If I had to choose between books and knitting as my only form of entertainment for the rest of my life, I would have to try to negotiate long and hard to have both.  I don’t believe I could ever choose.  That’s why when I find a wonderful knitting book, I’m content to peruse it for hours.  Most of the ones I’ve been collecting are technique-heavy tomes, and my 2018 trip to the Baltic has resulted in many volumes of traditional knitting that I hope I have enough years to conquer.

One that I’ve been looking through recently is Estonian Knitting 1:  Traditions and Techniques, by Anu Pink, Siiri Reimann and Kristi Jõeste.  The section on history is excellent, and will cause many of us to revise our thoughts about early knitting throughout that region.  The earliest examples – two small archeological fragments dating to the 13^th-14^th centuries, place domestic knitting as early as the dated workshop examples from Spain.  Nothing yet has been found that can be reliably dated before that time.  For years it was assumed that fragments from Dura, Syria dating to the 3^rd century were knitted.  We now know that those were created by nålbinding.  The next group to be removed from the very early knitting category are the so-called “Coptic” socks from Egypt, analyzed by Dorothy Burnham in 1972, and shown to be created by the same 1-needle technique.

 Lace knitting in Estonia is appreciated and well known in English-speaking countries due to the work of Nancy Bush in Knitted Lace of Estonia.  Estonian Knitting 1 has a wonderful section on lace as well, with multiple charts created from museum pieces.  While this book contains hundreds of charts and many fine illustrations of techniques, it is not a book of patterns.  Rather, it is an excellent reference that documents hundreds of patterns, but leaves it to contemporary knitters to incorporate Estonian techniques in their own knitting if desired.   

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In addition to lace, I was already aware of some of the other techniques found in this book, such as stranded colorwork (including intarsia in the round), textured stitches like nupps and bobbles, and entrelac and faux entrelac.  The sections that came as more of a surprise were those on brioche, fringes, travelling stitches and inlay.  The charts for knit and purl combinations alone could make for a lifetime of ideas.  It is the inlay technique, however, that really caught my attention.

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In addition to inlay, the red mitten (above right) also employs “faux entrelac,” which is quite easy to do and makes a nice cuff. Instructions for entrelac in the round, knit flat, knit backwards, and for faux entrelac are included in the book.

I have only one small disagreement with the authors over terminology, and that is in the use of the term “braids.” In the context of this book, this term is used to describe the twisting of one yarn over another to create a decorative cast-on, or a raised line of stitches. It is the same technique used in two-end knitting (tvåändstickning), and while it does resemble a braid if worked over two rows twisted opposite each other, braiding is actually the designation for a different textile structure, a type of oblique interlacing. The accepted resource for textile classification remains Irene Emery’s The Primary Structures of Fabrics (1994, Watson-Guptil Publications/Whitney Library of Design and The Textile Museum, Washington, DC).

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But back to the book, and to lace. I tend to think of Estonian lace as the Haapsalu shawls, but Estonian Knitting also addresses other traditional uses of lace, some of which have been worked on a garter stitch ground, rather than the usual stocking stitch. Instructions are given for knitting lace flat, in the round, and from the center out.

This is just a taste of what you will find in this wonderful book. If you can’t get enough of the wonderful illustrations, take a look at page 24 and prepare for a deep dive through the public portal of Estonian Museums. Mittens, gloves, stockings, jackets, etc., etc., all knitted, from dozens of museums are available to view through the portal, and, as you can see, are available for download for non-commercial use (like here). All of the above illustrations were reproduced here with the gracious permission of the Eesti Rahva Muuseum.

Stay tuned: I’ll take a look at Volume 2 of Estonian Knitting soon.