My nephew Roary is finally here. What a cutie.

Welcome Roary!

Had a lovely time at the LYS (Wool and Company) last evening. They said it was the largest gathering of Woolies they’d had for knitting with company. There were probably 15 of us, including several men. One guy was doing a black/white double-knitted argyle scarf that was just, well, gorgeous. Another yarnie bewitched my friend Kaylyn with some Classic Elite Wool Bam Boo - one she saw it I could tell all was lost. I escaped the lovely drape, glittering sheen and even stitch definition of it’s siren song only by knowing that if I took some home, I’d end up with yet another UFO.

My current project, gyp mitts, are coming along nicely. Can’t wait to finish, tho. I’ve gotten my No More Humdrum Mittens swap partner assignment, and I’m anxious to get started on a pattern for her. I think I know just the thing…

I’m doing pattern research today for some mittens I’d like to knit. One source of inspiration: the Riga NATO Summit mitten catalog, which includes 4,500 pairs of mittens knit by two Latvian organizations for the summit.

Women from the rural association called “Akorande” will knit mittens with the ornamentation of the Kurzeme and Latgale regions, and the handiwork company “Ramid” will knit mittens from the regions of Vidzeme and Zemgale.

Many fans of baltic mittens have been looking at these. I downloaded and unpacked the complete photo file, which they conveniently provided, and will be trying to put these into a searchable, taggable catalog for easier reference. They’re such a great source of inspiration.

I’ve always been fond of beautiful, practical works of art. Textiles, especially knitting, hold a special place in my heart for this reason. You can enjoy working it, and then someone else can enjoy wearing it.

For beautiful design combined with practicality I love Baltic regional mittens, and the pattern and color variations just inspire me. Their braiding, gauntlets, scallops, and fringe add wonderful design elements that make them fun to work and fun to wear.

Donna Druchunas sez she’s going to work on a Lithuanian knitting book this year (her own blog is here) – I’m looking forward to its release. Some other Ravelers have purchased the Vilnius book Donna mentions in her blog: Gloves of Lithuania Minor off eBay; I’m considering doing the same. It looks like a good pattern resource.

The New Year brought me mittens (red, how appropriate for the New Year), yay! And strep. Boo, hiss. But at least the mittens are done.

I’m setting a personal goal of 12 pairs of mittens/gloves this year. And although I started these at the end of last year, I’m going to count them because a certain other project I was supposed to have finished last year needs some attention.