De Små: Knits for your little ones, made in Norway

A fter buying a knitting machine to make clothes for her children, mother of three Britt-Eva Knutsen found there was a lot of interest in the clothes and realised she could make a living out of her lifelong hobby.

“I don’t really remember how long I have been knitting for. I think I learned to knit when I was about six or seven years old,” Knutsen recalls. “It was my mum who taught me, so I got the hobby from her.”

In 2017, Knutsen started De Små (which translates as ‘the little ones’) — an online shop selling knitted clothes for children, hand-coloured yarn and a few knitting patterns, all made by Knutsen herself in her own home.

The hand-coloured yarn she sells, which is currently her main focus, is ordered in from the UK undyed and, for each hank of yarn sold, 10 NOK (about 1 GBP) is donated to a primary school in Kenya. The clothes are made of 100 per cent merino wool, and while her hope is to eventually make all the clothes from her own yarn, for now, she uses yarn bought in Norway for her own creations.

“Everything is handmade and I put a lot of love and effort into the things I make, which makes the products quite unique and special,” Knutsen says. She does not deny, however, that the business takes up a lot of time and energy. “Nothing comes for free — that’s what I tell myself when I get caught up in the everyday life of having three kids and work and everything,” she reflects. “But I love doing what I do and knitting is such great therapy. I think everyone who knits would agree with me.”

She adds: “All the stress is worth it when I hear all the positive feedback and I see that people really like my products. It’s such a great feeling.”

Web: desmaa.com

Instagram: @de_smaa