Last week, coinciding with my birthday, I attended a knitting workshop on Latvian mittens as part of the European Festival of Latvian Culture here in Brussels. Since I had been to Latvia recently and I had bought lots of yarn I thought this would be a good opportunity to learn some new skills and get inspiration for some winter mittens.
The workshop was preceded by a lecture on the tradition of knitting mittens in Latvia, specifically in the regions of Kurzeme and Latgale. The instructor/presenter had actually done a lot of academic research on folk traditions in Latvia and even published a beautiful book on Latvian mittens with lots of designs and patterns. I was so excited about the workshop that I had troubles sitting still during the lecture because I wanted to start knitting so badly!
It was the first time I actually took part in an organized workshop and even though we had three hours, time passed super quickly. I still managed to start a swatch for a mitten and learn two new techniques: making a fringed cuff and how to knit a Latvian braid which I had been wanting to learn for ages. Most knitters were quite advanced so each of us could progress in our own time and we could jump straight in and didn't have to start with the basics.
I still haven't finished my "Riddari" but now I want to get started on a pair of Latvian mittens straight away!
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