Norway's Lusekofte

Norway's arctic landscape and rich cultural heritage have had a deep impact not only on the country's quilting traditions, but on their knitwear too. Our Scandinavia expert Anna grew up in Sweden with family close to the Norwegian border and remembers her parents being the proud owners of Norway's most recognisable knit, the Lusekofte - or lice cardigan. 

Norsk bokmål: Lusekofte brukt i Bykle i Setesdal, Aust-Agder. Innkjøpt av Norsk Folkemuseum i 1911. Norwegian Museum of Cultural History

Lusekofte (pronounced luse-k-awfta) translates as 'lice cardigan' but despite the off-putting name, which comes from the tiny size of the single stitch motif, the pattern has become a national trademark. 

Dating from the 19th century, it was first created in the Setesdal valley in Southern Norway as part of traditional men's costume. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Lusekofte spread from the valley and into the cities where it was enthusiastically adopted as unisex outdoor clothing. Roll on a few decades more and winter sports stars began to be spotted in the distinctive pattern. Its fashionable status was sealed when the pop group A-Ha wore Lusekofte for an audience at the Royal Palace and the Crown Prince himself donned one to light the Olympic flame in 1994. Today there is scarcely a knitting factory in Norway that does not include Lusekofte in its collection.