Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Independence Day

There is very little progress on the shawl, so I did not take progress picture of it. I'm still knitting the first part of it.

Since it is our Independence Day and am feeling patriotic I'll tell you a little bit of it...

The declaration of Independence was already in 1917.

Our celebration is very modest the day being in the darkest and coldest time of the year. There are lots of official parties but ordinary people mostly stay at home or gather together for small celebrations. Everyone lights up candles on every window seat and the candles are up for one hour from 18-19 hours (6-7 pm). The sight of this is very beautiful. Often the candles are electrical which is very handy - then you can take a walk outside and admire the sight.

Now that the TV plays such a big role in our lives there are two things that very many people watch. The first is a movie about the war when Finland fought for her independence; this sounds quite gloomy but we don't want to forget our history and want to respect the people who made our independence possible. The second is the reception of the President. It is interesting to see who has been invited this year - there are the musts plus every year some Finns who have done something good to our country and her people. Alltogether I think there are well over 1000 invited. This party being the most important one in the country there are lots of beautiful dresses to see.

One of these days I'm going to knit our flag which is white and blue (!) but haven't done it yet, so you'll see something else and very Finnish...
These cuffs are from a book called: Decorative Crocheting (by Marketta Luutonen, Anna-Maija Bäckman and Gunnar Bäckman). This type of crocheting is typical of the area called Korsnäs in Finland's West Coast. The book features the most beautiful sweaters that combine knitting and crocheting. The sweaters are quite unique and someday I want to make one. The book has patterns for mittens and purses also.

Once you get the technique you can make your own variations...

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous15:07

    Happy Independence Day, Lene!

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  2. Anonymous15:47

    Gratulerer med dagen!

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  3. Happy Independence Day! Very pretty cuffs and mittens, I will have to check that book out. Thanks for the reference.

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  4. Anonymous17:12

    I have my electric "adventsstake" in my front window and I love coming home to it in the evening now that it is so dark.

    Your American readers may like to know that the book you mention, Decorative Crocheting, is available from Nordic Fiber Arts (google those three words and you'll get to the site).

    Has Aki Kaurismäki and his Leningrad Cowboys been invited to the Presidential party?

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  5. Anonymous17:23

    Lene, I've only been reading your blog for less than one month, and it's becoming expensive. I've already spent over $100 (US) on books because of you!! Oh, I'm having a lovely time. . . and thank you, Susanna, for posting the info about Nordic Fiber Arts.
    elizabeth.a.durand [at] gmail [dot] com

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  6. And she crochets, too! Your talents never cease to amaze.

    In one of the back issues of Piecework magazine, there's an article about a kind of decorative crochet from a place (?) called Korsnas (some diacritical marks may be missing.) Is that a Finnish place / technique? Your mittens remind me of the pictures in the article (mostly sweaters.) The article stands out in my memory because I am knitting a pair of gloves from that magazine, so I see the sweater photos when I open the magazine to find my glove pattern.

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