The new issue of Piecework came recently and I was delighted to see Barbara Plakans’ article about Jetta Uzane* (1924-2007) and her beautiful Latvian mittens. Much of the information in the article plus additional photos can be found at LatviasFriend.
At the 2000 Oft-Timer’s session at Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp, Lizbeth Upitis announced that she was going to take a group to Latvia in June, 2001—several of us just looked at each other and said “Let’s go!”
We had a wonderful trip, with access to mitten and stocking collections in a number of museums because of the contacts Lizbeth had made during research for her book, and also getting to meet with knitters (with the help of Lizbeth and a guide/interpreter).
One of our trips away from Riga, where we stayed much of the time, was to meet Jetta at her home. A collection of her mittens had been displayed in the US, and Lizbeth returned them to her while we were there.
- Jette Uzane, 1924-2007.
- Jette’s Window (mitten series)
- Jette & Lizbeth Upitis: Jette’s mittens come home.
- At Jetta’s home.
All photos ©2001, E. J. Slayton.
*Rough approximation of the pronunciation is Yet-ta OO-zane; e as in let, short a.
January 26, 2010 at 8:40 am
Wonderful!
January 26, 2010 at 7:02 pm
What a fantastic opportunity! Thanks for sharing the photos and the links. Good to see a post from you. I’ve been a little quiet too.
January 26, 2010 at 7:31 pm
How lovely.