Bjära Sweater
The origin of a Bjära comes from 1597 and a witch trial in Sweden. It’s supposed to be used for stealing milk. You create it and throw it over your shoulder and say “I have given you blood, the Devil may give you courage. You will upon this earth run for me, I will in hell burn for you”.
This is my dear Bjära sweater! It was my first sweater design in Nutiden yarn from Höner och Eir and I remember the summer day when I sat at my mothers house working, and I came up with the idea for this design, I swatched for it and then started the sweater later the same day. This sweater has quite a remarkable story though.
I first knitted the whole sweater and started grading the pattern for it, and posted a picture of the yoke design on social media. A few days later I got a DM from another knitwear designer that said that the design was to similar to hers and that she would rather not have me going on with the design. This was of course hard to read and take in. To be accused of plagiarism is not fun.
After a few days of discussing it with a few friends and collegues I decided to proceed with the design as I knew myself not to have stolen it. And it’s a LOT of work going into a design in the first place, and especially as a small business owner it’s not great to have to throw away that amount of work. And as I said, I knew I didn’t steal the design.
After this, the sweater went missing! So wierd. It was gone for about two weeks and I searched everywhere. I actually started on another sample in a different color, but didn’t love that one.
Then one day, I just leaned in a bit in the trunk of our car - and there it was! I could finish the pattern for it and get it out to testers!
Quite a dramatic story for a sweater design. And one that left me with a fear of accidentally copying others work, I struggled with that one for months actually.
The name comes from the old swedish folklore and it’s something that can be used to steal the neighbours milk. It could be a hare or a cat or even a ball of yarn.
The yarn is the lovely Nutiden from Höner och Eir and I just love the color and touch of this yarn. It’s extremely soft and fluffy and the technique really blooms in this kin dof yarn.
The sweater is worked top to bottom with a round yoke and the roositud technique is used to create arrows or flowers in three rows. The sleeves and body is knitted seperately and it’s cropped - of course! The pattern is not a hard one and the roositud technique is quite fun when you get the hang of it! It creates the most interesting and fun structure with horisontal patterns in the yoke.
Thank you for reading about my pattern Bjära and the dramatic story of its conception!
Photos: Susanne Sadri
Have a woolly day, and happy knitting!
Love, Anna.