After visiting an exhibition, many of us stop in the museum shop and buy a small memento, maybe a pen or a notebook, that may remind us of that trip and that visit. But the Maritime Museum in Helsingør (Elsinore), Denmark, has decided to reward visitors to its "Oceanista" exhibition, an event that explores the connection between fashion and the sea as we have seen in the previous post, with something very different that people from all over the world may enjoy in their own time – a pattern for a jumper.
Designer Laura Dalgaard came up with the sweater "Caught in the Knit" especially for this exhibition. The designer specialises in knitwear and has collaborated with various fashion brands and yarn suppliers, creating limited edition sweaters, knit kits and patterns.
The collage-like jumper for the "Oceanista" exhibition features a story that unfolds between the sky and the sea with the designer wondering what we may be able to catch with a net - Dalgaard suggests we may end up with some fish, buoys, ocean waste and a red lobster.
Yet the story is not just in the scene Dalgaard has created, but also in the stitches as the sweater is a tapestry of stitches and knitting techniques from the diverse world of seafaring; some are inside-out while others are reinterpreted.
Dalgaard hopes indeed that through the classic honeycomb, diamond, rope and hawser cable, the lice stich and the sailor bobble stitch, we may discover the artisanal skills of sailors and go on a journey as well through knitting styles and countries.
Dalgaard has included indeed in the jumper also a traditional pattern from Halland in Sweden, a classic motif from Iceland and the OXO pattern from the Fair Isle.
In this way the designer pays homage to the crafts of sailors and fishermen such as the "guernsey" sweaters (that incorporated patterns that varied from village to village and from family to family and that allowed to identify a fisherman in case of shipwreck and death) or the Portuguese camisolas poveiras with their traditional embroideries and maritime or naval symbols.
You can download Dalgaard's pattern here (Download FangetIGarnet_CaugthInTheKnit) and the diagram here (Download FangetiGarnet_CaughtintheKnit_diagram) and you can knit your very own "Caught in the Knit" jumper by altering the patterns, using leftover yarns from old sweaters (Dalgaard is into sustainability and always encourages to reuse yarns) or knitting in a word, a slogan or even your own name like Dalgaard did.
You can then share your work on social media with the hashtags #caughtintheknit #oceanista #maritimemuseumofdenmark and if you want to discover more patterns, do so on Laura Dalgaard's shop page where you will be able to buy also knits inspired by Netflix' series "Stranger Things" and "The Moomin" stories by Tove Jansson or her collaborations with conscious jewellery and accessory label Pura Utz that produces beaded pieces in collaboration with a team of women in Guatemala.
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