Hello, my name is Arnhild Hillesland, and I am a native of Norway.  I have been knitting as long as I can remember - and a little longer. I came to the U.S.A. in 1986, when I married an Iowan, Glenn.

I received my education, a Ph. D. in Norwegian language, at the University in Tromsø, the northernmost university in the world.

In addition to teaching Norwegian, I also taught folk dancing.  For a while, that is all I did.  Performing folk dancing in many countries in Europe including the former Soviet Union, and in the USA.

My three children grew up in Tromsø, about a days travel north of the Arctic Circle.  My daughter, Øyvor, is married to Stein Erling and they have two sons, Kristian and Torbjørn.  They live in Oslo.  My oldest son, Ketil, is an orthopedic surgeon at Lillehammer, where he lives with his wife Synnøve and sons Christian and Magnus and daughter Ingrid. Torgrim is my youngest son. He lives in Tromsø, and is an electronics guy for Toyota. His daughter, Iben, models several of my designs. 

Øyvor is an interior design graduate of Iowa State University, now a home maker taking care of the little ones.  She has joined me in my business, is doing designs for me and with me and translates Rauma patterns from Norwegian to English.  Living in Norway, she is a lot closer to the companies I deal with, which is nice, and she can also follow the trends in Europe easier than I can.  Her hobbies have also always been knitting and dancing. 

 [ Home ]        

Send mail to arnhild@arnhild.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2003 Arnhild's Knitting Studio
Last modified: December 09, 2009