Traditional Norwegian Knitting

The title of this post could be Non-traditional Norwegian knitting.
I work out most of my patterns based on my body shape. I don't suit dropped shoulders (who does?!) and most traditional Norwegian jumpers and cardigans (genser & kofter) have dropped shoulder. Like this...

Dropped shoulder cardigans and jumpers. Clockwise from top left:
Gudbrandsdalskofta, Østerdalskoften, Fanagenser, Setesdalgenser.

All that fabric in the sleeves and under the arms make for a very bulky garment. These were originally worn as jackets, so it wasn't an issue, but today, if you want to wear a jacket or coat over one of these, it had better be a big jacket or coat... or maybe an 80's, batwing throwback.

My knits have either raglan sleeves or round yokes. I also knit on larger needles, because (like most of us) my hands prefer a certain gauge of needle. My preference is between 4mm and 7mm. 4.5mm and 5mm being optimal. I can knit a ribbed border with 3mm/3.5mm, but a whole jumper, or even a hat, for that matter, is a strain.

The larger needles also means that the pattern is larger, which I really like.

My design: Fanagenser with raglan sleeves.

My design: Setesdalgenser with round yoke.

I've made meticulous notes, by hand, of my versions of these classics, but they're almost written in code and I'm not sure they'll be any good to anyone else, but I'm going to share them here anyway. As I've said many times before, the main reason for sharing patterns on this blog is to preserve them for my own reference. I do occasionally make patterns available for others, which often means making a detailed and downloadable version. This is something I'd love to have time to do with all of my patterns, but single parenting, work and study are all-consuming, these days.

I hope to have time in the future to actually write out all of my patterns, but until then, here are my Fanagenser notes.

Btw, that nail varnish is Classy Nude Gel Lacquer by IsaDora.