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Playable heritage game

Nordic Colourwork Knitting

Also known as Fair Isle · Selbu · Lopapeysa

In stranded colourwork knitting two yarns are carried along each round, and a small chart of stars, snowflakes and narrow bands is repeated until it circles the shoulders as a yoke. Knitters in Shetland, Norway and Iceland each developed their own favourite motifs and colour pairings.

Play the previewAbout this tradition
Nordic Colourwork Knitting: photograph by Lisa Dusseault from USA
Photo: Lisa Dusseault from USA, CC BY 2.0, source on Wikimedia Commons
Nordic Colourwork Knitting: the game in attract modeLive previewPlay

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How to play

  1. Choose a yarn colour and a stitch shape from the tray beside the yoke.
  2. Tap a stitch on the ring: the same stitch is worked in every matching place around the yoke.
  3. Copy the small yoke shown above, then press Check.
Rules at a glance
  • The yoke repeats three times around the ring, and each repeat mirrors itself, as a charted pattern does.
  • A stitch counts only when its shape and its yarn colour both match the target.
  • Three stars need a nearly perfect copy; you can undo or clear as often as you like.

About the tradition

Colourwork knitting is kept alive in the Shetland Islands of the United Kingdom, in Norway around Selbu, and across Iceland, where wide patterned yokes are knitted from local wool. Patterns are passed on as charts and from one knitter to the next.

Origins

A living tradition passed from person to person; it is not tied to a single dated origin. It belongs to the cultural world of Celtic and Atlantic Europe.

Credits

Sources

Get the app

Nordic Colourwork Knitting is one of 17 textile crafts in the Textile Crafts of the World app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Submitted to the App Store and Google Play; in review. Store links appear here the day it goes live. One app, many traditions, no account needed.

See all 17 textile crafts in the app

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