Latvian Mittens: Traditional Designs & Techniques

This book is a fabulous treasury of traditional patterns with its colorful pictures. All techniques are covered in detail with drawn illustrations. This is, however, by no means a pattern book for a beginner. To construct a certain mitten, the techniques and patterns must be picked out from different parts of the book and put together. On the practical side, the binding of the book could be better; mine is already falling apart and loosing pages after a couple of weeks of use. Nevertheless, I'm very satisfied with the purchase, and will make many of the mittens in this book.

as i knitt a lot of Swedish mittens this is a challange. The traditional designs are wounderful.

Elizabeth Upitis has included many models of Latvian mittens from the various regions of the Baltic state. Mittens play an important part in courtship and marriage rituals in Latvian culture. The patterns are rich and decorative, with edgings of fringe or scallops and small patterns reminiscent of Fair Isle knitting.

Even though you probably won't want to make as many mittens as a Latvian bride should need for her dowry, you will be inspired by the variety. The patterns, colorways and edgings are quite useful for adapting to other knitting designs like sweaters, hats and vests.

All my grandparents came from Latvia, and I wish they'd been able to bring some of these wonderful folk handworks with them when they came to America. I would have loved to have seen some from the old country. The author has done a great job in documenting the patterns and the lore behind them.