The Goddess Knits Collection by Donna Druchunas and Heather Marano features 18 knitting patterns inspired by the goddesses of Northern Europe. The patterns—along with original artwork and stories about the goddesses—will be released in installments.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

A collection of colorwork patterns from Lithuania with stories about the symbols and history of the motifs used in knitting, weaving, and other folk art.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

This ebook is free with the purchase of the graphic novel.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Learn about the traditions and techniques of knitting in Lithuania past, present, and future. Plus find more than 25 mitten, glove, and sock projects to knit!

Stories In Stitches™ is a new pattern line featuring ethnic traditions, history and travel tied together with knitting projects and stories.

Set of Stories In Stitches 1-6

Stories In Stitches™ is a new pattern line featuring ethnic traditions, history and travel tied together with knitting projects and stories.

What’s inside Stories In Stitches 3?

Stories In Stitches 4 is also available in a print version. To order the print version, visit my website here.

This issue of Stories In Stitches salutes the women of yesterday and today, who have had the courage to make their voices heard. They have seen a need for changes and have stepped up to take responsibility for making their world a better place.

In SIS6, We explore the history of recycling. From materials to ideas, everything old can be new again.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Book and kits available from Barton River Yarns.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Worked in the round with a slip stitch honeycomb pattern. Only 1 color worked per round.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Pattern also includes instructions for knee socks and boot toppers, which will require extra yarn.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business, support for patterns will be limited.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Note: This is a larger variation of the Montgomery Mountains scarf.

Easy, cozy, warm. What more could you want in a shawl? I designed this on a whim when I was at a knitting retreat in the mountains of Vermont and bought some hand-spun yarn at a nearby wool co-op. I wanted to cast on immediately and make something I could remember without finding a fancy stitch pattern or following a chart. I only had one skein...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

This scarf or cowl is knit in a straight line from end to end. It begins with a few rows of ribbing with buttonholes, continues with a cable and lace butterfly pattern, and then the second half is knit all in ribbing making this a fun but quick and relatively easy knit.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

This neck wrap is knit from the top down, beginning with a garter tab cast-on. It features Estonian gathered stitches and a Japanese butterfly motif, as well as beads to add a little sparkle and pizzaz.

This is free on Knitty but you can get a tidy PDF from my Ravelry store if you prefer.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Also knowns as creeping phlox, the moss pink plant is a “ low, evergreen mat covered in early spring with blue, purple, pink, or white massed blooms.” The small flowers and the texture remind me of moss stitch so I used this hand-dyed yarn to create a winter garden.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

This reversible hat.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

This is the pattern for my 2019 Annual Pi Shawl KAL and an early preview of my Arctic Lace Collection which will be published as an ebook in 2020.

This tunic is my knitted version of one of Frida Kahlo’s traditional Tehuantepec-style Mexican tops, which could traditionally be as short as a cropped t-shirt or as long as a dress. The sweater is made in a modular style. The front and back are the same. First a center panel is knit, then stitches are picked up on the side of the panel and wor...

This cowl is knit in a lace pattern that reminds me of the patterning on a grass basket made by a Yup’ik artisan in Tununak, Alaska. The bottom portion looks like flowers growing in a spring field, and the top portion is a simple eyelets and garter ridges that is reminiscent of the woven basket pattern.

This cowl is knit in a lace pattern that reminds me of the patterning on a grass basket made by a Yup’ik artisan in Tununak, Alaska. The bottom portion looks like flowers growing in a spring field, and the top portion is a simple mesh that is reminiscent of the woven basket pattern. Each section is separated by a few rounds of garter stitch, an...

Just because these mittens are adorable doesn’t mean they aren’t hard workers! With a honeycomb cable stitch design that creates a thick, cushioned fabric, these cozy snow-ready mittens are cute enough for the average snow day, but serious enough for snowshoeing adventures.

This doily is an octagon, worked with 8 repeats of the same chart around. It is blocked to a circle and starched so it is stiff and can be used as an ornament for a Christmas tree or window decoration. Beads can be added to the border for some sparkle.

I saw many pairs of mittens in patterns similar to this in a craft market in Vilnius over ten years ago, and I had to recreate them. I bought a couple of pairs from the vendor and discovered that they were knit with two strands of yarn held together. The yarn felt like a popular brand of wool yarn made in Lithuania and carried in many shops aro...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

I love making swatches but sometimes I feel like I could be making something “real” instead of just knitting pieces to rip out or toss in a box. This pillow will give you a chance to try out some different pattern stitches and display them in your home.

These child-size mittens were made in the 1970s by Mrs. Downs, my kindergarten school nurse, who later became Aunt Phebe, a close family friend. Although they were made over 40 years ago, they still belong in my life today. (The spoon was carved by Mr. Downs, aka Uncle Nel.)

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

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...

Did you ever have a “spring coat”? I did, every year when I was a little girl. I alway think spring it here in March, but my mom always reminded me that we needed to wear a coat well into May on most years. Grandma bought my sister and me spring coats just for this purpose. We wore them to church on Easter and then for the rest of the season. T...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Folk singing groups began performing in Soviet Lithuania in 1968, but it is probably not a coincidence that knitters and weavers started to reproduce traditional costumes for performances in 1986, just two years after Mikhail Gorbachev came into power and one year after Glasnost and Perestroika were initiated. Even with the increased amount of ...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

This scarf is my introduction to Orenburg lace from Russia. The techniques used are a combination of a traditional Orenburg lace border with an updated center motif designed by Dorothy Reade, a fiber artist, spinner, knitter, designer, and teacher who lived in Oregon.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

When I was a girl, we got spring coats from our grandmother every year. And we had to wear them off and on into May. I’m always ready for spring too early. So these mittens with baby birds beaks peeking out of the nest remind me that spring is coming, even though the view outside my office window is still white with snow.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

I love snow. It’s one of the reasons I live in Vermont near the Canadian border. Winter should be white, not brown. And here in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and in Quebec, our neighbor to the north, we have plenty of snow to keep things bright. One snowflake may be delicate and fragile, but when you get enough of them, you change the whole ...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

This is an advanced project that includes several different types of colorwork including fair isle, intarsia in the round, baltic braids, and corrugated ribbing. The PDF includes a tutorial on intarsia in the round as well as links to many videos of the special techniques used in the pattern.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

These cozy socks are made from the top down on 48, 54 or 60 sts. So they’re quick to knit but the simple cable and ribbing pattern gives them a nice stretchy fit and keeps the knitting from being boring. The toe is done in a traditional, simple technique from Lithuania that does not require Kitchener stitch.

This is a new version of my Spanish Dancing socks with a mid-calf length added to the pattern and a video tutorial for the Bulgarian Cast On technique.

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

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

This pattern was originally published in My Knitting Book by Miss Lambert in 1843. The original pattern is on page 2 so you can see how I’ve updated the instructions for modern knitters. I also added a chart to help you see how the pattern repeat works. Would you have interpreted all of the instructions the same way I did? Mine came out to be a...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

I don’t know about you, but my husband rarely wants anything that I knit. After two sweaters languished in the bureau drawer and a pair of gloves was worn to shreds in less than a month, I wasn’t too keen on knitting for him any more. But when he saw the sample of this hat and tried it on, he immediately said, “I want this hat.” Alas, the sampl...

Last year I took a colorwork knitting class with Canadian designer Sylvia Olsen, author of Knitting Stories: Personal Essays and Seven Coast Salish-inspired Knitting Patterns and Working with Wool: A Coast Salish Legacy and the Cowichan Sweater. I learned that this style of knitting is the only 100% North American knitting tradition. I designed...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

What you need in Vermont is a good pair of warm, wooly mittens. Wool is not only warm and cozy, it’s also great for making your hands feel dry even if they’re not. Did you know that wool can hold up to 30% of its weight in water and not even feel wet?

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

This scarf goes on forever and ever, just like the winter doldrums. Fortunately, with this chunky yarn and easy pattern stitches, it’s quick to knit and once you get something done, you’ll find yourself back in the land of the living, energized to cast on for something new!

This simple sock pattern is one I use all the time to make soft and cozy socks for myself as well as rough and sturdy work socks for my husband. You can change the size by using smaller or larger needles and thinner or thicker yarn. You can change the style by using a different ribbing pattern for the leg. After you make a few pairs, you’ll mem...

The columns of ribbing that separate the individual motifs on this tam remind me of the legs of a starfish. They are made out of twisted knit stitches that are worked straight up from the brim of the hat to the last few rounds of the crown shaping. Between these columns are charted patterns of Bavarian Twisted Traveling Stitch patterns that wer...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

This pattern combines the texture of Bavarian twisted traveling stitches with the color of the Baltic Sea in Madeline Tosh’s merino sock yarn. The curving shapes of the traveling stitches remind me of the gentle waves on the shore of the Baltic Sea on a calm summer day. I used my favorite easy heel and toe techniques on these socks so you can u...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Traditional-fit toe-up Turkish stockings are fun to knit, fun to wear, and certain to keep your feet toasty!

This hat is inspired by a recent retreat I attended in Juneau, Alaska. At the Seaside Yarns Mermaid Retreat, I taught techniques from Lithuanian knitting and Japanese knitting books, and both are included in this pattern with links to YouTube videos. This is a quick knit in worsted-weight making it perfect for a quick gift or a weekend project ...

These “Summer Lilies” mittens are worked from the cuff up with a knit-in fringe on the cuff and a fun two-color pattern on the hand. The thumb opening is made by knitting with scrap yarn which is removed later to form a hole where the thumb is added. The finger tips are shaped on an angle and come to a point.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

These mittens are inspired by a pair knit in the town of Telšiai, Lithuania and photographed in Antanas Tamošaitis’s book, Sodžiaus menas, kn. 5: Mezgimo-nerimo raštai (Village Arts, no. 5: Charted Knitting Patterns, Kaunas, Lithuania: Žemes Ukio Rumu leidykla, 1933). I changed the design to have the popular pointed tip shaping that I feel is a...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

The first time I saw traditional Lithuanian knitted socks was on a photo of dancers wearing reproductions of the National Costume. The women’s socks were knit in a wheat lace pattern made out of white yarn, and you could only see the pattern when they lifted the hem of their long skirts. The originals were knee socks, but I wanted to create a p...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

The colorwork pattern on these mittens, documented by Antanas Tamošaitis, knit in neutral colors reminds me of the rustic fences used in the Lithuanian country- side, and of the beautiful wooden fences at the traditional houses in the Open Air Museum of Lithuania in Rumšiškės. I love the way the vertical and diagonal lines interact with each ot...

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 spe...

The KAL is over and now the full pattern is available.

These socks are made with true entrelac on the cuffs. Although this is not a technique that’s traditionally recognized as a special Lithuanian technique, I have seen it on more than a few pairs of mittens in museum collections, as well as in vintage knitting books published in Lithuania and Russia.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

This hat is made from a mitten chart I found in Magnificent Mittens by Anna Zilboorg. You can make a hat out of any mitten pattern.

A few years ago, I was at a knitting conference with a friend who was knitting the “Fly’s Body” lace edging that is used in the border of this capelet. She had discovered the stitch pattern on a small notepad that was tucked inside a Victorian knitting book she purchased at a used bookstore in England. A woman named Miss Money had recorded seve...

1 skein each of 5 colors. I selected green, gold, orange, rust, and brown to emulate the colors of the trees the northern Vermont forests surrounding my home.

This warm and cozy hat features a lacy brim, baltic braid trim, and a geometric Lithuanian design that represents the sun. In winter, there is not much sunshine and thoughts of long, warm summer days are important to keep up morale during the cold dark months. The hat is knit on larger needles than the matching mittens, making it softer and str...

These gorgeous mittens feature a lacy cuff, baltic braid trim, and a geometric Lithuanian design that represents the sun. In winter, there is not much sunshine and thoughts of long, warm summer days are important to keep up morale during the cold dark months. The oak is also knowns as the sun tree, the tree of the Goddess Saulė who lives in a c...

The geometric motif on these mittens is actually a weaving pattern that has been used by Lithuanian weavers for centuries, perhaps even for millennia.

Flowers are everywhere in Lithuania! In fields and gardens, sold in the streets and in shops, decorating tables in restaurants. Floral motifs are popular in knitting, too. This “Blossom” design is usually seen as a star or sun or snowflake on mittens from Scandinavia but in Lithuania it is recognized as a flower and often knit with green leaves...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

The earliest sweaters were knitted in the round, on multiple double-pointed needles, producing seamless garments that were custom made to fit the wearer. Sweaters made with multiple colors, such as Norwegian pullovers, were usually knit as plain tubes and cut open to create neck and armhole openings, while others made with single-color texture ...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

I’d forgotten what the first blush of spring looks like in New England. For the first time since I moved away from the Northeast in 1982, I’m being reminded by the greens and pinks and mauves and purples and yellows of spring. The pale colors mimic fall but on a much more muted scale. The music of spring is quiet and light, a flute and guitar d...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

This small pineapple purse is my updated pattern for small bags called reticules that were popular in the Victorian era. I have found instructions in several 19th century knitting books and have used them, along with photos of bags made in the same time period, to create a pattern with instructions, materials, and tools that are more comfortabl...

These socks, made with qiviut-blend sock yarn from Arctic Qiviut are the softest, warmest things that have ever touched my feet. With temperatures not rising above freezing for the last week here in Vermont, I was very tempted to start wearing them before I took photos or wove in the ends!

This triangle shawl is inspired by the rabbit tracks I found in the snow every winter at my home in Colorado. Every time I see those tracks in the snow, I think of winter-white bun- nies with long floppy ears and fluffy tails hopping across fields in the wilds of Alaska. Both the Snowshoe Hare and the Alaskan Hare turn from gray or brown to pur...

This is one of 13 patterns also featured in the new Arctic Lace Armchair Travel eCourse. Get all 13 patterns, plus dozens of lessons, essays, tips, and photos, all for only $50!

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Just when you think you know everything about traditional sock knitting, another little-known tradition shows up to expand your boundaries. Donna Druchunas looked for information on the knitting of her Lithuanian forebears for years, and finally visited the country to learn what she could. What she learned turned out to be a lot!

Length along straight side edge: 16”

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

This scarf was inspired by the beaded wrist warmers from Greenland, where I saw a similar oak leaf pattern. When I was in Vilnius last year and the colors started to change for autumn, I couldn’t resist incorporating this design into a toasty scarf to keep me warm as I explored the city streets. In the center of the Old Town, a park with the re...

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Please note: Due to semi-retirement after 25yrs in the yarn crafting business.

Rug is pictured on the front of the book.

Inspired by elaborate circular rugs knit by Shaker Sisters in the early 1900’s.