A few weeks ago I saw an appealing weaving on the Norwegian auction site, Finn.no. Rows of flowers were woven in rutevev (geometric square weave). The weaving was in Kristiansand, where I planned to visit my friend Annemor Sundbø shortly. I wasn’t quite sure it was Norwegian, though. I’ve seen floral patterns from other countries. Perhaps it was Polish, I thought.
Then the day before I left I was skimming the wonderful new book by Nanne Stølmacher, Vevd Fargeglede (see this review in the Norwegian Textile Letter), because I knew I was going to meet the author in Kristiansand. There was the pattern!
Since the piece for sale was in Kristiansand, I asked Annemor if she would follow up. Annemor found another rutevev with the same pattern for sale from the same dealer, only with a single lily. She thought that might be easier to me to take home, and that the yarn quality might be better in the smaller piece.
These days, buying something online can be sketchy. Should you give your real name? Should the seller give her real name? Is there a scam involved? It seemed like an adventure, driving out of Kristiansand on a long, narrow road in search of weaving. In the end, it was a delightful young woman who had the weavings for sale. And she was lucky that Annemor could tell her about the weavings she had for sale.
In addition, she was selling this lovely and unusual rutevev. Alas, my suitcase was full.
I bought the small piece. And that was just one small adventure in my first couple of days in Norway. More to come.