I love vintage knitting books and have my own small collection of nineteenth-century English-language books, but the earliest Lithuanian-language knitting books I’ve discovered so far were published almost a hundred years later. Sodžiaus menas kn. 5: Mezgimo-nėrimo raštai (Village Arts no. 5: Knitting patterns), by Antanas Tamošaitis, came out in 1933 and Mezgimas (Knitting), by Anastazija Tamošaitis, was published in 1935. Together, these two books form a wonderful foundation in Lithuanian knitting. Antanas wrote about the spiritual significance of folk art and documented colorwork motifs and mitten and sock designs from regions around the country, while Anastazija wrote instructions for knitting a variety of accessories using traditional motifs and colors.

These socks are adapted from a pair shown in a black and white photo in Anastazia’s book, Mezgimas. I chose the colors to represent Baltic amber (gold), the Lithuanian forests (green), and the night sky (deep purple), to stand out in contrast against the natural undyed yarn of the rest of the sock.