Saltwater Mittens from the Island of Newfoundland

Starred review from August 1, 2019
New words and new levels of difficulty might deter many inexperienced knitters, but the curious will be rewarded by this book from Newfoundlanders LeGrow and Scott. The authors lay out in exquisite detail exactly how to fashion their homeland's traditional mittens, be they triggers (thumbs and index fingers), gloves (all five fingers), the classic mitten (the fingerless kind, aka thumby ). They admit that these colorful, geometrically patterned double knits are a challenge, even if they are labeled easy does it, tangly, or over the wharf. However, the authors include all the instructions at the outset, with information on tradition, colors, getting started, and the steps for the 20-plus designs. Color photographs fully showcase not only the individual mitten, but also the possible panoply of hues. Diamonds not the choice? Then select the checkerboarded corner boy gloves, trigger mitts modeled on the tumbling blocks quilt pattern, or Signal Hill, a salute to Morse code with its dots and dashes.The authors' advise remembering to breathe, and not being afraid to pull out stitches.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)