I am thrilled to share the results of the sweater competition I ran to celebrate the UN Year of the Woman Farmer. The winners were announced at an exhibition of the sweaters, with prizes awarded. 

I am so happy with the participation and the outcome. TWENTY-FOUR sweaters were sent in by 12 knitters, yes, some of them sent more than one. 🙂 and they were diverse and pretty and I want to knit them all. The design stories were thoughtful and showed real insight into the lives of farm women in Iceland.

Here are photos of the winning sweaters.

The first one is the winning sweater. It is designed and knitted by Helga Linnet. The name of the sweater is Í uppsveitum, which could be translated to; “At the highland farms” It has a cable in the front and buttons both on the collar and the sleeves. Buttoning down the collar gives an elegant look, where as having it buttoned up gives a warm and cosy feeling to the neck. The sleeves can be buttoned up to the elbow, which gives a possibilty to do “job that gets your hand dirty, like helping a sheep give birth.” as noted in the description that followed from the designer.

A beautiful, elegant and practical sweater.

Second and also chosen best by the audience is Þjóðblóm or National flower, designed and knitted by Bára Gunnarsdóttir. The flower on the sweater are to reflect the decorations on the Icelandic National Costume for Women as are the buttons on the shoulders to immitate the brooche that are worn with that same costume. The golden yarn is hand-dyed by the designer.

Third was Kartöflupeysan or “The Potato Sweater” designed and knitted by Valgerður Garðarsdóttir. As a description was a poem that tells us how strong and special the potato is, just as woman farmer is strong and special.

Last but not least, we have the sweater, designed and knitted by Ragnheiður Guðmundsdóttir, Vatn í leysingum, which can translate to “Thawing Waters” and imitates how water can flow in the spring when snow and ice is melting. This sweater was chosen to be the most original one by the judges group.

The judges were three women; Hildur Sveinsdóttir, Laufey Haraldsdóttir and Sigrún Helga Indriðadóttir. They were not to be envied by their task to find the winning sweaters, but I think they did a splendid job.

I want to congratulate all the designers for their gorgeous sweaters. Well done! And the winners for their extraordinary job. Also the judges and the firms that supported my contest. I am very grateful, and happy with the outcome and how everything turned out.