The book presents 178 samples of mittens, reproduced from the 18th Century originals in Latvian museum collections, their knitting secrets and wearing traditions. Although there have been publications before concerning Latvian ethnographic mittens, the book „MITTENS OF LATVIA” provides the most complete and exact information. Moreover it is a visually magnificent book which tells us the story about Latvian traditional culture through bright and inspiring photos.
The book is a perfectly designed trustworthy historical encyclopaedia. At the same time it is also a practical treatise encouraging knitters to carry on ancient traditions with original and exciting patterns. The left hand page presents the pattern, the right hand one shows a knitted mitten for better visual perception of the pattern. Every sample of a mitten carries with it the precise historical information about the location where it comes from, the museum where the original can be found and its inventory number.
The author
Ethnographer Maruta Grasmane (1941) has devoted more than 50 years to collecting and systemizing materials about the Latvian traditional costumes. For many years she has worked as a teacher at Riga Applied Art College. In 1991 she established the National costume centre "SENĀ KLĒTS" (The Old Granary) and until 2009 was the director of the centre. In the centre you can discover the largest Latvian national costume exhibition in the world, a collection created under the guidance of Maruta Grasmane.
Maruta Grasmane has organized exhibitions devoted to Latvian traditional culture in Latvia, USA, France, Russia, Canada and Norway. She has many publications concerning Latvian national costumes, the most recent being the monography “Latvian national costumes. Patterns. Embroidery.”, 2000. For the last 20 years she had collected and systemized information about Latvian mittens knitting and wearing traditions published in the book „MITTENS OF LATVIA”. For her contribution to national culture she was conferred in 2008 the highest state honour: Order of the Three Stars.
The global appeal of the book
The book “MITTENS OF LATVIA” is a beautiful and inspiring book of ethnographic art, which creates a willingness to knit, present and wear traditional mittens as a part of a modern life style.
It has already raised interest among knitters in many countries around the world. It is especially popular in Japan, Scandinavia, Germany and USA. The book has a great potential in global markets as knitting is still one of most popular handicrafts and knitters are looking for original patterns and new challenges. Every pattern presented by the book is unique, but they still all have roots in the cradle of Indo-European culture and it is easy to see resemblances with ethnographic sign systems in many other traditional cultures.