Rebecca over at Pocahontas County Fare points to a fabulous link – a project to outfit all participants at the NATO summit held in Riga with traditional Latvian hand-knit mittens. The conference took place back in November. Rachel details how to download and view the entire collection. I just provide boring links to some of my favorites appearing in the web-accessible galleries of regional styles.
What’s best about the galleries of the mittens at the Riga conference site is that each and every one of the over 5,000 pairs is photographed in detail at high resolution. High enough in fact to mine them for their colorwork patterning. Also high enough to spot some continuities of design.
Some of the mittens shown sport patterns that are extremely similar to those appearing in embroidery modelbooks from the 1500s and early 1600s:
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/119/gid/3518/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/119/gid/3507/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/117/gid/3230/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/117/gid/3240/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/117/gid/3092/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2954/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2944/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2933/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2904/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2883/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2869/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2872/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2811/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2801/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2793/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/118/gid/3470/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/118/gid/3458/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/118/gid/3411/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/118/gid/3382/
Others evoke later eras.
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2833/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2804/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2812/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2814/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/118/gid/3326/
And some are timeless – with patterns that evoke mosaics or other forms appearing in every era since people first figured out that regular geometrics were pleasing to look at:
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2810/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2799/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/115/gid/2790/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/118/gid/3476/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/118/gid/3427/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/118/gid/3433/
http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/galleryin/nid/114/gid/2745/
I’m dazzled. I could look at these for hours (and I already have). Special thanks to Rebecca for posting the link, and to the unknown person who wandered over here from there, leaving the ant-trail I followed back to her site out of curiosity.
String-Or-Nothing 
Wow–glad I could be of help! I’m a long-time reader of your blog and Wiseneedle. (I can’t remember when I started visiting, or how I found you.) I’ve never commented, but I’m always entertained, delighted, or educated. Thanks for the link!