(T)Raveling 'Round the World With Ravelry

Many of my knitting friends belong to an online group known as ravelry.  Ravelry is a little bit like Facebook for knitters.  I find it a great place for knitting inspiration, information, and learning opportunities.  It has also turned out to be a way to meet like-minded knitters from other countries.

Before my trip to Estonia, I messaged a bit with a new ravelry friend, Signe, getting some advice on my visit to Tallinn.  Although she is Estonian, we met in the "Knit Like a Latvian" group.  I saw her work and thought that we had a lot in common in the realm of knitting and that we might be sympatico.  We arranged to meet when I was in Tallinn and she suggested going to the Estonian Open Air Museum.  Signe picked me up on a street near my hotel.  We had never met in person, but she told me that she would have one of her Scottish Terriers with her.  When I saw a woman walking towards me with a Scottie, I knew it was Signe and "hello" Rosin (Raisin)!

We had a nice time walking the grounds of the open air museum and Rosin got a lot of attention from various visitors at the museum but was quite wary of the horse who pulled a carriage.  We watched part of the folk dance show.

Then we went to the Kolu Cafe and Signe suggested a typical Estonian dish - kama creme.  It came with jam on it and it was quite delicious.  We enjoyed it outdoors with a drink and our knitting.  Signe was working on a Haapsalu shawl with many nupps and had brought along a pair of her mittens and gloves so that we could discuss techniques.  Her work is beautiful!

When we returned to the city center, I had plans to meet another Estonian knitter, Monika, who I first met last year at the Baltic Sweater Conference.  Monika was demonstrating spinning at Tallinn Medieval Days (and dressed appropriately).  It turned out that Signe, Rosin, and Monika knew each other, so we surprised Monika with a visit from all of us.

If you're a knitter and want to join ravelry, go here:

http://www.ravelry.com/invitations

Signe blogs in Estonian and you can find her blog here:

http://kuduvkoeraomanik.blogspot.com/

Portal to Another Time and Place - Estonian National Museum (ERM)

For a knitter in love with Estonian mittens, spending a day in the research room of the Estonian National Museum (ERM) in Tartu was heaven.

I corresponded before my trip with Kadri at ERM and arranged for my study day – the day after my arrival in Estonia.  After flying into Tallinn, I got immediately on a bus for the 2 ½ hour ride to Tartu.

Photography is not allowed in the research room, but there is an excellent portal to digitally view the museum’s collection.  Before my arrival, I was given instructions for using the portal so that I could make a selection of which items I would like to view for my research.  But how do you choose from 2,833 mittens?

After using the museum's online portal, here’s the actual portal that I passed through to begin my hands-on (gloved hands, of course) research day.

When I arrived at ERM I was greeted by Kadri’s co-worker, Maire, who took good care of me.  Kadri was on vacation, if you can call organizing the Tartu Hanseatic Days a vacation.  The Hanseatic Days took place in Tartu from July 11-13, 2014.

For my research, I brought along an old mini computer that I hate to use at home because it's so slow but it’s small and light for travel and I was happy to have Excel and a mouse with me for the charting that I did at the museum.

Besides being home to ERM, Tartu is a university town with a lot of history.  One of the oldest European universities was founded here in 1632 and Tartu was the location of the first Estonian Song Festival in 1869.  It has a vibrant Raekejo Plats (Town Hall Square), a lovely river (Emogoji) with many bridges, and a big hill and park on which sit cathedral ruins.

To use the English access to the Estonian National Museum public portal, open this site:

http://www.muis.ee/en_GB/search

Click on "Advanced search"

From the "Museum" dropdown, choose Eesti Rahva Muuseum (to limit the search to items at ERM)

Click to select "Objects with picture" (to limit the search to items that include pictures)

For the "Name" field, type in one of the following terms in Estonian:

kindad (for mittens)

sukad (for stockings)

kampsun (for cardigans)

Or use another Estonian term to search for other items