Be*mused

Mittens, mittens (part 2)

So where was I? Oh yes...jet-lagged, dazzled and blown away at Sena Klets, less than 24 hours after our plane touched down in Riga. We must have talked to Ziedite Muze for over a half hour. Aside from being a project manager at SK and a fountain of information on mittens and Latvian costume, she's got a deep background in ethnic textiles and we found ourselves jumping from topic to topic. (She lived in Japan at one time!) It was hard to pull ourselves away but poor M had been sitting out in the square for over an hour and a half ("We're just running in for a few minutes to check out the place!" ~ how often he's heard that line!) so we picked up our mittens, added that gorgeous red pair from the box and their excellent mitten book (more later) and checked out.

As the days went by, it became abundantly clear what an important cultural symbol Latvian mittens are. They are ubiquitous.

We found them among knitted goods at grandmothers' craft tables at a park festival celebrating the Latgale region of Latvia.

Here I am browsing one of many mitten stands at the craft area of Riga's anniversary celebration.

Hobbywool is a Riga yarn and craft shop which sells lots of hand-knitted mittens. They are probably most well known for their popular "Knit Like a Latvian" mitten kits, which are a great introduction to many who would like to try their hand at making their own pair.

Small selections of mittens can be found for sale everywhere ~ in gift shops in the city, in Jurmala (the beach town), at the airport. After seeing the mittens at Sena Klets, few compared, though the ones marked Tines, 'lovingly hand-knit by latvians grandmothers' were consistent in quality and more regular in size. I fell for several pairs of these. It wasn't until I got home from my trip that I realized that Tines has a shop in Old Town. 

What?!!!

So, of course, I had to book a flight and go right back! Well, not exactly. I've left a few of you hanging here about why I returned to Riga so quickly ~ six weeks later, as a matter of fact. M & I had such a great time on our trip that when we got back and blah-blah-blah-ed about it, Molly decided she couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit and introduce Teddy to his Aunt & Uncle. He was at the perfect age for such a long trip ~ still nursing and not crawling yet ~ but her husband couldn't step away from work on such short notice so I volunteered to go along as nanny. And thus my return ticket was booked before my suitcases were unpacked from our August trip.

Doesn't every child need shots like this in his baby book?

Teddy checks out Riga's Art Nouveau neighborhood

Hanging out in the town square with Uncle K

It was a very different visit from the first. We stayed in Riga for the whole time. Mostly visiting, short outings during the days, game playing at night. Someone stayed at home with Teddy several times so we, in different configurations, could enjoy some special events ~ Madame Butterfly at the Riga National Opera (my first!) and hockey games between the Riga Dynamos & Russia. Heather and Molly ventured out one afternoon to try a Latvian sauna experience which Heather has described in this post on her travel blog. Needless to say, they came home laughing, birch branches in hand. 

After hearing so much about it, Teddy was dying to see Sena Klets. It's in the neighborhood, how could anyone possibly walk by without a quick pop in? 

Teddy and Ziedite hit it off immediately. As you can see, there's quite a bit more to Sena Klets than mittens. 

Men's wedding mittens

Care to see those stocking a little closer?

I was a little disappointed (though my wallet wasn't) that despite the beautiful selection, there were few mittens that fit me on this autumn visit to Sena Klets. (Lucky I didn't hold back in August!) I mentioned it and was told, a little sadly, "We need more knitters".  (Which reminded me of a conversation I had with a rug dealer in Istanbul in January who confided that many of their beautiful vintage rugs are actually found in the US at estate sales as young people in Turkey aren't interested in rug weaving as they used to be.)

No shortage of inspiration on display, though!

But we still had to find the elusive Tines shop. After some wandering around Old Town checking landmarks and every turn & alleyway, we took a right at, yup, a knitwear cart, and laughed that we had been so close so many times without a clue to its existence. And that's for next time.

**I initially thought I could cover this in one post, but I do want to give each place its due. Some of you have asked questions about yarn, patterns, Latvian designs, prices and more and I plan to answer these as I go along. You know, between decorating the house, Christmas shopping, gift stitching, and post office trips. I'll try to get back within a couple of days.

Mittens, mittens, everywhere

Although I haven't knitted anything in several years, when my son and daughter-in-law told us that they would be moving to Riga, Latvia, my mind immediately jumped to mittens. For a couple of years, I flirted with Latvian mitten projects but somehow quilting nudged out the knitting and the mittens took their place on my 'I really must get back to those some day' list. Would I be able to find authentic Latvian mittens on my trip? Um...no problem.

Pre-trip, I had pestered asked the kids about the mitten possibilities around Riga and was assured by them both that they knew where we should go. Sure enough, on my very first day there, Heather suggested we go over to Old Town, where, a mere 20 minute stroll from their place, is the mother lode of Latvian mittens, Sena Klets.

A peek in the front window ~ Sena Klets

Sena Klets, which means 'ancient barn' in Latvian, is the National Costume Center, the only shop in Latvia to specialize in all aspects of authentic national costume. Not only do they sell a variety of regional costumes and pieces thereof, they also sell the striped fabrics to make the skirts and provide historical pieces for costume exhibits around the world. It's not a large place, but it's endlessly fascinating to anyone with an interest in textiles. In my many stops here over my two trips, I always found something new to fawn over. But my first visit was all about the mittens!

Many of the mittens at Sena Klets, a cultural/educational center as well as a shop, are for display purposes only and each are tagged with the region/town from which that particular design comes. A clever 'mitten map' is displayed in the costume area to give visitors an overview of mitten styles and their region. It seems somewhat contradictory to describe such simple, almost peasant style mittens made from the most basic wool as dazzling, but that's exactly what these are, especially when grouped together. Intoxicated by the patterns, I couldn't stop snapping photos.

While the hanging mittens are for display, many mittens are available for sale and these are arrayed, roughly by color, on a long table underneath. 

Many of the mittens for sale are duplicates of some of the display pieces while others are not. I can hear everyone saying, how can you choose? But actually, one's choices are whittled down quite quickly, for two reasons. First, although they look gorgeous piled in a heap, you can quickly weed through to find real gems among the plainer designs or color combinations. And secondly, the mittens aren't sized. Meaning, there are no uniform proportions among the selection.

Sena Klets employs knitters out in the countryside and as I understand it, sends the patterns and yarn out which returns as these gorgeous mittens. Knitters may understand this better, but the stitch numbers in different patterns vary so some mittens end up larger than others. Also, gauge varies among knitters working with the same yarn and needle size. As a result, some mittens are long and narrow, some wide and loose. It's a real hunt to find a perfect match of preferred design, color and fit.

Dollar signs in that right-hand cuff? *Danger*!

Would you laugh if I told you I didn't intend to purchase any mittens, just soak up the inspiration? Yeah, I thought so.

What started as a quick run into the shop ("Don't worry, we'll be in this area regularly during your stay!") evolved into a good chunk of time as Heather and I ogled and considered pair after pair. I chose a couple that I couldn't leave without and, noticing that during our time there, several pair were purchased by other tourists, I asked a sales woman how often the mittens were restocked. It was our first day of a two week trip! It may have been a language problem, it may have been a brush-off, but I got a quick and curt, "This is all we have" so I headed over to the sales counter to make my purchase. Just as I was about to hand over my mittens, another employee, who had minutes before walked through the door with a large cardboard box, approached me, asking if I'd like to see what had just been delivered. With a quick glance and grin between us, Heather and I trotted right behind her.

Such an unassuming cardboard box, filled with newly knitted mittens! Ziedite Muze, our new best friend, explained to us in perfect English that some of these mittens would be for sale, some were slated for display and some, in fact, were single mittens, what I'm assuming were test pieces for color schemes or perhaps a new knitter's 'application' for consideration, all sent from one region of Latvia.

She started unloading the box, enjoying our anticipation and doing a quick examination of each pair before relegating them to one of two piles, for sale and for display. Some were spectacular, some were more common, but each added made the collection even more breathtaking. 

When these several pairs came out of the box, I almost keeled over. 

While we examined and considered, Ziedite tagged the mittens that would be added to the sales table. What a dream job to be surrounded by such beautiful handmade items every day!

***I have so much more to share, about Sena Klets and other mitten tales, that I've decided to break this into a couple of posts and continue with part two on Monday. Our Christmas tree and boxes of decorations await and really, how much of this visual textile feast can you take in one bite?