
As to the story behind the night sweater–where it came from, who made and wore it, and what ultimately happened to it–Høxbro modestly says she is not a historian, and then lays out a lively history superior to just about any I’ve read in any knitting book published in the past decade. She doesn’t dive quite so deep as Susan Crawford in her monumental The Vintage Shetland Project, but that is not her goal.
Annie’s Sweater.
Instead, she offers enough to give even the casual reader an intelligent account of what is known (or can be inferred) about the world of the night sweater, from the sources of the wool to the creation of the yarn, from the tools used (a whole lotta dpns) to the dyeing process. There are sections on methods for casting on, on holding the working yarn, and on regional variations across Denmark.
All of these are nested comfortably in well-documented research.
In learning about the sweaters, you learn a lot about the knitters who made them, and the wider world of textiles in nineteenth-century Denmark. There are photos throughout of surviving examples, supported by line drawings of details that are otherwise difficult to discern in heavily worn fabric. Sometimes the details Høxbro notices are incredibly touching–like the very wonky night sweater whose malformed neckline and jittery decoration strongly suggest it was made by someone who possibly hated knitting–or who at least was not very good at it.
As it’s a rare knitter who only wants to look at handsome knitting without trying it, the book offers support in the form of five traditional patterns with contemporary sizing; four new patterns for night sweaters inspired by the originals; and patterns for a top and a stole that include signature moves from the night sweater playbook. If you want to design your own from scratch, there are instructions for that, too.
This is a must for any knitting history collection, and a treat for any curious knitter. With this book and thirty years of professional knitting behind her, Vivian Høxbro could slip into a well-deserved retirement with her legacy secure. But I really hope she won’t.
Books Mentioned in This Review
Traditional Danish Sweaters: 200 Stars and Other Classic Motifs from Historic Sweaters by Vivian Høxbro. Trafalgar Square (2019).
Domino Knitting by Vivian Høxbro (Interweave Press, 2002)
Shadow Knitting by Vivian Høxbro (Interweave Press, 2004)
The Vintage Shetland Project by Susan Crawford (Susan Crawford Vintage).
I missed you, Franklin! Ever since delving into the Panopticon back in Ohio, every word you have gifted us with never ceases to bring me great joy! Thank you for sharing your beautiful self!!!
A must-read, must-get; thank you for this excellent review.
The phrase “knitting history collection” has just entered my consciousness. Thank you Franklin!
Can not wait to get this book in my hands!
Oh, thank you! What fun!
Excellent article as always! Since you are such a book expert….I may be teaching a knitting/fiber arts class in our homeschool co-op next year and I’m looking for a resource to use as a guide to what I teach. We have a planning meeting next week so I’ll find out for sure what ages, probably 10+. I’d like to incorporate a bit of history of knitting, or maybe we ‘knit around the world’, or maybe we try lots of different fiber crafts. I can’t decide! Any suggestions? The class will be 2 hours and meet 14 times Sept-May.
Prayers for MDK and Nashville today.
Yes, thinking about everyone in the Nashville area!
Yes, thinking about and praying for Nashville and especially you and yours, Ann.
Hoping that all MDKers are safe and sound, and that recovery is fast in Nashville. Wishing you all a soft blanket for comfort.
As always, thank you for a well written, illuminating review.
Your writing is such a pleasure to read. Thank you for another delightful review of a fascinating book and author. I purchased The Vintage Shetland Project because of you and with no regrets (what a read!), so I know I will appreciate this comprehensive work by Vivian Hoxbro, too. It sounds amazing. Thank you!
Thanks for the heads-up! I’ve just suggested the purchase of this book at my local public library.
It’s so incredible thinking about how hard the lives of the women who made those might sweaters were. And yet they found time and imagination to create beautiful garments that for the most part would never be seen! We need art & beauty even in the most mundane of objects.
So true, this is what Melanie Falick talks about so beautifully in her book Making a Life—the human impulse to make things with our hands, and to make them beautiful. My grandma, born in 1896, was a Dane. She was a no-nonsense woman, plain and simple out of necessity, but her crimped pie crusts and sun-dried bedsheets were things of beauty.
I love this book and have incorporated three of the stitch patterns so far, on mitten cuffs and in a scarf possibly warm enough for the arctic. I got to meet Ms. Hoxbro when she was working on the original edition; I enjoyed her enthusiasm for the topic and treated myself when the book came out in English. Next up: adding one or more of the motifs to a sweater or summer top.
I bought this book (Danish version) when I was visiting my family in Denmark last fall. It is SO fascinating. I have my eye on the Frenderup cardigan for a project in the near future. As a Dane, it was amazing to learn about the detailed history of these “trøjer”.
I was on the waiting list for this book and bought it as soon as it came out, and it didn’t disappoint at all. It’s a gorgeous book filled with so many beautiful motifs that can be applied to other projects, and the included patterns are all interesting. I’ve already bought yarn to make the cover tee shirt/vest. If you like texture patterns, you will love it.
Like others here, I was saddened to see the damage in Tennessee and hope everyone there stayed safe.
Thank you for the wonderful review. I’ve been debating obtaining this book. This decides it.
Love the green Annie’s sweater. Is there a pattern? Traditional Danish sweaters seems to be unavailable at this time.