Guest Post: Colorful Latvian Knitting by Kimberly Schimmel

Colorful Latvian Knitting    

          

As knitting spread around the world, cultures adapted knitting to suit their wants and needs.  Northern countries such as Latvia favored stranded knitting as it created a warm, double-layered knit fabric.  Stranding also enables a knitter to hold a different color in each hand, allowing for color work in repeating patterns without constantly joining new yarn and cutting old.

Latvian Mittens

In Latvia, mittens became one of the most commonly knit items.  Instead of the rounded top commonly found in most mittens (rather like the toe of a sock) Latvian mittens are triangular at the top, coming to a point at the center above the middle fingers.  Thumbs are also knit to a point.  Instead of ribbed cuffs, Latvian knitters create gauntlet-like cuffs that flare a bit at the opening.

Mittens are worked in the round on double-pointed needles in color patterns worked from a chart.  The hand and thumb are worked in one pattern while the cuff is usually worked in a different pattern using contrasting colors.  While Norwegian knitting is often done in just two colors and in smaller patterns, Latvian knitting includes bolder, larger patterns and often many colors in a single project.

Skills Needed for Latvian Knitting

Before knitting colorful Latvian mittens, be comfortable knitting rounds on double-pointed needles and following a chart.  A bit of arithmetic skill is also handy, since Latvian patterns often show only a portion of the chart, not the whole mitten, and it is up to the knitter to be sure the motifs are centered and the repeats come out even.  If a pattern is a 20-stitch repeat, for example, the number of stitches in the mitten should be divisible by 20. 

Knitting should be done at a firm gauge for a warm, wind-resistant mitten.  Wool is a great yarn choice for the required warmth and light weight.  If the knitter is proficient at both Continental and English knitting, i.e. can hold yarn in either hand, knitting will be faster as one color can be held in each hand.  Be sure to keep the same color in the same hand through out, since small differences in tension between the two hands may be noticeable in the finished project.

Enjoy colorful folk art you can wear all winter.  Latvian mittens are works of art.

By: Kimberly Schimmel, a.k.a. FiberFrau