Handwoven fabrics, knitted socks and gloves, natural dyes, handspun yarns, dec- orative carpets, colorful wall-hangings, lithographs and paintings: these comprise the legacy of Anatstazija and Antanas Tamošaitis. Sometimes called the matriarch and patriarch of Lithuanian textiles, or champions of the cause of Lithuanian folk art, the couple spent their lives studying and reproducing traditional clothing as well as creating contemporary tapestries and paintings. In the 1930s, both partners wrote books about knitting.

Reserved for making socks, gloves, mittens, and other small items in Lithuania, knitting is usually overlooked in discussions of National Costume, with the focus placed instead on larger items of clothing. The Tamošaitises collected and docu- mented colorwork and lace motifs from regions around Lithuania, and Anastazija wrote instructions for how to knit a variety of accessories using traditional motifs and colors. These mittens are made with a geometrical pattern from Antanas’s book of charted knitting patterns. The techniques required by most of the projects in this book were included in Anastazija’s book of knitting techniques.

Anastazija passed away in 1991 in Canada, and in 2000 Antanas returned to Vilnius, where he founded the Anastazija and Antanas Tamošaitis Gallery Židinys (Hearth), and donated the couple’s collection of folk art, original creations, and books to the gallery. Today, the gallery is run by the Vilnius Academy of Arts.