SámiCradleHat

I made a traditional style SámiCradleHat. It is an infant hat called "komsiolakki" in Finnish. Lakki means a hat. Komsio is a special Sámi type of cradle made of wood and leather. You can carry it or hang it for example from a roof. It is made for the baby's sleep but also to protect the baby.

Opposite to the tradition, it has a merino wool lining that is left over material from the tube scarf project. According to the tradition it has traditional Forest Sámi decoration style.

Above the ear, on the both sides of the head, it has a small decoration for the protection of the baby. Can you spot the red and green squares? Can you spot the hole in the green square? Previously I told you the holes crate the place where noidi/shaman can travel between the worlds (present here for us alive ones, above for gods and below for the dead ones). The holes create also the spots where the evil can be driven away so that it can't master you or start to live in you or get attached to you in any way. It just goes through like a wind. This symbolic traditional figure creates a huge blessing for the new born baby. Gods and ancestors can come to protect the baby and evil can't catch the baby. That's why the symbolic holes are on the both sides of the head.

The figure on the top of the head is a personal blessing for the baby. It represents the sun, the water and the reflection of the sun on the water surface. So, there is that reflection to chase the evil away despite there is not any shining elements like glass or silver. By this blessing I send sunshine and safety for the baby's life.

AutmnColors

Earlier this month I dyed by Natural Indigo these 700g of our own snag grey AAW yarn (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool, 10% nylon)  (100g = 238m). Today I brought them to my mother-in-law. She wants to knit me a long wool dress. I can't wait it to be ready!

Today we took Nuka...

...and Pii for a break out walk from hunting.

We went for a walk around the bay.

It is very beautiful out there!

This week I also received a souvenir from the woods. He brought me an abandoned wasp nest which He had noticed while hunting for the food for us.

Lately

What special I've done lately? Well, you know how my summer went with Poor Pii. That's why our garden has been left mostly on its own. With arriving autumn and the fact that so far Poor Pii has not needed another surgery, we have had time to gardening and harvesting. Also, I have accepted the fact that everything planned for this summer can't be finished because we really don't have long summer. Today I woke up with +2 Celsius degrees. I am not fighting against it what I can't change. Also, I have chosen to look after Poor Pii instead of paying attention on something else. Some things have been done and one of them was to put the winter lights on. No solar ones because there is no enough daylight to load the batteries. That's why we use the led lights and electricity.  

I have received few special gifts that are meant to be taken to a seita. They were handed to me so I brought them to my home seita. It means it locates on my property and is in my family private use. That white stone in the pic is Milky Quartz. We call it literally Snow Quartz or rather Ukonkivi which means something like Thunder God's Stone. Our home seita is very important to me and provides me a great place to thank about something. 

I've also had some gluten free sweets. If you are visiting Finland and seek some safe & gluten free sweets there are not many choices. My favorite are Pirteät Kirpeät Aakkoset or Choco Aakkoset. aakkoset means alphabets and the name comes from it that each sweet has an alphabet on it. When we were kids we tried to share the sweets by words. 😃 The glass bowl is very traditional Finnish design and it really has been my favorite since childhood. It is Finnish design by Iittala and it is called Ultima Thule. I love it in bright glass shade because it really reminds melting ice on a long but warm spring time. Ultima Thule is something you inherit. Ice is very interesting element, lika human nature. It can be sharp, soft, cold and warm... even all at the same time.

I've learnt also a new method. We'll, not a new one, I've done cupping therapy before. But I have learnt to use glass cups instead of silicone. I had to because I found these glass cups at a charity shop. It was the whole pack and cost only 15 €. You can't pass by such a bargain, especially if you have only 4 silicone cups and they are all different size! So, now I am practicing to use glass cups for the cupping therapy. I am also learning not to break them. So far no damages!

We can have many opinions about cupping. I take it as a physiological relief for the muscles, muscular relaxation and as a bonus you may have also your mind a bit more relaxed. I never use the puncture in cupping. There is no need to that. You get the benefits anyway. 

OMG

My colleague at work faced a horrible disaster last spring. She had put her French cardigan to hang outside to make the air to clean the wool. That is how you clean woolen garments. You put them outside to air and they get clean! This time she noticed someone had ate her beautiful cardigan! At the end she found out it was birds who had started nesting and needed something warm to build their nest. We both agree there must be very romantic baby girl tits in the world now! Princess like. She asked if I could do anything with the holes.

Well, I can always patch them. For the patching I used DMC stranded cotton embroidery thread. To make it more firm and not stretching. I wanted to create a base for something. See...

The cardigan had hang from the hanger on which the tits hand been sitting and peck fibers out from the garment. That's why both shoulders had faced the disaster but no other parts. 

To hide the patching I did some freehand embroidery over the shoulders.

It is mohair cardigan so I used mohair yarn for the embroidery. In this way she could at least wear it at home and cottage. But she liked it and is going to use it at work again.

This is FashionNOW. And also preserving memories. It was a gift she had received from a very important person in her life.

Notice: I have made a small Patching Wool -tutorial in 2014!

TubeScarf

I made a 100 % merino wool tube scarf for myself. I had one last winter. I visited at Oulu Theater and lost it there. It was with my jacket when I left it at the secured jacket service but it never returned. Merino wool tube scarves are pretty expensive: 25-30 €. That's why I started to find out how much it would cost to sew one.

I ordered some merino wool fabric from Germany because in Finland it is so creepy expensive. I was not quite sure which I liked and how it would turn out. At the end I made many merino wool tube scarves. These will be gifts for the family. 

You must be curious to read how much the home made merino wool tube scarf cost. 7€ for one!!! It doesn't take many minutes to cut and sew it. If you can sew, it is easy to save 20€ per one merino wool tube scarf. It really is the beginner level project!