A pair of Russian mittens, made using the technique of single-needle knitting, originated from the Purnema village in the Onega Uyezd, Arkhangelsk Governorate. They belonged to a local resident, Antonina Semyonovna Yevstafyeva, who was born in 1897. The mittens have a geometric brown design. The lower part of the mitten was knitted from white sheep’s wool using a single needle, while the upper part was created with two needles, using two colors of wool — dark brown and white.

The width of the pattern is slightly over nine centimeters. The main pattern is made up of interlocking diamonds, crosses, and branches. This repeating pattern is framed above and below by narrow decorative stripes. The edges of the mittens were rib-knit, and the fingers were lined with brown fabric.

Single-needle knitting was a common practice among both Russians and non-Slavic peoples in the 10th–12th centuries. It was also practiced in neighboring Scandinavian countries, particularly in Sweden. The population of the Russian northwest began using this technique a long time ago.

Knitting needles were often made of brass or copper. Untreated, home-spun sheep’s wool was used. The softest and warmest gloves were made of the fleece of newborn lambs. Mittens and socks were made larger than necessary, as the finished product would be washed in hot water, shrink, and become dense, similar to felt boots.

Work mittens were knitted not only by women but also by men. Mittens made using single-needle knitting were often worn under cloth gloves in winter. These gloves received various names across different regions, such as vachagi, verkhonki, and kalyuchnitsy. Over such mittens, people would put on other mittens made of leather or fur. Some work gloves had a cloth trimming. Sometimes, the same cloth was used to line the fingers.

Such mittens were classified as “Russian” as recorded by expeditions to settlements along the Onega River and the White Sea, including Kyanda, Maloshuyka, Kusherek of the Onega Uyezd; Yarenga, Krasnaya Gora, Una, and Luda of the Arkhangelsk Uyezd, and Sumy Posad of the Kemsky Uyezd. Other names for these gloves were also identified, including naladonki, nadolonki, and delnitsy.