I’m Knitting As Fast As I Can

My book review du jour is of Nancy Bush’s, Folk Knitting in Estonia.

The book was published in 1999 and I believe it was the third of Interweave’s “Folk Knitting” series. (I could be wrong, but I think Folk Socks by Nancy Bush was the first and Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski was the second.)

The book is full of interesting patterns for socks, mittens, and gloves and the difficulty range runs the gamut.

The mittens I finished last week were based on the Meida’s Mittens pattern:

That’s a fairly simple pattern, but I’ve had my eye on this more complicated mitten pattern for a while:

There are also some excellent sock patterns. My favorite are Ellen’s Stockings:

But, really, the patterns pale in comparison to the fascinating historical information at the beginning of the book and the comprehensive discussion of little-known Estonian knitting techniques. There are illustrated instructions on how to work several braids, different methods of decreasing the top of a mitten and when to use each, and an archaic and beautiful technique called roositud which resembles embroidery. Each pattern incorporates one or two of the techniques; a simple-but-brilliant concept that is sadly lacking in many knitting books.

In sum, I consider this a must-have book even if you never knit a single pattern from it.

Next week . . . some less well-known Estonian books . . . and maybe a finished sweater!!

I got a lot of inquiries about the mitten book I blogged about yesterday. I got my copy from a knitter in Finland who had an extra one to swap. At the time, it wasn’t available outside of Finland. But now I see that Nordic Fiber Arts has copies for sale. Looks like they’re limiting the number of copies you can purchase to just one, which would indicate that they don’t have many in their inventory. If you want one, you might be wise to move fast.

The interest in my mitten book inspired me to take stock of some of the other, somewhat obscure knitting titles on my bookshelf. I thought I’d spend a week or so describing some of them.

This book, Maiglöckchen, was sent to me by a friend in Germany. The book was mentioned in an article in the Spring 2004 issue of Spin Off and I immediately knew I had to get my hands on a copy.

Spin Off reprinted an excerpt from the book, describing a woman named Edith Haller and the shawls she knit in the traditional Estonian Lily of the Valley pattern:

If you can get your hands on a copy of the Spin Off issue, the article is fascinating. And, best of all, it’s written in English.

All the patterns in the book are written in German and the designs incorporate variations of the Lily of the Valley stitch pattern. There are socks, hats, shawls, scarves, sweaters, and an adorable drawstring purse. Even with my limited knowledge of German, I can figure out most of the patterns. If you click here, you can see a couple of the patterns on Ravelry.

It’s an amazing little book that’s crammed full of interesting projects and I flip through it often.

If you can navigate your way through Amazon.de, the book is available for purchase here. Or, you can order it from Martina (she speaks English) by clicking here. For more information on the book, and its author, Dorothea Fischer, check out Dorothea’s website.

My pulse quicken this afternoon when I pulled into my driveway and saw this little morsel peeking out of my mailbox:

And the origin of these beautiful stamps?

Tucked inside was the impetus for all the mitten-knitting last week, which I viewed as a training exercise to get me in shape for the 100 patterns in this amazing book:

The book, Sata Kansanomaista Kuviokudinmallia by Eeva Haavisto, is a reprint of a 1947 edition that has been out of print for years. If you’re interested in seeing some of the mittens that have been knit from the patterns in the book, click on this link to Ravelry. My favorite is #95, which has a butterfly pattern.

There’s also a Ravelry group whose members are knitting their way through the book. Count me in!