PetiteKnit – The Epitome of Danish Knitwear design
The Danish knitting superstar Mette Wendelboe Okkels turned a career in medicine into one in knitwear design, and now her PetiteKnit brand is known worldwide.
If you had to mention one major knitting trend for the last years, it would be Danish designers: names such as Anne Ventzel, Lærke Bagger, Fiber Tales, Spektakelstrik, Aegyoknit... But the brightest star of Denmark’s knitwear scene is, without a doubt, Mette Wendelboe Okkels — or PetiteKnit, as she is known.
The 35-year-old designer, who lives in Aarhus with her husband and their five children, has designed numerous highly popular patterns such as the No Frills Sweater, the Oslo Hat and the Sophie Scarf. She has a devoted fanbase and over one million Instagram followers.
In Mette’s opinion, the common denominator for the current Danish knitwear designers is that their patterns attract not just people who like knitting but also those who want to wear knitwear.
“Danish designers combine fashion with craft and, in general, design pieces that look like they could be found in a store. This doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with a sweater looking homemade, but certain details and techniques can give a piece of knitwear those finishing touches,” Mette reflects.
“I also think the Danish knitting tradition is less traditional than in other countries and therefore freer.”
This might make it harder to pinpoint exactly what a “Danish sweater” looks like — but it also makes the same sweater appealing to a large audience. That’s why a PetiteKnit design can be as popular in South Korea as in Denmark.
A CREATIVE SCIENTIST
Mette had a creative drive even as a child. Her grandmother taught her to knit, and Mette also sewed, crocheted and drew. But in the end, knitting turned out to be the craft that offered her the best combination of intriguing techniques and total immersion in the creative process.
Mette’s parents always supported her and made very few boundaries for her creativity.
“Both my parents were self-employed, and I grew up in a very social home with the feeling that I myself could decide how I wanted to spend my time. In many ways, this is also the childhood I am trying to create for my own children, giving them creative freedom while showing them that you can make a career out of something that you would probably do even if no one paid you for it.”
Despite her creative childhood, Mette ended up studying medicine. But even during that time, she often knitted at lectures, as she found it easier to concentrate with needles in her hands. Mette published her first pattern in 2016, and gradually, knitwear design took up more and more of her time. These days, she works as a full-time designer whose company offers a livelihood for seven employees.
Mette thinks that, in many ways, she still uses the same way of thinking as she did in medical school. For her, writing a knitting pattern is much like writing a scientific paper.
“In the scientific method, you must explain every step so that anyone else might repeat the experiment. This forces you to communicate those steps in a concise manner where nothing is left out, but nothing unnecessary is included. My knitting patterns follow the same principles.”
CALM & MODERN KNITS
Mette describes her designs as classic and slightly minimalistic, reflecting the overall aesthetics of Scandinavian fashion. She tries to be open to impressions, and her ideas can come from anywhere: a combination of colours, a shape, a technique — or something as unlikely as a baby’s bodystocking she found at a local secondhand shop, the inspiration for a pattern she is now working on.
Before, Mette used to knit mainly in stockinette stitch with one colour at a time, but lately, she has started to incorporate more textures and colourwork in her designs. Still, the final piece needs to look calm and modern. The colours and materials are essential, and Mette can spend a long time choosing them.
"The material has to fit the project: some projects require the crispness of wool and others the softness of cashmere. A change of material can make all the difference. This is also why I have favourite yarn brands that I use more often. I know their yarns and how they behave, and I know their values in production.”
PetiteKnit garments are the kind Mette likes to wear herself. For her, it would be hard to design any other way. This is also the most common reason why a pattern might end up in the “rejected” file.
“Others might like it, but I rarely want to publish it if I don’t want to wear it myself.”
Mette’s professional pride is in the craft itself. Although she is always happy to hear that people like how her garments look, the best feedback is when knitters are charmed by the technicalities.
“I think a lot about this concept I call ‘flow’ when I design: that the finished piece should not only look good but also feel natural and enjoyable to knit. If a knitter gets this feeling or admires a detail I have worked on, that’s what really makes me proud.”
DOING WHAT FEELS RIGHT
Mette still sometimes has a hard time understanding how many people worldwide are knitting her designs. In the end, she tries not to think about it too much — to keep the performance anxiety at bay and not let the success influence her decisions.
“I would still have been a knitwear designer if I had been less successful. At every step of the way, I‘ve done what felt right without grand plans for the future, and I still do much of my business that way. It leaves me open to changes and makes me focus on what is in front of me.”
Drawing the line between work and free time can be challenging when your profession is also your hobby, and most of Mette’s actual knitting and creative thinking happens outside of office hours. But that’s not really an issue — one thing that hasn’t changed, after all, is the relaxation she gets from the craft.
“I still feel like ‘finally!’ whenever I get to sit down and knit. I’m never bored when knitting, and I don’t think I will ever get to the point where knitting has given me all that it can and I have nothing left to learn from it.”
Text: Maija Kangasluoma
Photos: Thomas Dohn
This feature was first published in Laine Nordic Knits special issue.