On Friday, April 12, a very special weaving symposium was held under the auspices of Her Royal Majesty Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Samlede Tråder [Unifying Threads]. I knew several Norwegian weavers who were thrilled to get invitations, and witnessed a lot of other excitement through social media posts. Although I meant to do it earlier, two articles about the event were just published in the Norwegian Textile Letter.

Crown Princess Mette Marit’s Remarks at the “Unifying Threads” Weaving Symposium

LONG LIVE WEAVING — Thoughts on Crown Princess Mette Marit’s Weaving Symposium. Jon Fredrik Skauge wrote an heartfelt essay about his experience at the symposium. I suggest following Jon Fredrik Skauge on Facebook to learn about his amazing linen projects, all the way from planting seeds through spinning and weaving. He wove a long linen tablecloth and added sprang at one end, in a pattern from a tablecloth made by his great-great grandmother.

I was looking through coverage of Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s symposium and found a long article that appeared in the Norwegian handcraft magazine, Husflid. The article is posted on their website, “Kronprinsesse Mette-Marit: – Jeg gjorde selvfølgelig alt feil” [Crown Princess Mette-Marit – Of Course I did Everything Wrong.”

Near the bottom of the article was a section called “Mette-Marit on Inspiration.” And surprisingly, there was a shout-out to our Scandinavian Weavers Study Group!

What an honor it is to know that the work we do with traditional Norwegian weaving techniques spreads back across the ocean.