With coffee in hand, I’m trying to organize today, and hopefully the rest of the week. The big push right now is to finish making all of the arrangements for a trip to Sweden in June to work on my book Knit Sweden.
Of course, that requires that I post a visual of Swedish mittens. Why mittens? Well, if you look for books on Swedish knitting, you’ll find a bunch of them, and the variety is pretty stunning. For example, the white pair here is a type make in the far north, and having said that, is worth an entire post on its own.
Lovikkavanten
The Lovikka mitten was invented in 1892 by Erika Aittamaa. Her goal was to develop a mitten that would be warm and sturdy enough for a horse-cart driver to use in all kinds of weather. The mitten, knit from hand-spun wool, felted, and decorated, is quite beautiful, and indeed very sturdy. However, only mittens knit to very exact specifications carry the registered trademark of its Swedish Patent.
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Förenigen Norden, Sverige and the sixth Festival of Mittens (Vantfestivaleln), organizers paid special tribute to Erika with an exhibition of Mittens in History. Take a look on their site at the gallery for some real mitten knitting inspiration.