Knit Along With Me

Before my trip to Estonia and Latvia this year, I was approached (electronically) by Jeannie, a moderator for the Knit Like a Latvian group on Ravelry.  (Ravelry is an online community for knitters - you can find my prior blog about Ravelry here). Jeannie inquired about my interest in hosting a Knit Along (KAL) to showcase some special Latvian knitting technique.  I agreed to host a KAL in August and decided to teach the Diagonal Squares Cuff.

Mittens with Diagonal Squares Cuff

The cuff instructions are from my self-published book, A Distorted View of Cuffs, which features twelve different Latvian cuffs.  I saw these various cuffs in Latvia, on mittens in museums and on mittens that friends or I purchased, and then proceeded to decipher many of these and write instructions for the techniques.

Having recently returned from my trip to the Baltics, I was happy to see Mara from Latvia join in the KAL (Prior blog about Mara). 

Lizzy, a French woman who lives in Germany, also joined the KAL.  I met Lizzy last year in Estonia at the Conference on Traditional Sweaters Around the Baltic Sea.  She was also at Estonian Craft Camp this year and we attended some of the same classes and had time to get to know each other a little better over a number of cafeteria meals.  Lizzy is an excellent knitter, has a keen interest in Baltic knitting, and is a translator with a knowledge of many languages. 

Lizzy wearing her Muhu cuffs

Photo courtesy of Penelope Craft Amsterdam



I remember a conversation I had with Lizzy last year where the phrase "speak of the devil" came up.  Lizzy mentioned that the French have a similar phrase but they say "speaking of the wolf and you already see the tail."  I liked that and made a note of the phrase at the time.


Lizzy's fingerless mitts from the Ravelry KAL

Photo courtesy of Lizzy

If you're a member of Ravelry and are interested in trying out the Diagonal Squares Cuff or would like to see what others did with it, you can find the August KAL here.