Icelandic Mittens Book: 25 Traditional Patterns Reimagined

This is a book review of Icelandic Mittens: 25 Traditional Patterns Reimagined

All the Details You Need to Know About This Knitting Pattern Book

Author: Guðrún Hannele Henttinen

Publisher: Trafalgar Square Books

Copyright Date: I’m reviewing the English language edition of the book, which has a copyright date of 2021. This book was originally published in Icelandic as Islenskir Vettlingar.

ISBN 13: 978-1646011070

ISBN 10: 1646011074

Book Formats:

This book is available in the following format(s):

Hardcover without dust jacket

Number of Pages: 272

The Focus of This Book:

In this book, readers explore the topic of knitting historic Icelandic mittens.

This book’s author studied the mittens from the archives at Iceland’s Blönduós textile museum, and used them as her inspiration for faithfully re-creating Iceland’s traditional mitten designs.

To accomplish this, she used yarns that are accessible to contemporary knitters; suggested yarns for these projects come from established current companies including Rowan, Cascade Yarns, Katia, Brooklyn Tweed, Drops and others.

It’s interesting to think that every pair of the mittens you might knit from this book will be a bit of living history. If you’ve ever wished you could own a museum piece, this is your chance.

Knitting Projects Included in This Book:

There are 25 different patterns for mittens and gloves (mostly mittens) included in this book. There are no other types of patterns presented.

Topics Covered in This Book:

Mitten knitting patterns
A brief history of knitting in Iceland
Northern Iceland’s Blönduós textile museum
Icelandic Knitting Techniques
The Anatomy of a Mitten: Parts of a Mitten
Yarn Substitutions
Knitting gauge and gauge swatches
Twisted German cast-on (the two cast-ons mentioned are not covered in a lot of detail, so depending on your existing skills and knowledge, you might need supplemental information in order to actually use these methods.)
Knitted cast-on
Ribbing
Stranded colorwork
Increasing and decreasing
Washing and blocking
More!

The Best Things About This Book:

The history presented in this book is fascinating.

For each mitten pattern in this book, you can see a photograph of the museum’s mittens, which provided the pattern inspiration; and you can see a photo of the knitted project sample, which gives you an idea of how your mittens will turn out if you follow the patters correctly.

Considering the age of the museum’s mittens, I think it’s safe to say that these designs are all classic styles that are unlikely to ever go outdated.

These mittens are knitted using multiple techniques. Many of the designs are stranded color knitting patterns. One is a solid-colored lace knit design.

Things to Be Aware of Before You Buy This Book

These mittens are all knitted on small needles ranging from US size 0 to 1.5 (2-2.5 mm.)

Each mitten pattern features only one size: Women’s size medium. However, the author gives instructions on how to adjust the pattern to make mittens that are larger or smaller (see pages 24-25 for this information.)

Conclusion

I’m delighted to recommend this book to other knitting enthusiasts, particularly to knitters who have the patience and skill to work stranded color knitting projects using small double-pointed needles.

Where to Buy This Book:

Click here to shop for this book at Amazon.

Thanks for checking out this book review of Icelandic Mittens. I appreciate your interest!

You’re Invited to Stay Awhile, and to Come Back Again Soon!

If you love knitting, and you’re interested in building both your knitting skills and your knitting pattern library, I invite you to become a regular reader of this website. I don’t want you to miss out on seeing the latest knitting book reviews, project ideas, and other content I’ll be posting. You can make sure you don’t lose track of this site by signing up for my newsletter and community at Substack.

Basic subscriptions are free; I send out regular newsletters to let my subscribers know about new craft articles and tutorials as they are posted. I also share details about the craft projects I’m working on, and invite my readers to share their projects, too. So there is no need to feel like it’s just you, crafting all alone at home. I’d love to have you join us! You’re invited!!

By Amy Solovay

Please Visit My Ko-Fi Shop HERE to Find My Sample Sale, Destash Sale and Digital PDF Pattern Downloads for Sale.

Delicate Crochet Book by Sharon Silverman, Published by Stackpole Books; The book is pictured with my planner and craft supplies including yarn, Susan Bates crochet hooks and an assortment of pens and markers. — I’m excited about this book, Delicate Crochet by Sharon Hernes Silverman, published by Stackpole Books. I hope you will LOVE the 2 patterns I contributed to this pattern collection; out of the hundreds of crochet patterns I’ve designed, I think these two are the all-time loveliest. I hope you’ll **check out the fingerless gloves** and the **beaded crochet necklace I designed for this book.** Thanks for taking a look at them.

Please Visit My Ravelry Store HERE to Find Digital PDF Pattern Downloads for Sale.

About the Author:

Amy Solovay is a real, live, human content creator and educator who holds an Associate of Arts degree in Textile Design from FIDM LA (The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Los Angeles) and a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Sweet Briar College. She is NOT a robot and does not use artificial intelligence (AI) to write book reviews or articles for this website.

Amy learned to crochet as a small child, and she still enjoys crocheting all these years later.

As an educator, Amy Solovay used to teach in-person college courses in trend forecasting, marketing and surface design at California Design College in Los Angeles. Nowadays she uses online platforms for sharing her knowledge about textiles, crafts, current color trends and current design trends.