Mittens from Around Norway: Over 40 Traditional Knitting Patterns Inspired by Folk-Art Collections Hardcover – May 23, 2017

I knit a lot of Norwegian style mittens. I was disappointed in designs in the book. That is obviously subjective. I thought the ones on the cover were gorgeous in the photo, but once I saw the pattern, I was disappointed, because I don't like the design of the top of the mittens at all. On the subject of patterns, this book provides the pastern for the right mittens and tells you to just knit a mirror image of it for the left mitten. I think for the price of the book, charts for both the right and left should be included.On the plus side, there are lots of great photos of old mittens and knitters.

This is without a doubt the very best pattern book of mittens that I have ever owned! Unlike the Schoolhouse Press Latvian Mitten fiasco of a book that I bought that had plenty of charts but very little in the way of instruction, this book gives you "EVERYTHING" you need to know to understand "HOW TO READ THE CHARTED COLORWORK PATTERN" for each mitten pattern. There is a huge variety of mitten patterns, most are for adults, several adorable ones for children. Many of the yarns used are yarns I would not recommend using like Dale Baby Ull (this used to be a great yarn but not any longer). Beware though, there is one little issue with the book. For the adult pattern size, it just says men/women adult. It does not say what the finished size of the mitten is based on the gauge she used to work the patterns (many are made with US 0, 000 dpn's, yikes) but most patterns do call for fingering weight yarn. Perhaps this information can be obtained from the author through the publisher?) (This was translated from Norwegian to English.) She recommends changing your gauge to make a smaller or larger mitten (ie. larger needles and yarn and vs. versa) so there is some planning you'll need to do on your own to get the "right size" gauge for the desired finished size of your mittens. I have several colorwork mitten patterns with great charts but terrible instructional information (ie. how to read the charts, what do "missing stitches" mean and how they appear on the chart, how to decrease in pattern on the left and right side of the mitten etc. so that information is invaluable to me for working with other pattern books that I already own as well. The English language translation is excellent! The book doesn't offer a lot of history, just enough to provide a basic history for Norwegian mittens and the various pattern variations. Its mostly a pattern book, which is fantastic! Many were reproduced from originals found in museums across Norway!

This book has something for advanced beginners upward. The pattern of the book is the same throughout" a page of history, a photo, a graph, instructions. The page of history is always informative, and I'm glad I took the time to read through it like a normal book, because it sent me down several rabbit holes. The patterns are not all to my liking, but the great thing about a book like this is that there are so many patterns, that I could just knit the ones I like and still stay occupied for a long while. This is definitely worth the prize for both the information and the patterns.

This book is amazing! I would say that many of these patterns are not for beginners, but WOW they are stunners. There isn't a whole lot of instruction which is why I give it 4 stars in general, but there is enough for an accomplished knitter. I did learn a new way to knit a thumb hole that I had never seen in another mitten pattern which is genius.

So many beautiful patterns here. For each, the author shows an "inspiration item" and gives the history of the region or the pattern, along with how she modified it. The patterns are well written and photographed well. It's wonderful to keep the traditional items alive.

So, this book is not great. Mind you I have only done one pair from it but after almost completing the first mitten (4 rows from the top of the pattern) I had to tear it out completely and start over. I wish I had taken a picture but I was so frustrated with the result it did not even occur to me. The cuff was overly long and the exact width of the rest of the mitten, the fingers were the same width as the hand giving the shape an unplesant bulky look. Not impressed. Also the pattern grids have absolutely no guidelines so in 60-80 stitch patterns you are forced to count EVERY single tiny box in patterns with long runs of single colors which is annoying at best and at worst can ruin your work or at least waste your time. I gave it 3 stars still bc the patterns are beautiful I just think they are outdated. The author just copied p patterns from old books making no effort to update them in any way which feels lazy.

Gorgeous photos and great patterns. These are small gauge mittens, most use fingering and light fingering weight yarns such as Dale Baby Ull, Ask Hifa 2, Rauma Gammelserie and Rauma Lamullgarn. I love these traditional yarns, but you could substitute Knit Picks Palette, Koigu, or any one of the many gorgeous indie dyed sock yarns on the market for a less traditional look. There are tutorials in the front, with nice photos for the thumb tutorial. The colorwork patterns are charted, but the patterns also include clear written instructions so you are not left on your own to figure out how to turn the chart into a mitten. Wonderful vintage photos and historical anecdotes are sprinkled throughout. Highly recommended!

This is a stunning book. The stories are enchanting and the photography is absolutely gorgeous. I would have given five stars but for the fact that only one of each mitten is charted. The reader is asked to "reverse the chart" in order to complete the other mitten. This may be easy for some, but because I have dyslexia, it poses a problem for me. I will have to scan the charts and reverse them in photoshop before proceeding. This is just something to be aware of before purchasing the book, and may not matter to some readers. I would have happily paid more for a book with charts for both the right and left hand of each design.

At first I was very excited to knit from this book, but having tried one of the patterns, I would be careful with these patterns, they are light on instructions and rely on the reader being experienced at knitting Nordic mittens. First there is a problem with instructions for the thumb, the author recommends knitting across the thumb stitches with waste yarn, then placing the stitches back to the left needle and knitting them in pattern. The problem with this method is it stops you from trying the mitten on for length, which brings me to the second problem.I followed the pattern to the letter and the row, and ended up with a mitten nearly 3in's too long!So I would recommend placing the thumb stitches on scrap yarn, and backward loop cast on the replacement stitches, this way you will be able to try your glove on for length.What I do like about this book is very clearly printed charts for the mittens, very good quality pictures, varied styles of patterns, lots of cable patterns too, interesting information on the history of Norwegian mitten knitting.You will need to be a very experienced knitter to have success with these patterns.

This book has a number of very attractive patterns for Norwegian mittens, each accompanied by a short history of the design. Although the author has tweaked the patterns slightly they all retain the spirit of the original, sometimes historic, work. I have recently become a fan of Nordic knitting, and this book has reassured me that it is going to be possible to pull off a pair of hand knitted Nordic mittens of my own. I have been a knitter for many years, and I have many books on the subject; this book did not disappoint me at all, when sadly some have.

I was expecting more stranded colour-work mittens like those on the cover but there are plain stocking stitch mittens and single colour lace mittens, children's mittens and even some for a baby. I haven't attempted to knit any of the patterns yet, I'm hoping that I will be able to make a pair of stranded mittens, the charts look easy to follow.

Great book with lovely patterns and information about the history of mittens. Would recommend. Also worth paying a bit more for the hardback edition which makes it far easier to keep the page open when reading the patterns. Would have given 5 stars if there had been a better explanation of which yarns to use

Beware, knitters! This is probably a lovely book if you are Norweigian but I have sadly realised the chances of me actually being able to interpret the instructions and knit a pair are nil. I am an experienced English knitter but clearly Norwgian knitting is very different. Sadly for me it was a waste of money!