"Uzorne Viazane Komi" and other books on Komi traditions and patterns

Since a recent project was the Komi Cap I decided to write about some books containing information about the Komi tradition, people and patterns.

My absolute favourites are two books by Galina Nikolaevna Klimova: "Uzorne Viazane Komi" (Knitted Patterns of the Komi) 1978, and "Tekstil´nyi ornament Komi" (Komi Textile Ornamentation) 1984. 

They are in Russian, which means that  most of the information in the text is lost to me, but they contain a lot of charts that make up for that. Very hard to find copies of these books.

In the book "Finno-Ugric Folk Art", 1977, by Istvàn Rász there is interesting information regarding many Finno-Ugric people, no knitting patterns though.

If you want to know more about the Komi religion, mythology, traditions and rites you should read "Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies - Komi Mythology". The English edition is based on the Russian original from 1999 (Russian Academy of Sciences, Uralic Department, Komi Scientific Center Institute of Language, Literature and History, Ministry of Culture and Higher Education of the Republic of Komi).

"The Encyclopaedia of Uralic Mythologies is a descriptive and analytic compendium of the mythologies of the people speaking the Uralic languages - from the Lapps in Northen Europe and up to the Selkups and Nganasans in Siberia. The people of the Uralic linguistic family being the aborigines of the Eurasiatic North survived a long and complicated history and preserved their original religious and mythological traditions, where traces of primitive beliefs and archaic religious systems (e.g. shamanism) merge into ancient influences (e.g. the Indo-Iranian and Ancient Germanic) and into the later impacts of modern religions. ...."

And then Charlene Schurch: "Mostly Mittens, Traditional Knitting Patterns from Russia´s Komi People". This book has also been called "Knitting Marvelous Mittens, Ethnic Designs from Russia" and "Mostly Mittens. Ethnic Knitting Designs from Russia, Revised Edition" in later editions. There are lots and lots of nice patterns here.

Komi Cap - Knitting Patterns from the Komi tradition

The geometric patterns of the Komi people have long fascinated me. Charlene Schurch has written a book with patterns for mittens based on patterns from the Komi tradition called "Mostly Mittens - Traditional Knitting Patterns from Russia´s Komi People"

The book is full of fantastic patterns, often in quite daring colour combinations. I think that it is a good book worth having because of the patterns and for inspiration. As the title says, most of the items in the book are mittens. I have some doubt as to the chosen construction of the thumb, since it is placed at the side of the hand and will inevitably effect the fit of the mitten by turning it lopsided when used.

Charlene Schurch has in this pattern given an example of how to turn the mitten patterns into cap patterns. Since the book is full of mittens patterns you are free to start experimenting creating your own cap patterns.

I followed Charlene´s cap pattern with one exception, I omitted the ribbing at the start and used a twined knitting cast-on and an old pattern from a twined knitted sock that I saw in Dalarna for the beginning of the hat.

I think that this is a nice pattern, and I recommend taking the time it takes knitting. The original is knitted in green, yellow, orange and red. I wanted more subdued colours so I chose four natural colours instead.

The yarn I used is a two-ply wool from Filtmakeriet called 2-trådigt klassiskt ullgarn.

Enough of sock knitting for now

These two pairs of guest socks will be the end of sock knitting for now. They are often appreciated since most of our friends live in apartments, and as a rule seem to have several degrees warmer at home than we have in our house. All in all five pairs since October.

Making space for 2013

Last week we added a bookshelf to make more room for our books on knitting and other crafts. Most books that were bought last year ended up on the floor or on a chair. Not a very nice or practical situation. This is definitely a better solution. Now, we have space left for more books on knitting! :)

I wish you all the best for 2013!