Roositud/Inlay knitting

 

 

A century and a half ago, women from the Tõstamaa area wore beautiful stockings and gloves decorated with inlay ornaments. The ornaments became more and more glamorous over time: the knitting was dense and delicate, mainly consisting of red „roositud“ inlay ornaments spread over the backs of white gloves and covering both sides of stockings. In addition to women's gloves and stockings, the wrists of men's gloves were also decorated with inlay ornaments. The basic motifs of the patterns were often repeated, and the most common motifs had unique names: windmill-winged, cat-pawed, eight-pointed, rake-spiked. Eight years ago, a group of women fascinated by local handicraft traditions gathered again in Tõstamaa to knit gloves in the old way, and it has become increasingly popular since then.