Note: the instructions in the Symbols in Stithches ebook are recipes. The example shown is only one variation of what you can make.

The Symbols: Images of flowers are especially prevalent in Lithuanian knitting, as well as in weaving and in the embroidery decorating women’s blouses and aprons. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, designs of flowers planted in pots became popular motifs on hope chests, window shutters, and spinning-wheel distaffs. Today, lilies, tulips, and other flowers are among the most popular motifs found on mittens and gloves, both in the pieces I’ve seen in museum collections and in the mittens sold in tourist markets and folk-art galleries.

The Stitches: This scarf can be made at any gauge in any yarn. The basic pattern is written for 96 sts in the colorwork section. If you are working an all-over pattern around the entire scarf, you can inc a few more or a few less sts after the ribbing. In many books from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, the author advises that it is more important to get a desired size than to have a full repeat of the pattern at the end of the round. It is perfectly acceptable to have a visible “seam” at the side edge of the scarf.