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The touring exhibition Knitting Along the Viking Trail is described below in text and images. For the prospective exhibitor, there is a separate page with technical information. At the bottom of the page there is information about its present location.
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| Knitting Along the Viking Trail has had tremendous success in terms of the number of visitors. Perhaps this is due to the sheer beauty of the exhibition, but the historic content expands its appeal to a
non-knitting public. Alongside the sweaters, pillows, mittens and socks, there is a display of historic facts and artifacts, and a systematic, pattern based analysis of Viking Age objects. The photo is from the
Gothenburg City Museum exhibition (fall of 1999). |
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 | There is no historic evidence to support that knitting
was known to the Vikings, and the garments in no way pretend to be Viking age in design. Quite the contrary,
"modern and timeless" would be a better description. Instead, the ornamental heritage of the Vikings, probably the most distinctly Scandinavian design that has ever existed, is brought to new life in a new context. It is still remarkably modern after a thousand years. |
| The life-size wooden mannequins, proudly showing their lovely clothing, contribute to the impression that the exhibition can really "populate" a room. In the foreground of this photo, from
Sigtuna Museum (December 1997 - January 1998), you may also see an example of the most typical design element of the Viking era, besides entrelac: dragons, snakes and other animals, entangled in themselves and each other. |
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 | It is exciting to discover the exact same type of pattern on objects,
large and small, from very different parts the Viking world, and it took a knitting expert to perform the analysis. The objects on the sign stem from Sweden, Russia, Iceland and Norway. The exhibition displays
superb craftsmanship from a thousand years ago as well as today. |
Frequently, adaptations to the specific exhibition site are made. In
Sigtuna,
a newly found bone with an exceptionally long runic inscription resulted in the display in the photo: Parts of the runic text, knitted into a cap and mittens. Yes, the new technique allows you to knit the entire runic alphabet! The bone itself was exhibited in another part of the same museum. In
Uppsala, an ornamented glass bowl was recreated upside down as a cap.
Another example, from
Lödöse, can be found in the Knitty Gritty section. |
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 | The flexibility of the exhibition allows for dramatic presentations
in a wide range of very different rooms. In
Museum Gustavianum in Uppsala (December 1998 - January 1999), the sense of drama was enhanced by restrictions in the use of spotlights. Here, an unusual element of suspense became part of the experience in the dark corners of the museum. |
An American adaptation of the Knitting Along the Viking Trail exhibit was shown at the
American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota, February 12 to May 25, 2003. There are many more photos from the exhibit and events in the Knitty Gritty section.
The Ager House i Eau Claire, Wisconsin, hosted the exhibit August 27 to September 26, 2004. Text & photos here.
In 2005, the exhibit returned across the Atlantic Ocean for a tour of Northern Sweden, to continue to Denmark in the fall of 2006.
Back in the USA in 2009, where it was shown at The
Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle, Washington, and at
The Vesterheim Museum in Decorah, Iowa. |
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Present location
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The exhibition is presently stored in the USA, and we're hoping for at least one
more museum to host it before we have to ship it back to Sweden.
Should you be interested in showing it, please drop us an
email at info(a)ingenkonst.se. |
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