Books on Estonian knitting and textile traditions

Reet Piiri, Estonian National Museum - Estonian Gloves

In 2012 I wrote a post called "Pitsilised koekirjad - A book not often found, and other books on Estonian knitting". Since then we have added some Estonian books to our collection, here is a post about some of them.

Reet Piiri, Estonian National Museum - Estonian Gloves

"Estonian Gloves" compiled by Reet Piiri 2002 contains colour photos of more than 20 mittens and gloves in the Estonian National Museum. Its 30 pages (it is a pamphlet, not a book) have texts (in English) and pictures about different mittens (all knitted except two pairs in nalbinding). The texts are very short and in many aspects I would have liked to have much more information. None the less a very interesting book. Only pictures and texts - no charts or patterns.

Anu Raud and Anu Kotli - Kiri Kari / Pattern Puppets

Anu Raud and Anu Kotli's "Kiri Kari" was published in 2010. We first bought this book in an Estonian edition just to get the patterns. We were rather frustrated not being able to understand the written instructions. We tried to figure out how to knit these only by using the charts. Then came an English version, "Pattern Puppets" in 2013, that made everything so much easier.

Anu Raud and Anu Kotli - Kiri Kari / Pattern Puppets

The puppets are lovely. They should make very nice gifts if you could part from them.The book also contains a load of charted traditional Estonian knitting patterns. Not bad at all!

Anu Raud and Anu Kotli - Kiri Kari / Pattern Puppets

In 2013 another fantastic book was published. "Suur kindaraamat - Eesti kihelkondade mustrid" by Reet Piiri is a fantastic mitten book.

"Suur kindaraamat - Eesti kihelkondade mustrid" by Reet Piiri

This book containes almost 400 pages of photos of mittens and a chart for the pattern of each of them. There is not much text. It has an introduction in Estonian and an English text at the end "Estonian glove heritage"  that spans ten full pages.

"Suur kindaraamat - Eesti kihelkondade mustrid" by Reet Piiri

The book lacks instructions on how to knit a traditional Estonian mitten. You will have to look for such information elsewhere. But as a "library" of Estonian mittens patterns it is a treasury.

"Suur kindaraamat - Eesti kihelkondade mustrid" by Reet Piiri

The patterns are grouped by the regions from which they stem. Unfortunately the texts about the different regions are only in Estonian. Well, you can't get everything - I still recommend this book as fantastic!

Silmuskudumine by Claire Hallik

I am a bit exasperated that the book "Silmuskudumine" by Claire Hallik (270 pages) is only in Estonian. It contains a lot of information that I would like to be able to access. It seems as if it was first published in 1957, and have been reprinted in 2009.

Silmuskudumine by Claire Hallik

It seems as if it spans all the information an Estonian knitter needs from casting-on through different techniques for textured patterns, multi-coloured patterns, fringes, plaids. There are also charts at the end that makes it possible to "solve" many of the patterns even if you do not understand Estonian. It would be great if this book would be released in an Eglish translation.

Silmuskudumine by Claire Hallik - chart section

Estonia has a fantastic tradition also when it comes to lace knitting. My post in 2012 listed some favourites. Added to those in 2013 was "Helga Rüütli sallid - Knitted Shawls of Helga Rüütli"

Helga Rüütel and Siiri Reimann - "Helga Rüütli sallid - Knitted Shawls of Helga Rüütli"

The text is in Estonian and English. Lots and lots of charts for shawls. The introduction is a good summary:
"Helga has given a title to each of her designs and, with the accuracy of an accountant, she has charted all her patterns. Including her last designs, the number of patterns that she has created is close to two hundred. This book gathers a choice of Helga Rüütel's shawls together with their stitch patterns.
The pattern book of this master knitter will serve as an addition to the book "Haapsalu Shawl" (Reimann, Siiri and Edasi, Aime, Saara Publishing, Türi, Estonia, 2009), for this reason, this book does not include any detailed instructions for making a Haapsalu shawl."

Helga Rüütel and Siiri Reimann - "Helga Rüütli sallid - Knitted Shawls of Helga Rüütli"

A favourite is also "Knitted Lace of Estonia" by Nancy Bush. Published in 2008 this has become almost a classic for knitters interested in Estonian Lace knitting.

"Knitted Lace of Estonia" by Nancy Bush

History, techniques and patterns. There are projects of various difficulty. I especially like that the book has information about the history and traditions of Estonian Lace knitting.

"Knitted Lace of Estonia" by Nancy Bush

"Eesti kirivööd" by Piia Rand

This is a book for all you band weavers all over the world. In 2013 "Eesti kirivööd" by Piia Rand was published. Almost 300 pages packed with patterns for Estonian bands. 

"Eesti kirivööd" by Piia Rand

Unfortunately all the texts are in Estonian. But since there are pictures and charts for each of the bands an experienced band-weaver should be able to make the best use of them.

"Eesti kirivööd" by Piia Rand

if you are not a band-weaver there are still so many beautiful patterns in this book. You could easily use them for knitting. I am not a skilled weaver but I had to buy this book. I tell myself that when I get more time I will spend more time weaving. 

Ingrid Uus "Noppeid Kihnu Näputööst - Mõnõd noppõd kihnu njäputüest"

This is also a book that to some extent exasperates me by being only in Estonian. It is Ingrid Uus "Noppeid Kihnu Näputööst - Mõnõd noppõd kihnu njäputüest", 2012.

Ingrid Uus "Noppeid Kihnu Näputööst - Mõnõd noppõd kihnu njäputüest"

It is a little more than 100 pages with project from different textile crafts. Knitting (of course), embroidery, sewing (hats, bags, dolls, teddy bears).

Ingrid Uus "Noppeid Kihnu Näputööst - Mõnõd noppõd kihnu njäputüest"

Instructions for project bags. I have heard that they are very popular in Estonia.
In the picture above you can see one that we received as a gift from a friend. 
There are also charts for stitch patterns used on mittens.

Ingrid Uus "Noppeid Kihnu Näputööst - Mõnõd noppõd kihnu njäputüest"

I am so glad to have some of the fantastic books that have been published in Estonia during this last decade. The history and textile tradition is impressive and I can't stop looking at the patterns in amazement.