Here we go, it started – the Glove Knitting Retreat in Estonia with five wonderful women. We had a nice lunch in Tartu and took a little walking tour to see the historic hilly downtown. We spent a lot of time studying different books to find the perfect pattern and colors for the gloves. There are so many options to do the cuff. Thousands of patterns to choose from so it is a really tricky job. The lunch at Verska Resto was excellent, such beautiful and tasty dishes.

COLOR-WORK DAY: yesterday we were very busy working on the wrists and all the students got a homework to finish them up. Some quick ones even made nice braids to top of the cuff. That gives a nice transition to the palm.
Today’s goal was to knit color-work up to the thumb opening. During our lunch break, we visited Seto museum and had lunch at Tsäimaja. We met some farm animals and inspected how Setos lived in old times. Then we had a chance to see the textile treasures. Knitting continued throughout the day regardless of the location. I have really eager, busy working participants, so glad to have you around.

FINGERS DAY: we had a very challenging day today, including a lot of math. We needed to calculate how many stitches for each finger is needed, how they are located on the full round. What stitches to put on the scrap yarn and which ones to keep knitting. First we left behind the little finger, then the ring finger and index finger and started knitting the middle finger. It sure looked funny when it was done.
During our lunch hour, we took a stroll down the promenade and drank some refreshing cups of holy spring water. After dinner, we boarded the ship and went off to a sunset tour which gave us an opportunity to observe the local coastline from the waterfront.

THUMB DAY: we are getting very close finishing the glove. Most of the fingers are done, now it’s time to knit the thumb. There are few tricks for it to look nice – so we had to do some more math and logical thinking but we got it.
We had lunch in a magnificent home restaurant Maagõkõnõ at Toomemäe farm house, where chef Sirje treated us with some glorious pike with mashed potatoes, fresh pickles and some chanterelles. For the dessert, we had homemade berry ice cream. Delicious!
We took a nice after lunch walk in the woods near Saatse museum. Also visited their renewed exhibition about Seto woman’s life in old days.

FARM-HOUSE DAY: we toured along the open handicraft farm houses in Seto all day. We started in Obinitsa Kunstizaal for some shopping and find handicraft admiration. Estonian playwright Kauksi Ülle welcomed us in her studio, and shared some treasures from her collection. Then we visited my friend Kairi, who is a passionate mender, recycler, and calls herself an ancient taylor, because of her passion for hand sewing historic men’s pants. Third we visited Rikka Ivvan’s farmhouse where Sigre showed her work and passion which is bobbin lace. We had lunch at Taarka Tarõ and continued to Ingrid’s Kriisa Talo handicraft house for some more Seto find craft. At Värska handicraft union we saw some beautiful woven blankets, bed covers and carpets. Last stop was at Marje’s house where we tried some tablet weaving and woodblock printing. Their exhibition of bed covers was exquisite. Thank you so much for all the talented crafters in Seto.
We have two more tours this summer, come join us!
Please see more info at https://nordicknitters.com/handicraft-tours/
In August we will be hosting two more tours as follows:
The Seto Handicraft Tour will be in August 1-6, 2023 and on Saturday we will be participating the Kingdom Day Festival in Setoland. More info here: https://fb.me/e/2gc0uMD1L
The Haapsalu Lace Knitting Tour will be August 23-30, 2023 and on Sunday we will be attending the Lace Festival events. More info here: https://fb.me/e/2PpGSBuMY