Vipera berus

In last March The Forest got us. Since that it has shown many miracles to us. Today when visiting Forest I found something very interesting. We have been aware of that there might be snakes but now I spotted a real sign of it. It is the skin of the common European adder (Vipera berus). On the picture you can see only a small part of it because it already was so dry and broken. 

In Finland you can meet three snakes: the common European adder, grass snake (Natrix natrix) and Smooth snake (Coronella austriaca). Smooth snake you can meet only on Åland Island. Grass snake you can meet in South Finland. The common European adder is the only snake you can meet in Lapland. And it is the only poisonous snake in Finland. But it doesn't use its poison each time it bites. 

The common European adder is protected animal and you are not allowed to disturb it. Which means that only if you find it near your house you are allowed to remove it to a different location. 

Later today in Forest I noticed one adder in the swamp. I have never seen a snake/adder in wild before. It was beautiful and I felt no fear at all. It was adorable flexible and limber when it moved to hide from me. Meeting the adder was one of the big moments in the wild, like spotting the grey seals a year ago. Actually, from these two blog post you can see the years are never the same what comes the seasons and weather. This year our spring has crashed in fast and assured.

The mosquito are here, which is very early. But also the blooming has started. This is Hare's-tail cotton grass (Eriophorum vaginatum). It is one of my favorite swamp plant. We can meet also cotton grass in Forest.

This is bog rosemary (Andromeda polifolia) which also grows in Forest. It is relatively small swamp area flower. But when it appears with many other bog rosemary plants it is like a pink pearl blanket has spread over the swamp. It reminds wild rosemary / Labrador tea (Rhododendron tomentosum, syn. Ledum palustre), which is my favorite swamp flower, but bog rosemary is much smaller.

SweaterHemming -tutorial

I bought this wonderful Devold 100 % wool sweater from Svalbard, Norway in 2018. That means 8 yrs ago. I also bought that Svalbard-Longyearbye -badge I sew on the sleeve. This sweater has been in "all year around" -use and very dear to me. Now the hems of its right sleeve has started to worn out. (I am right handed.) There are signs of it also in the left sleeve and trunk hem too. That's why I have been thinking how to fix it because otherwise the sweater is still in perfect fit.

Instead of patching I decided to use crocheting. I used simple crochet stitch. It is easy to make also for the beginners and it fades well into the knitting. If the hem has already broken yarns, make sure you make your crochet stitch far enough to make sure you catch everything. You get it very neat when you crochet each stitch equal distance, according to the deepest point your yarn has been broken.

At the end -like in my case- even the new yarn would be different shade, it fits in well. I could have used also white yarn, but I didn't want to. there are different shades of whites too and because the other shade is red I was afraid of the new white would not hide the red under the white so well. Make sure you choose as similar quality of yarn as possible compared to the original sweater. You can go seeking it wearing the sweater. 💕

On the tutorial video above you can see and learn how to make it. It really is FashionNOW. It also saves your personal time, energy and money... not to mention the PlanetEarth. I bet this makes your favorite sweater even dearer because now you fix it yourself and created a new memory!

OOW Mittens No1

I designed and knit mittens for myself. I used loose end yarn from my own design WaterGrassVest project. These mittens match well with the vest. I am knitting woollen gloves to wear under these mittens. It is going to be something extra warm for my hands for the next winter. I used our own OOW yarn. (25% arctic dog wool and 75% Finnsheep wool) (100g = 220m) This is not fast fashion. It is slow craft and FashionNOW.

RainbowMittens No1

Only in January 2026 I was learning Shepherd's crochet. And by MayDay 2026 I was having a workshop about it at annual Rovaniemi Craft Expo because of my job together with all the community colleges of Lapland. Each college had their own workshop around the same table. Next year I'll be there again. Next year the annual Craft Expo in Rovaniemi Lapland will be held 17.-18.4.2026. I will be there again on Saturday 17.4. showing up some other artisan work. You are always welcome to pop in and chat. We don't sell anything, we share only the information. There will be also craft/artisan small business to sell their products.

I designed and made these beautiful RainbowMittens No1 for the show in Rovaniemi. I used Novita 7 veljestä yarn (80 % wool, 20 % polyamide) (100 g = 200 m) for both blue and rainbow yarn. They are made by Shepherd's crochet.

BlackBlack

Yep. It is true. It is dry now and been in the sun light. Accidentally I ended up to plant dye Iron Age black shade. How? Can't tell you yet, because it is the information for my upcoming book, but black it is. Made by the sources that have been locally available always and officially for 300 years, perhaps at least 500. I have used 2 different baths for this black. 

Oops

In May I have stepped to plant dye wool as a natural cycle of the year according to the traditional Forest Sámi life style. These are experiments for my upcoming book.

The traditional plant dye for traditional Forest Sámi knitting patterns is going on well. Red is red and yellow is yellow. Red is made by madder and yellow by special birch leaves.

But very big oops pop out from my green kettle!!! Gosh! It is black. Accidentally. It supposed to be green but I made it Iron Age black. 😆At least it seems black now when it is wet. We'll see how it will turn out when hanging in the sun. 

BobbinLaceBookmark No2

I designed and made this bobbin lace book mark. I used DMC Embroidery Thread and white linen bobbin lace thread for this project. I used blue loose end variegated shades threads that runs from and edge to another. It is very easy and beginners level bobbin lace project.

ChildrenGloves

I designed and knit these pretty knitted gloves for a 4 yrs old child. I used Novita Merino 4 ply yarn (100 % wool) (50 g = 230 m). They are fine, warm, soft and cotton candy pink. Excellent for chilly spring, summer and autumn days up here in the north. They are small but it was fun to knit them. You need shorther knitting needles to make it easier. I used 15 and 10 cm long knitting needles size 2 (EU).

NewTwist

Today we finished the traditional shoe making course at my work with our great teacher Tommi Mantila who runs traditional shoe making courses around Lapland Finland. I made these traditional shoes with a new twist. The teacher helped me to design them. The new twist is that this pair is actually focused on the minimalist shoe / barefoot shoe direction. They are made of softer leather and softer structure with as little heel as possible. They have also some special ergonomic design for my problem feet. Also, they are designed to be used with woollen socks.

I still need to make the shoelaces for them. And I need to grease them at least once more. But I can't wait to start to test them. They will match perfect with my traditional Sámi costume but also with just normal western clothes too. 

LeatherShoes

I have fun at work. Sometimes so fun that I participate on our craft courses on my free time. At the moment I am on a traditional shoe making course. It's a hard sewing job but relaxing and fun. Besides my feet are so small that there is never too much sewing with the shoes. 

People often think there are only reindeer nomad Sámi tribes but that is a colonial and stereotypical point of the view marketed to the other nations by the explorers in the past and the media today. Forest Sámi people for example have rich lifestyle and their source of livelihood never based on one source. Traditionally Forest Sámi vary their source of livelihood according to it what is available: hunting, fishing, berry picking and at least from early 1600 having few sheep. Many Forest Sámi people are very creative and skillful in crafts. They did it so much and well that they sold their craft products on the markets already hundreds of years ago, even in the way that other Sámi people worked as their suppliers.

My Forest Sámi family is more craft makers and suppliers than reindeer nomads. Forest Sámi craft and art of craft is in Kemi Sámi language "tuejje / tuojje" (depending on the dialect). My Forest Sámi great grandpas have made for example quite a lot of traditional shoes and I am bringing it back. 💕

MoreBrowns

In October 2025 I showed you my last season's browns. In the picture above you can finally see also the 8th skein of 100 % wool yarn. Its on the left side. This plant dye experiment is for my upcoming book. Because of the results I received now, I started one more round to go for this plant dye experiment with the shade of brown. I will get the results at the end of summer 2026. Just for the curiosity. Meanwhile I will be editing my upcoming book. 😀