Marit Emstad (1841–1929), also known as Marit Guldsetbrua Emstad, was a Norwegian knitter from Selbu credited for inventing Selbu's two-colored mittens, Selbuvotter, as a teenager.
Life.
Marit Guldseth was born in 1841 as the third child of Ola Nillsen and Anne Olsdatter Kjønes; Nillsen was from Andersgarden and Kjønes was from Oppigarden. Nillsen and Kjønes would later go on to have four more children. Marit Guldseth married Per Ingebriktsen Flønnesaut and became Marit Flønes; later in life she took the name "Emstad" from her married daughter, after moving in with her. She died in 1929.
Knitting.
As a teenager, sometime between 1854 and 1856, Marit Emstad was working as a servant or goat herder for farmer Jo Kjønes when somebody made him stranded wristwarmers and stockings with black and white patterning on the legs as a Christmas present. Kjønes asked Marit if she could make something "as pretty". Marit spent the next year practising with her sisters, and eventually made a pair of white mittens with a black, eight-pointed star, inspired by patterns she had seen on a bridal headcovering ("storbrurplagget").
The next year, which was between 1855 and 1857, she and her sister wore the mittens they had knitted to the church in Selbu, as was common practice during the time. The other women at church found the mittens attractive, and Marit and her sister taught the eight-pointed star to friends and neighbors. They began incorporating the design, later known as the "selburose", in other garments, and it became very popular in the municipality of Selbu. Knitted mittens with "selburoses" known as Selbuvott, became more popular than the region's traditional nålebinding mittens, to the point where they replaced them. They also enjoyed popularity as wedding gifts. Each women attending a wedding would make a pair of the mittens for display during the wedding. Afterwards, the bride would distribute the mittens amongst the men, giving the mittens knitted by married women to their husbands.
Commercial production of garments with selburoses, particularly mittens began in the 1890s, organized in Selbu by Marit Emstad. In 1897, she sold the first pair of stranded mittens to the Trondheim Husflid. During this time, she was becoming more widely known in Norway for her knitting and her role in the cottage industry. In 1912, at the age of 71, she took part in the "Home Arts Craft Exhibition for Trondhjem's Foundation" and was one of the three Selbu knitters awarded a cash prize for her knitting. Two years later, she participated in the 1914 Jubilee Exhibition in Oslo and won a certificate for her knitting, weaving, and yarn.
In 1926 or 1927, Peder Morset wrote an article for the Trondheim newspaper about the history of knitting in Selbu, including Marit Emstad's life and work. She died in 1929.
Legacy.
Marit Emstad posthumously became known as the "mother of two-color knitting" in Norway, and is widely credited as the first knitter to place selburoses on mittens, a style which became known as Selbuvott. The "Emstadrosa", the type of "selburose" she originated, was named after her family. On the 150th anniversary of the Selbu mitten's creation, the Selbu Husflid, Selbu Husflidsl, and Selbu Bydemuseum awarded a certificate named for Emstad.
Marit Emstad Medal.
The Marit Emstad medal was an silver medal given by the Selbu Husflidscentral between 1965 and 1971 to knitters "who had made especially valuable work for promoting good home crafts and small industry in Neadalen". The medal was designed by silversmith Eiliv Overvik, and it was given to a total of 26 people, including 17 women and three men from Selbu.