In Stories In Stitches™ 2, Ava and I featured some amazing knitted samplers, all of which are lace. But samplers can be made in texture stitches too, and even in color. Look at this amazing knitted sampler from Estonia:
This sampler is in the Estonian National Museum. (Of course as soon as I post this, they move the whole website and the link doesn’t work.)
The colorwork patterns gathered here would traditionally be used on mittens and gloves.
Estonian knitters are known for their elaborate patterning in both colorwork and lace knitting. The workmanship of knitters from this part of the world is exquisite, illustrating a long history of skill and artistry. Many of the symbols and geometric patterns used in Estonia are also common in Latvia and Lithuania, to the south, or in Finland and Scandinavia, to the north. Many of these designs are older than knitting and can also be seen in weaving as well as on pottery and metalwork — which generally survive longer than cloth — from past centuries.
It might be said that folk-art symbols constitute the oldest form of writing, embodying a pictorial language that was in use for millennia before a more direct form of writing, recording actual words and sentences, came into use. The Lithuanian word for “patterns” is raštai. This word, along with the singular, raštas, can also mean paper, writing, letter, or document; and rašytojas (m.) or rašytoja (f.) means writer.
Perhaps that’s why we see the same symbols traveling from place to place, as people meet, interact, and share ideas and stories.
Learn more about Stories In Stitches 2 and look inside.
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