First Finish of the Year 2015

Happy New Year everyone!

Naturally this doll has its beginning in the old year, babies take their time. He is my 65th Unicef doll, once again for my sister in Germany. She has by now taken care of the vaccinations of the babies of almost a whole village, as each doll is adopted for a fee that buys all the vaccinations for one real child.

As this doll is not for little ones to play with, I could make his shirt with tiny buttons, and the hair is a machine sewn fringe hand sewn on the head, not recommended for children under 3 years either, but looks a lot better than  individual strands of wool yarn sewn directly on the head, like a ryijy rug.

The knitting pattern is one our grandmother used for our mittens, with a new look from the self striping yarn. I used the same yarn for his socks.

We have started a new bird spotting list at the beginning of the year, and already one rare friend is on the list: the Eurasian treecreeper. We have put special special birdhouses for them in the forest but they have not been used yet. Almost every year we notice this little bird climbing up the oak we see through the kitchen window, or in the silver birches in the garden. They don't come to the bird feeder.

My last Christmas flowers. I hope you like the scent of hyacinths!

Christmas Parade

Yesterday I went to see the Christmas parade in town, as I had never been there before. There were elves, naturally, in their red suits.

There was an angel, or Lucia, or a snow queen, I couldn't tell which, but she was wearing white.

Animals were invited to march too, and so there was an alpaca, favourite of many children.

Next came many dogs walking with their owners, some very small ones came first

and some really big ones followed:

More tonttu elves, and a pig looking very satisfied as she was not going to end up on a Christmas dinner table. We traditionally eat ham at Christmas.

And finally there was the clipiti clop of horse shoes and ringing of bells as the most important person, Joulupukki, arrived

sitting in his sleigh with his Mrs Santa. They had put wheels under the sleigh as we still have no snow here in the Southern Finland. Santa was waving to children on the other side, so I didn't get his face on the picture. Anyway, he is the original Father Christmas, living at Korvatunturi near the Arctic Circle.

I had to take this picture of Santa's sleigh when he went to talk with the children. This is a very old Finnish ryijy rug, all worn out (the blue spots) by hard use. Rugs like this were originally used for warmth in sleighs and as bed covers with the furry side facing the sleeper. The wool yarn has been dyed with plants, and some colours have been harder on the wool than the brown and the pink. In this link you can read more about this traditional textile.

They lit the lights in the big Christmas tree at the square, but I will show it later when I can take a picture when it is dark.

Today I thought I should start my Christmas crafting, so I made this wreath for our door. By the time I was making the last quarter, I was getting the idea how it should be done. Next time I'll try to make a round base ring.

All sewing has bee so secret that I don't have anything to show you this time. Enjoy the Advent time and remember to take time to notice the nice smells of baking, the favourite songs you hear and the beautiful flowers and decorations starting to show up everywhere.

Exhibitions in Helsinki

Last Wednesday I had a cultural day with my daughter in Helsinki. We went to see three exhibitions before I had my own programme and Kaija went shopping for some new jeans. Our first address was Design Forum, their exhibition celebrating the 130 years of Suomen Käsityön Ystävät (Friends of Finnish Handicraft) (The link's English version is at the moment under construction). You may remember that I have told about this organization in  some of my VTT posts and when I tried to explain the ryijy rugs. The exhibition was called YSTÄVÄT & ystävät - Friends and friends.

 

The work exhibited was made by contemporary handicraft artists as a tribute to the traditional skills.

Shadow of a piece constructed like a himmeli.

Textile surface on clocks and stools.

Modern embroidery. I didn't quite understand what this table setting was about.

A ryijy rug.

Our next address was not far, the Päivälehti Museum. There was a Moomin Exhibition, The Great Adventure, celebrating the publishing of the very first Moomin book 65 years ago. There were wall-size pictures from the picture books. This is my super favourite, "the book with holes", where Moomintroll is bringing home milk early in the morning but ends up looking for Little My. The blue part of the picture is in the book on the next page, the yellow path continues on the other side.
 

To cut the long story short, this is the second last page where they have survived all dangers and see the dear Moominmamma sitting in the garden and cleaning red currants. She is not asking any questions, just happy to see her son and his friends. The milk has gone sour, so there will be juice for everyone.

Kaija opened the door of the tall Moomin house in this picture:

This picture is from another picture book, Who Will Comfort Toffle?

The bat's eyes were holes!

 

I looked in first and then took a picture for you to see:

This is The Groke. I quote the Wikipedia text for those who don't care about links: "The novelist Alison Lurie has described the Groke, a black, hill-shaped creation with glowing eyes, as a walking manifestation of Nordic gloominess – everyone she touches dies, and the ground freezes everywhere she sits."

There were also originals of the Moomin cartoons, but they could not be photographed. We did listen to the sea in big sea shells like the children in the picture of my link. In the evening I gave Kaija the hole book I used to read to them when they were little. I still have my own from the 50's, and when there some day will be grandchildren, I will buy a new book to read to them. The holes could so easily be torn!

We also walked to the Amos Anderson Museum to see the Dutch mathematician M.C. Escher's Impossible Worlds. All my pictures were out of focus, so if you follow the link you will notice he is the guy who can draw water running uphill and fish turning into birds.

Spring report:

Snow was taken from the streetside so the streets and pavements will not be icy for too many weeks. The nights are cold but days are often sunny so the snow has started to thaw even with temperatures below freezing point. This is a great time to get a facial suntan, with the snow reflecting the sunlight. I will stay indoors sewing, as it is too cold to sit on the verandah at this time of the year. The icy streets don't tempt me for unnecessary walks.

Pictures from the Elma 09 Fair

Do you remember the paper twine flower curtain from Dec 8th? Here are some more pictures from that fair. Wool rowings in lovely colours:

People could try their hand on sewing a ryijy rug. Big ones are woven in a loom.

It was also a countryside fair with farm animals. Here is Viola, the winner of the Prettiest Cow in the City pageant. With her baby. They were moving so fast that all my other pictures were just a blur.

Vintage Thingies Thursday 19 - Ryijy Rugs

This will be the final part of my ryijy stories, as I don't have a finished ryijy. With this post I'm also playing along with Suzanne. Click here to see who else is showing their old stuff today.





This is a close-up of a ryijy cushion cover WIP my mother has made sometime in the 1960s, I think. In my earlier post I wrote about the threads used - naturally I should have written yarns! We use one word - lanka - for both types, specifying them with a prefix for sewing (thread) and wool (yarn) .

The pattern my mother used was not Finnish but from the Swedish yarn manufacturer Marks. We have been just 200 years separated from Swedish rule, so it is obvious that we share a lot of culture and tradition with them. You can click all my pictures to see the details. The drawing shows how the knots are made and the loops are formed around a wooden "ruler".

These are the yarns from this and some other rug projects. The kit included several big needles for the different colour combinations.

This is the cover made from the kit shown above.

The reverse looks like this:

When a ryijy rug is woven on the loom, there will be some rows of ground weft between the rows of knots, to make the rug lighter and more flexible. In this modern ryijy the knots are very close together. Many shades of yarn are knotted together, and the length of the yarns varies to give the textile surface more structure.

There was another cushion cover waiting for the final touch by me. From reverse:

And the right side:

If you are new here or just came for the Vintage Thingies and this history made you curious, I have just posted here about a book I received. The book covers a collection of Finnish ryijy rugs over a period of 270 years.

Then click the link at the top of this post to see who else is feeling vintage today. The link list was long already when I joined today!

What is in the book?

Today I'm showing you some pictures from my new book. All the ryijy rugs are from a privat collection over a time gap of 270 years. The ryijy or rya (in Swedish) is a typical northern textile with rows of tuft knotted in a warp, and ground weft between the knotted rows. I'm no expert on weaving so my explanation may not be perfect!





These rugs were originally used in boats and sleighs as well as in beds to keep the traveller or sleeper warm. Later they were used on beds and the decorativeness was getting more important.



Here you see the structure of the ryijy rug, worn in heavy use. Blogger turned my picture again.

A new use was in the church for the wedding pair to kneel on, and the rugs were decorated with many symbols like the tree of life. The most beautiful rugs were then hung on the wall or used on benches or rocking chairs. During the first decades of last century many patterns were created by artists and sold through Suomen Käsityön Ystävät, the Friends of Finnish Handicraft.

Later a popular way of making your own ryijy without a loom was to use a woven base and a needle to make the knots. I remember my mother making cushion covers with this method.

Here is an example of a modern ryijy rug, designed by Raija Rastas:

See the close-up and the lovely variety of threads.

You can see more examples on the site of the Friends of Finnish Handicraft.
I will try to find the unfinished cushion cover I have from my mother, and make some pictures for you to see.