Summary

Pair of woollen knitted socks with traditional Latvian patterns from the Alsunga Region. They were made by Anita Apinis in Melbourne in the 1970s. Socks such as these are part of traditional Alsunga costumes.

Anita is a second generation Latvian weaver, taught by her mother Anna and then undertook further training at the Melbourne College of Textiles. Anita's parents, Anna and Ervins, migrated to Australia in 1950, after spending time in a displaced persons camp Memmingin in Germany following World War Two. Anna had learnt to weave in Latvia and continued weaving in Australia, becoming one of the few suppliers of Latvian national costumes in the 1950s and 1960s. Anna kept many of her cultural traditions alive by passing them onto Anita.

Physical Description

Pair of knee-length woollen knitted socks. Yellow heel, toe and tops with orange, green and black snowflake design. Pearl knit.

Significance

Significance: These items form part of the Apinis Latvian weaving collection, a collection of Latvian weavings, tools (including a countermarch floor loom), weaving notebooks, costume items and audio visual interviews. Its historical and cultural significance lies in the comprehensive documentation of the story through artefacts and narratives, the quality of the weavings and the rarity of particular items such as the loom created in a German displaced persons' camp after World War II and notebooks kept from the 1930s to preserve traditional Latvian weaving techniques. The collection documents the maintenance and transportation of cultural traditions.

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