December 1 - Socks On Line

It is this time of the year again. Some people are waiting for the holiday season with excitement and joy, some are stressed and some just couldn't care less. Five times I have made my own advent calendar on this blog, with a photo posting and a few words every day until December 24th, and I thought it would be nice to do it again. Today I have socks hanging on the wash line, just for the photo shoot. Up here in Finland where Santa lives, we don't hand them on the mantelpiece for Christmas.

Santa comes to the door and meets the family by the tree, or if he is busy he just leaves the gifts behind the door. No way could he come through the chimney, because when there is no fire burning, the chimney is closed by shutters to avoid the warmth from escaping.

If you are interested in a really lovely, non-christmassy advent calendar, you should visit my talented artist daughter's blog and/or instagram. She will post her matchbox art every day until Christmas, and her Etsy shop Paperiaarre is filled with beautiful things. You just might find the perfect gift for a friend there.

I hope to see you again tomorrow!

Day 1

My irregular blog Advent Calendar is back. Last year I had knee issues, some other years other things on my mind, but I decided to try again. Just a few words and a picture every day until December 24th or maybe even 25th.

This picture, taken today almost at noon, shows how close to Winter Solstice we are. Our days are getting about six minutes shorter every day for a couple of weeks still.

Welcome back tomorrow to a new picture of our winter.

Advent Calendar 2014

It is time for my Advent Calendar, daily posts with a picture and little words. This will be the fourth one: I started in 2009, the next one was in 2011, then last year and now suddenly for the second year in a row.

The Christmas Season opening parade was yesterday in Järvenpää, Santa arrived very conveniently in a sleigh on wheels.

Christmas Eve

We have a tiny Christmas tree after all! I added my smallest glass baubles to decorate it with memories.

 

The last window in my Victorian style Advent calendar is open, and this is the end of my blog Advent calendar too. I'll be taking a holiday break and come back after it with new crafty posts. I wish you all a peaceful and happy holiday season!

Snowflakes

No snow on the ground. I decided to hang these snowflakes in the window. My mother and I crocheted them many, many years ago.

Rosehips

 

 

 This odd warm season brings unusual Christmas pictures. Where is the snow?

Christmas tree

... but no snow at sight. The little cabins look almost out of place on the market place in Järvenpää, but their Christmas tree is big and beautiful, especially after dark when the lights are shining.

 

Today is the shortest day of the year, Winter solstice. The darkness lasts for 16 hours and 15 minutes here where I live, and we have 58 minutes of dawn and dusk. At the top of Finland the last sunrise for the year was on November 25th, and the next sunrise will be on January 18th next year. This is a long country! But we'll be catching up rapidly, and in three months our day and night are the same as yours, wherever you are.

Christmas Oratorio

Last night I went to the Helsinki Cathedral with my younger son. He is a big Bach fan and for him this was at least the third visit over the years.

 

The concert was Bach's Christmas Oratorio, parts I to III. By the time the chorus Cantores Minores was taking their places I had to put the camera away, so no nice pictures of their performance or the church itself.

 

For me this was the first time, I only knew the Christmas Oratorio from records. Being there in person made the experience unforgettable. The performance was very festive and I believe for many people it means a welcome stop in the busy time before Christmas.

Baubles in a jar

No Christmas tree in the house for us this year, so I put my baubles in a big jar.

Knitting Angel

 

 

I made this years ago for my mother.

Safety first

The beginning of our Winter has always been the season I dislike. The temperature is going down and up again, it is raining, freezing, snowing, melting, freezing ... and it is dark. The result is icy pavements, slippery roads, water on ice, ice under snow. What will happen to elderly ladies when we they walk there? They either walk very, very carefully and get a hurting back, or they slip and break their bones. There must be an alternative! And so there is. Mine is here:

 

 

My new Icebug boots with carbon steel and rubber studs. Safety goes before elegance. High heels are for parties. Pretty shoes are for fine weather. Sensible shoes are for me.

Winter birds

This year we started feeding the bird early, in October. Blue tit and great titmouse.

 

 

 

We had lots of birds coming, but now they seem to have found other places where to feed. These are European greenfinches.

 

 

Maybe they don't like the sunflower seeds they need to peel and only find a tiny skinny little seed inside. This little mountain of peels started growing sunflower sprouts with little green leaves and all at the end of November. The Autumn and beginning of Winter have been unusually warm and snowless in this part of the country.

A bullfinch couple has arrived; they are hiding in the forest for the snowless part of the year.

While I was supposed to be cleaning the house ...

... I was putting together these:

 

to make this:

 

I hope you spend your time in a useful way.

Folded stars

Yesterday I was crafting something my DD showed me on line. Here is the link to a mother and daughter (both very young ones!) crafting together: Pysselbolaget. Scroll further down and you will find the instructions in English as well. I folded a Post-it note while going through the pictures and instructions and it was easy to learn all the folds at once. The most difficult part was to get the hole in the middle as round as possible. Finding the glue was not easy either.
I used gift wrapping paper and my quilting tools (the old rotary cutter!), and I cut my squares 7 cm or 2 3/4" . Tiny squares are more difficult to fold. This is a traditional origami and you can find the instructions on many sites.

Have fun crafting, with or without daughter. My daughter's beautiful stars are here.

Short Days

This is the time of the shortest days of the year. The Winter Solstice is next week, but the sunset time is already fixed at 3.12 pm for eight days. The mornings will still change for darker, as the sun will rise about one minute later every day until Winter Solstice. From today's 9.16 we will go to 9.23 on the 21st. After that, the sun will start setting later but also keep rising later until the end of the year, just by two minutes, while the sunset time will have changed to 10 minutes later. Some time in January we really can see and feel the change in the amount of light.

The Giveaway Gift

The gift to celebrate my 600th blog post has been sent over the ocean. I tried to choose goods that travel well.

 

 

The Finnish tastes are rye crisps, gingerbread, cloudberry chocolates and Xylitol chewing gum. Xylitol's dental-friendly qualities are a Finnish discovery.
In the background is a ball of Finnish Novita Nalle wool, enough for a pair of socks or two tiny ones.
The birch leave felted on white Finnish sheep's wool hides a soap, so you can have a washcloth and soap in one. This one came from Villa Cooper. The tiny black tin in front of the soap is Vitalis cream for chapped lips and hands. In my childhood it was used to protect the skin from frostbites. Later this proved to be not true, but the cream's other uses are still popular. The bigger tin on the right shows Moomin characters, famous Finns. The last item is a CD with typical Finnish dance music from years back. We have our own interpretation of tango, less passionate and energetic and far more serious and sentimental than the Argentine tango. I hope this record reflects the Finnish life in a way Dolores will somehow recognize as familiar.

Once again the Flying Mitten

On Monday I just had to pop in the knitting café Lentävä Lapanen again.

 

The shop is just a little over one year old.

It looks like knitters have found this wonderful place and their great selection of yarns from near and far.

These yarns are from near, from Finnish sheep.

 

I wonder if they could start a day care group for yarn addicts?

 



Pink Ribbon Socks

In the evenings I like to knit or crochet when we sit and watch TV or just the fire, or Mr K might read a book. I can't read and knit at the same time, so I just knit.

 

 

The Pink Ribbon campaign has spread from mere ribbons to various products. Years ago I bought a set of Fiskars scissors in pink instead of the usual orange. This year, you could buy cleaning products, chocolate, plastic shopping bags or a limited selection of Finnish wool yarns dyed in shades of pink a red, and a pattern booklet with 19 amazing sock patterns. Each skein of wool brings 0.80 € to the campaign.

 

 

I have not knitted this kind of patterns before, so I made the socks simpler, with just the one row of roses at the top. Here on the Finnish Craft Organisation's website you can see the patterns they designed for the campaign. Their other pages are in English too, but this one is just in Finnish.

 

The pattern was very challenging for a beginner like me, with up to 10 stitches in one colour before the other colour was used again. Don't look for differences between the two socks, there are many!

End of the tour in Villa Cooper

Here is the favourite article for Christmas:

 

Hand knitted wool socks are our bestseller, especially as Christmas gifts. Not everyone has the time or the skills to knit their own, and they appreciate the craft club ladies who know how to make the socks look nice, fit perfectly, and especially for women's and children's socks follow the latest trends. Men seem to prefer traditional grey socks.

 

Modern Christmas decorations and a glimpse of a straw goat, a very traditional decoration.

 

Wreaths made of different materials.

These are my favourites,  the materials come from the nature.

 

I hope you enjoyed the tour and I wish you could come and see this place in person.

The tour continues

There is a closet under the stairs in Villa Cooper's old dining room. It is used for small scale exhibitions. This time the theme is old toys from our members. These are from the 1940's to 1980's.

 

More tonttu elves.

 

Himmeli traditional straw decorations in the dining room.

More to follow!