Knitting Traditional Maine Mittens
Shortly after I learned to knit, a friend suggested I find the 1983 book Fox & Geese & Fences: A Collection of Traditional Maine Mittens, by Robin Hansen, and make her a pair. I did, it was a wonderful experience, and I have been knitting mittens from the book ever since (some pictured above). They are exceptionally warm and durable. A bonus is that the patterns are written with a kind of common sense that for me at least made a few steps feel like fun puzzles. (What does she mean by “K both colors, gray then red, into the st that should have been gray”?? … ohhHHhhh!!!)
I found the book used on Amazon, but other books of Hansen’s are available on her website. My favorite pattern to make is “Sawtooth” (various above and below), but the best are maybe the “Safe Home” ones (center left), found elsewhere online. [thx Cecilia!] Oh also: Pair with Maine’s Bartlett Yarns – perfection.
Okay one more shot, these are my everyday mittens, I think I’ve been wearing these for the past five winters (Sawtooth pattern). Glorious!
Discussion 8 comments
Those mittens look wonderful...will be going in search of this book now. :)
So glad! Hope you enjoy. :)
My paternal grandmother, Veronica, was photographed during a mitten-knitting contest in Greenville, Maine, by Berenice Abbott sometime before 1968. I knew about the pictures, because we had a copy of the book A Portrait of Maine, but I wasn't really aware of how famous Abbott was until I was a teen. Imagine my surprise when during a visit to the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, and saw a print of my grandmother knitting mittens on the way to the gift shop. I've put copies of the two photos up for reference. Veronica is on the left in the first photo and second from the far end in the second. Yay, Maine mittens!
This is so wonderful. Thank you for posting.
That second picture (and the sweaters!!!) -- it's just perfect. So joyful.
Do there need to be more mitten-knitting contests in this world? Maybe I just need to go in search of them....
Putting the Farnsworth Museum on my list!
Does she include instructions for making trigger mittens? I spent time in Newfoundland as a teenager and was amazed and charmed that such a thing existed.
(Not because guns are charming, but because a mitten with a glove pointer finger looks really funny)
Beautiful knitting! I read the comic about agreeing to guest host and wondered what you were knitting. Your drawing evoked the posture.
I found a pair of mittens I knit many years ago that I thought were completely motheaten, but have only one small hole in the palm. I also recently found the leftover yarn from the project, so I can repair them. (I'd repair them with contrasting yarn anyway if I didn't have the leftovers.) I guess if they were completely motheaten, I would have tossed them. Memory is a funny thing.
What I've found about knitting is that if you don't understand a direction, sometimes you just need to dive in head first and it'll be obvious what to do when you get to that part. And, yes, I've tried to adopt that philosophy in other aspects of my life.
I love knitting mittens. So much more satisfying for me than socks!
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