I have a few photos of myself as a little girl wearing a grey, striped wool cardigan and a matching knit hat. You could say this classic Norwegian knitting pattern has been part of my life for quite a while!
Yes, we actually do say that Norwegians are born with our skis on!
The Fana cardigan, or fanakofte in Norwegian, is one of Norway’s best-known traditional knitted garments. Its roots reach back to the 1800s, when a version of it was worn as everyday clothing for men in Fana, near Bergen on the west coast of Norway.
The traditional design combines strong horizontal bands, small contrasting stitches known as lice and graphic checkerboard details. It has been knitted in all kinds of colors and variations over the years, and it is still a popular pattern today. A proper Norwegian classic!
The yellow cardigan
A few years ago, I decided to knit a new Fana cardigan for myself. I chose yellow and white — a much brighter version than the grey one I wore as a child.
Unfortunately, I managed to get the gauge completely wrong.
And when I say wrong, I mean the finished cardigan was waaaay too large for me. I could have unraveled it and started again, but after all those hours of knitting, I really didn’t want to do that.
Instead, I gave it to my mormor.
Mormor is the Norwegian word for your maternal grandmother, and my mormor was SO happy with the cardigan. She wore it almost every day. What started as a knitting mistake ended up being one of her favorite things.
When she passed away, she was buried wearing it. ❤️
Making something that another person appreciates and uses that much feels incredibly meaningful. The cardigan wasn’t originally made for her, but it definitely found the right owner!Â
From knitted bands to quilt blocks
The Mormor quilt was designed specifically to capture the strong horizontal rhythm of the Fana cardigan.
I wanted to translate those traditional knitted bands into simple geometric quilt blocks. The alternating light and dark fabrics create clear stripes across the quilt, while the repeated smaller squares represent the lice (single contrasting stitches) and give it the sturdy, graphic look I love about old Norwegian knitwear.
And because of the yellow and white cardigan I knitted for my grandmother, Mormor felt like the obvious name for the pattern.
Quilts should be a little like wool cardigans
I think quilts should be a little like Norwegian wool cardigans: warm, practical classics that can be used again and again.
They should work on the sofa, at the cabin, in the car and wherever else you need an extra layer. They can carry a small piece of Norway with them and join you on new adventures.
That is very much what I want Scandiquilts patterns to be about. Beautiful things, yes — but also useful things that become part of everyday life.
Mormor is a sturdy, graphic quilt made for exactly that. ❤️
The Mormor quilt pattern is beginner-friendly, partly strip pieced and suitable for fat quarters and fat eighths. It includes seven sizes, from Table runner to King.