Knitted Lace of Estonia [Paperback]

Nancy Bush (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2008

Combining some of the oldest knitted artifacts in Northern Europe with authentic tips and expert advice, this distinctive guidebook demonstrates a wide range of knitting knowledge. Featuring 14 heirloom-quality projects, this savvy reference includes traditional lace-knitting techniques such as the starburst, twig, peacock, and lily of the valley patterns. Modern variations on classic methods and adding lace edges are also explored, and photographs from several Estonian museums beautifully illustrate various completed designs. With accessible graphed and written instructions, the projects include Estonian-style shawls, stoles, and scarves.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If you love fine lace, you certainly will enjoy this new book. The history and patterns are wonderful."  —Knitting News

"For knitters who love lace, Nancy Bush, really skinny yarns and/or eastern Europe."  —knotions online magazine

"How can you not love a book like this? It's got everything. History. Beautiful patterns. Great stitches. Lovely pictures. Good writing."  —KnittingScholar.com

"Everything you need to know to create an authentic lace shawl is included, from knitting a center to knitting a frame; how to connect the two; special techniques for cast-on, bind-off, joining, and more."  —Blogcritics.org

"A beautiful book for any knitter . . . and if you are already a lace lover you definitely need to have this book in your collection." —About.com Guide to Knitting

"The range of beautiful projects will be attractive to knitters of all skill levels. Nancy's clear step-by-step instructions and tips make the seemingly daunting intricate lace patterns easily understood."  —Knit 'N Style

"A true treasure of a book. Not only is the writing and knitting within it beautiful and inspirational, but this book is clearly a labour of love and commitment."  —YARN: The Australian Magazine for Knitting and More

"The knitting world once again has an 'instant' enduring classic; one that will give hours of pleasure for years to come."  —Knit Together, the quarterly publication of the Canadian Guild of Knitters

About the Author

Nancy Bush is a contributor to PieceWork magazine and owner of The Wooly West, a mail-order and online yarn business. She has worked as a freelance designer and consultant to several yarn companies and as a contributing editor to Knitter's Magazine. Her designs and articles have appeared in Interweave Knits, Spin-Off, Threads, and Vogue Knitting. She teaches workshops for guilds and shops and at conferences throughout the United States, Canada, Finland, and Estonia. She is the author of Folk Knitting in Estonia, Folk Socks, Knitting on the Road, and Knitting Vintage Socks. She lives in Salt Lake City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Interweave Press (December 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596680539
• ISBN-13: 978-1596680531
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #424,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

83 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Lace, Approachable Resource, Wish There Were More, October 31, 2008

By 

Book Fan (California) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Knitted Lace of Estonia (Paperback)

This book is a great addition to Interweave's series of "approachable" knitting technique books, but it is not an exhaustive compendium of advanced techniques. It contains 14 projects and a number of knitting stitch charts for lace shawls and scarves which are typical of Estonian lace knitting, and which span the range from introductory (the Raha scarf) to advanced.

Estonian lace is characterized by a few unique stitch components, such as nupps (knobs of yarn) and nature patterns, including lily of the valley (a graceful arc of nupps). The author seems to have spent much time in Estonia collecting stitch patterns and shawl designs from knitters, decades of magazines, and museums. (I wish this book contained much more of what she found!) The book begins with a brief history of knitting in Estonia, then describes traditional shawl design and techniques that the knitter will need to know.

Next is the pattern section of 5 lacy scarfs and 9 shawls. Each of the designs is based on an actual Estonian shawl (purchased by the author or in a museum collection), or taken from Estonian magazines, or utilizing a documented traditional stitch or pattern, though there have been some reworkings. Only two patterns have been previously published by Interweave: Madli's shawl, from Interweave Knits Summer 2004, and Triangular Summer Shawl, in Piecework July/Aug 2008. Each pattern includes information about where it is from and its history, such as a designs created in honor of the Swedish Crown Price and Greta Garbo.

Finally there is a small stitch dictionary, in charts, of 25 complex body patterns, 11 lacy edgings (none simple, and some complex), and 2 diamond borders. Some of these stitches are variations related to patterns that lace knitting fans already know, but some are completely new (at least to me). Additionally, in most cases, the project patterns themselves have their own charts for (usually) the body and the edging, and these patterns are usually similar to, but not exactly the same as the stitch patterns in the stitch dictionary, so that there are even more stitch pattern charts scattered throughout the text.

I am delighted with what is here, but disappointed that it is not an exhaustive compendium and stitch dictionary. Nevertheless, there is a lot here, carefully described and presented, and to my eye, all the projects look appealing (except maybe the simple Raha scarf). I found the interspersed accounts of Estonian knitters interesting, and greatly appreciate that the author was careful to credit the sources of her patterns and included a bibliography.

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful patterns clear enough for beginner lace knitter, March 16, 2009

By 

Chris Hanner (Snellville, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Knitted Lace of Estonia (Paperback)

I had been tempted to buy this book after reading the buzz by a couple of popular bloggers, but delayed because of previous unsuccessful attempts at lace knitting. I'm definitely not a beginning knitter, just new to lace knitting. I also couldn't see myself ever going anywhere that a lace shawl would fit in (I'm a blue-jeans type of girl). However, when one other reviewer on Amazon said that the patterns were relatively easy, I jumped off the fence and ordered. I also figured that if/when I did knit one of these beautiful shawls, it could be a present to a niece to wear at her wedding.

After looking at all the patterns and reading Nancy's tips on making nupps, I started with the Peacock Tail and Leaf pattern scarf. It looked to be small enough to allow finishing in a reasonable length of time. It also had enough nupps to make it interesting but not so many that it was scary.

After completing the bottom edging and 4 repeats of the center pattern, I'd like to pass along my own tip for knitting the nupps. When I get to those, I use a double pointed needle that's several sizes larger than the one I'm using to knit the 7 nupp stitches. (For instance, I'm using a US 5 circular needle to knit the scarf, but use a US 10 dpn to knit the nupp stitches.) After knitting the nupp stitches on the big needle, I slide those stitches to the other end of the dpn, put a marker on the smaller right hand needle and then slip the nupp stitches to the right hand needle. I knit the next couple of stitches in the pattern loosely to make sure I don't tighten up the big nupp stitches. On the return purl row, the start of the big nupp stitches is very evident, and the marker stops me from purling through any additional stitches.

One other caution - when purling through the nupp stitches, be sure you get all seven. the next to last stitch (which was a yarnover) especially tends to hug the left hand needle making it hard to get the point of the right hand needle under it. If this happens, your nupp will have a loose stitch that looks bad. This is a good reason to use sharp pointed lace needles instead of the blunt bamboo ones I'm using.

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning - Lace Lovers Rejoice!, November 13, 2008

By 

Tina Martinez (Athens, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Knitted Lace of Estonia (Paperback)

I will preface this review with the fact that I got to take a class with Nancy Bush on Estonian Lace at SOAR 2008, and what a great preview to the book it was! I got to see these shawls, and shawls like these first hand, so I can say they really are as beautiful in real life, if not more so.

This book really has everything I enjoy in a knitting book, especially one that is based on a particular area or tradition. The front of the book is full of information on the knitted lace traditions of Estonia, informative without being boring or tedious. The tutorials are well designed to make some of the more "advanced" techniques like nupps something to enjoy rather than dread.

The patterns themselves are just gorgeous, ranging in difficulty from easy to quite challenging. My favorites have to be the Queen Sylvia, Madli, and Crown Prince shawls. There are a range of shapes, whether you like stoles, scarves, squares or triangles you'll find something that suits your style and adventure level.

As an added bonus the stitch dictionary and information in the back make designing your own shawl yet another option. The book is worth every penny, both the wow factor and how much knowledge it packs.

Tip from class: If you want a dark colored shawl, try knitting it in white to give your eyes a break and then dyeing it when you're done!