So how long have you been knitting?
Oh.. since I was about 5 years old, maybe before.
Where did you learn to knit?
My grandmother taught me. They wanted to find something for me to do when I went over there.
Did you ever take any classes?
No. I mean, we took it in school, from 2nd grade up til I think about 7th grade in Norway. And on certain days they used to let us bring our knitting to class to work on while the teacher read.
Did most girls in your school knit?
Yeah..I mean we had to for class, but some liked it better than others. Some of us liked it a lot. I remember my friend used to get so mad at me when I got ahead of her. She used to make me stop and wait for her to catch up. Sometimes we would knit as we walked to school.
When did you make your first sweater?
Oh, I don’t know. It wasn’t too long after I started knitting.
Was it a gift for someone?
No (smiling guiltily) I made it for myself. But I always knit Christmas presents and birthday presents for everybody every year.
When did you move to the United States? You kept knitting?
Um..it was nineteen…fifty..seven. We moved to North Dakota. A local paper there took pictures of me with my sweaters…And I made doll sweaters too – won a contest for that, and the award was signed by Eleanor Roosevelt. She was on some committee at that time….I was in a seventeen magazine contest too.
Ever have any knitting injuries?
What? No (laughs). I don’t think anyone ever got hurt. But I have a funny story, though. My husband and I used to drive back to North Dakota to visit his folks and I got so bored driving in the dark one time that I took out my knitting - my husband was just talking on his ham radio. Anyways, so the needles made this noise – click click – while I knit and my husband says, “SHHHsh..do you hear that? I think there’s something wrong with the car.” So I stopped knitting to listen but I didn’t hear anything and he said, “Never mind..I guess it stopped.” So I started knitting again – click click, click click – and he says, “Shh..there it is again!” Anyways, I think we went on like this for an hour before he finally turned on the light and saw that I was knitting (laughs).He thought there was something wrong with the motor.
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