Crafty Tourism, part 2

On the second day of our stay in Jyväskylä we visited (again) the Craft Museum. I have shown you their window exhibition in 2011 and I'm sure I have shown an exhibition with potholders on the wall and soap cups on the floor but I just can't find that post. Well, this is the same place, now with quilt buntings outside.

 

I wonder who made all these.

The trees in front of the museum were covered with knitted graffiti.

This one looks like a milk carton or a fancy birdhouse with no door opening.

Many colours have faded already. They could be hand dyed yarns.

 

  Or someone just liked earth colours.

 

I believe the trees all have fairy lights in the darker months of the year.

 

In the museum it wasn't allowed to take pictures of their new exhibition, but the permanent exhibition was also new to me. The lights were dim and flash was forbidden, but I managed to make some photos. This corset was made of candy wrappers, the delicious mint caramel and chocolate Marianne.

 

A bed quilt used as a coat.

 

A museum must have something old too, and this is an example of Carelian redwork in double running stitch. It is a long (2.5 m), narrow towel typical for Carelia in Eastern Finland.

Headwear to be used with different national costumes. The national costumes are reconstructed after festive clothing worn from the beginning of the 18th century onwards.

 

They can be bought, but also made by hand from the beginning: even weaving the fabric for the skirt and maybe the apron too, sewing and embroidering all the necessary pieces. The price of the DIY kit with fabrics is about one third or half of the complete costume.

 

They are mostly worn by folk dancers or at big celebrations like weddings or big birthdays, but they are not something one would be expected to have in one's wardrobe.

 

The men in the picture above are holding carved  parts of the spinning wheel system (where the bundle of fibres is attached before spinning), a typical gift item from the groom to the bride. Translation for this part was nowhere to be found.

 

At the end of our visit we had a nice surprise: Kaija decided to come home with us for a couple of days. We took a scenic route back home across a lake landscape. This one is through the car window,

but we also stopped where it was possible.

This is from a bridge to the opposite direction. Finland has thousands and more lakes like this, but on a day like this they look at their best.

Today we are melting again, the last few days have been new heat records one after another (yesterday 32.5 C/90.5F), and I would love to be at a lake to keep cool. Today is the final day of the Tour de France, and our three weeks long watching marathon will be over. While watching the cycling with Mr K., I have been crocheting these African Flowers after I finished the socks: