Handknit ladies mittens in the Norwegian Selbu Tradition by CHS nurse, Phyllis Honychurch.  In 1856 a 16-year-old Norwegian girl, Marit Guldseth, created mittens using the eight-pointed rose design with black and white wool. Marit and her sisters wore the new mittens to church on Sunday. If her family had been less respected, the other women would have rejected her mittens as outlandish and we would never have heard of Selbu, Norway. Marit's mittens were so popular that everyone wanted a pair! In 1883, a Selbu shopkeeper travelled to Oslo and finding a market for handknit mittens, he decided to meet it. When times became hard around the turn of the century, women were able to supplement the family income by selling their knitting. I enjoy the history of the Selbu Mitten, but even more, I enjoy knitting and wearing these mittens. I hope you will too!