After reading the fabulous book Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush, and stopping by Tallinn on a kick-off cruise in 2005, I persuaded my family to rent a house in Tallinn for a week. Apart from regular beach life, great restaurants and other holiday musts I found some knitting here and there. Tallinn is full of markets and shops with loads of knitted goods, but finding things to knit myself was a lot trickier. Searching bookshops and museums I found a few books with patterns and/or writing about Estonian knitting traditions in English. Mostly they were booklets about mittens. Amazing fact: a bride in Estonia had to knit 50 pairs, on average, of gloves and mittens for her wedding guests (see picture). These mittens had extensive patterns and very fine gauge. I also found a new book about sweaters on the Estonian islands. They were similar to other Scandinavian patterns but also inspired by the 19th century mittens. Unfortunately Riina Tomberg:Vatt, Troi, Vamsa doesn't contain any patterns, only pictures and research.
Finding locally produced yarns proved even more difficult. Since I can get Evilla and Kauni with colored sections in Sweden I wanted something else. Finally I found some nice Evilla in a varigated pale red/orange. Half of it has got one thread in white, while the other half is all coloured yarn. Now I just have to figure out if I should make stripes, squares, patchwork...
The rest of the yarn is perfect for mittens. Liisu by Elotroi is very fine 100% wool and Austraalia Merinovillaga by Arvita is mixed with some, you guessed it, Australian merino.
A few days after we got home, my parents went on to Norway. I couldn't help myself and asked them to look for some books I wanted. Off course they bought them all. I especially wanted to read Annemor Sundbö: Usynlege trådar i strikkekonsten. She owns a factory for recycling wool and this is her third report from the wool piles. Amazing. This book is largely about the culture of knitting, but it has some interesting pictures and patterns too. Strikk og tov by Gerd Fjellanger is filled with projects to felt in the washing machine. I love the hats! And maybe we need more socks, and sweaters for the kids... Finally my mother had to buy Alison Hansel: Charmed Knits featuring knits as seen in Harry Potter. Mostly basic school uniform style, but a few things with a twist, such as a wizard robe, an owl and wand cozies + some nice bags. This book will probably come in handy in a few years when my children are old enough to discover Harry P.
