Book Review: Saltwater Classics (Caps, Vamps, and Mittens from the Island of Newfoundland)(OT)

Saltwater Classics, (Caps, Vamps, and Mittens from the Island of Newfoundland*) by Christine Legrow and Shirley Scott (Boulder Books, 2019, 250 pp paperback, $29.95) Review by Skye Anderson

Love the Cover! Front and Back!

"Tradition is a curious thing." And so begins this lovely book of color and patterns and history and lore in 'all about caps and vamps and mittens.'

Stunning photography on every page - of the ocean coast and, of course, of mitten patterns that reflect the needed colors of winter by the sea. With pages of terms and abbreviations, and, as in Saltwater Socks, cute descriptors of the levels of difficulty** (page 31).

Be Bold!

What makes a Newfoundland mitten?

A ribbed, striped wrist. a thumb gusset, a salt and pepper pattern, a round or picket-fence top, and an optional trigger finger, all illustrated beginning on page 39. The patterns are all the same yet different at the same time. Knitting simply with different colors make a different mitten!

Stitches alternate colors and sometimes the front and back of the mittens differ! What fun!

----------------------------------------

*The Canadian province, Newfoundland and Labrador, is composed of the island of Newfoundland and a mainland portion called Labrador.

**Easy Does It, Tangly, Over the Wharf (easy, intermediate, advanced, respectively)