Songs my Mother taught me # 7

 When my mother married and had children shortly after WW2, there were shortage of almost every thing in Norway. For five years house, clothes and food supplies had been forced shipped from Norway to Germany, leaving us with crumbs and ration cards. Housewives were busy lining up in stores when special offers were on the market. My father had priority, because he worked in an office where he had to wear a suit, a white collar shirt and a tie. I remember my mother bought him suits with two trousers, so they would last longer. When the trousers were too worn, she snip them back to pieces, wash and iron the fabric and turn the fabric inside out. Thus she had material for clothes to my brother and me. Recycling was a must and not only a virtue.
My ski suit had red checkered fabric on the collar and the pockets. I thought I was very well dressed. My brother got an overcoat from my mother's old old winter jacket and had home knitted, thick tights made from  and old jumper. The trick with wool yarn was to range up the knitting, then wash it gently and let it dry around the long side of some newspapers. This way it would stretch out again.
My grandmother had 18 grandchildren in Norway to whome she knitted caps, scarves and mittens for Christmas. The sons in law got long, gray socks. My brother is wearing a grandmother cap on this picture.
 

 

My mother never stopped her handicraft labor. She would always have two or three projects waiting beside her armchair. She embroidered national costumes, bunads,which would last almost forever. Serina has a Hardanger bunad with pearl embroidered breast cloths, belt and purse. She used the same items from when she was four till the age of 12, one short and one long skirt, shirt and apron included. Now Serina has inherited my mother's bunad and also have one my mother made for her confirmation. I have had my bunad with lots of silver from my youth. This way we have dresses for Christmas, weddings, confirmations and May 17th celebration. Indeed a worthwhile investment.

Normally we ship at least 8 garbage bags filled with clothes to charity every year. I guess we have done so this year already. Nevertheless Serina is attending a sewing class just now, in order to recycle some of her grandmother's old garments. She's doing it from love and not from need. I think it's a wonderful way to honor and continue my mother's heritage.

Photo  © 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher

Christmas decor by my Mom

Theme for this Ruby Tuesday is Christmas decorations crafted by my mother. Christmas time is very special to our culture, first and foremost because it is Christ Mass. We celebrate Christmas Eve. It starts when the church bells are chiming the night in at 3 pm. A reminiscence from Catholic times in Norway 500 years ago.

For table decoration I cover the tablecloth with place mats. My mother has crouched pieces for plates

and glasses in red cotton. Sets of six, for our own core family.

These pot holders were made in the seventies, using cotton, insulation, glue and embroideries. I love this couple and have never met their likes.
My mother never liked mass production. Her products are therefore very special.

Yuletide is also an even elder celebration of winter solstice, December 21st. Our yule-nisse is a very far relative of Santa Claus. He is in fact a tiny fellow living in barns and require special treatment at Christmas time, such as porridge and leftovers from the heavy yule dinner. If he's not well waited upon, he'll make nisse knots in the girls long hair and the cows will produce sour milk.
The nisse family are playful, but also craving.
They have the power to protect and spread peace on the farm, but will only do so, if well treated.

My mother painted these three plates for Gunnar, Serina and me in the eighties. I cherish them highly, and would cry if anything happened to them.
The red nisse hoods are knitted by wool, and used in many ways, not only in Christmas time. During the war, ( Yes, WW2 is what we mean by the war. In contrast to others we were actually occupied for five years, and the wounds are still not healed) as a symbol of Norwegian resistance. The nazi leaders actually forbade Norwegians to use the nisse hood. Shot was he who didn't obey.

These nisse maidens are made by fabric print and embroidery. My mother again. She cut the forms, made the printing and sewed pattern. They are originally meant to be curtains, but this year I have used them for kitchen table cloth.

Little by little the table gets messed up during advent time. Then this bouquet of tulips, which I received for my birthdays was freshening the table up. Thank you, Mia.
Now the family is gathered and in just five days the waiting will be over.
Sometimes I think that the waiting is almost as precious as the celebration.
December is filled by preparation and joyful expectation, plus two birthdays in our family.
Joy to the world.

Visit teach Mary for more Ruby Tuesdays here

Knitting Socks, a crash course

My Mom still thinks knitting socks is a sport for sissies.
I, on the other hand, haven't knitted socks since 5th grade.
No, that's a lie. When I went to nursery school and didn't have much money I knitted striped leftover yarn socks for the whole family.

Here's a crash course for beginners.
1. You need 5 double pointed knitting needles. 12 stitches on four needles, 48 in all, plus one extra to fold over the first needle to make a ring.
The rib is made by knitting 2 ordinary stitches and 2 purled
till the rib is as long as you like it.

My mother is holding the wool tread over her index finger.
This is the easiest and fastest way to knit. I have seen on videos that the Americans let the tread hang loose and use their right hand to cast the tread under or over the needle.
That is also a possibility.

2. The heel. Take half the stitches, 24, and put them on one needle.
Knit forwards and back, one row plain stitches and one row purled, so that the knitted fabric becomes "stockinette". Begin with plain stitches on the outside of the stocking. Repeat these two rows till the heel is as longs as your own heel. Then cast off two and two stitches together, begin with # 12 and #13 till you don't have any stitches left on the needle.
This is the easiest, but not necessarily the prettiest way to make a heel.
3. Knitting the foot.
Use one needle and pick up 12 stitches on the left side of the heel and the forth needle to pick up 12 stitches of the right side of the heel. Now you have 48 stitches and four needles again. Knit plain stitches till the work is as long as you want it. Preferably till it reaches the pinky toe.
As you can see this casting off leaves a distinct seam under the heel.
4. Casting off the sock. Knit every forth stitch together for a round, then knit 2 plain rounds. Knit every third stitch together for the forth round. Knit three plain rounds. Knit every second stitch together and two plain rounds. Then knit two and two together till there's no masks but one left. Cut off and pull the tread through the last mask.
You are watching my mother making a pair of socks for a dear friend of mine.

This casting off is called a round casting, opposite the casting off for mittens, which is callled pointed casting off.
Good luck and please let me know if you understood my oh, so plain recipe.
Here's an American You Tube version that actually may be easier to understand.

RUBY EIGHT PETAL ROSES

My ruby subject this Tuesday is the Norwegian eight petal rose. A pattern used in home craft from ancient time.Serina with her ruby lips is dressed in a hand knitted Fana sweater with white roses.

Here's a woven wall carpet, about 150 years of age, aakle, also with eight petal roses. Homespun and home colored yarn. I bought in on an auction 20 years ago.
This table runner is also woven, but only about my age, pre or post war-ish. We have it on our sofa table.
In Haugesund all girls from 0-14 wear bunads (double click to read more) like this as their primary outfit for feasts, public or private.My mother has made Serina's from scratch. ..
A closeup of the breast cloth,with the famous eight petal rose.
Serina's great grandmother, also by the name of Serina, embroidered her own adult Hardanger bunad in 1903. This is a macro of the pearl belt.

The breast cloth made by great grandmother Serina. It now belongs to my daughter. Eight petal rose once more.
In Norway you'll find eight petal mittens, eight petal logo for the Norwegian home crafts company, and now also for the big Norwegian oil company, Statoil. The funny thing is, I've seen ancient eight petal patterns from India and in Eastern Europe by the Black Sea. It's folk art, flown with the great migrations. However it has stopped and is living on in Norway, while it never has crossed the North Sea.

Originated by MaryT, check hers for today.

DO LOOK BACK!

It's that time of year. The summing up and contemplating season. Don't look back, Bob Dylan said. “Life must be lived forward, but understood backwards”, was Soren Kierkegaard's device..
I tend to agree with the latter.

1 Family.
The ones closest to my heart; Serina and Gunnar are still growing nearer and dearer day by day. Love doesn't fade as years go by, it's burning clearer as wisdom grows and more bonds are tied. My mother and my brother are also doing better and that is nothing less than a wonder. God is great!(and they are stubborn fighters)
Aunt Lilly went home to celebrate with Jesus as Terry puts it, December 21st.Her daughter, Gunnar's dear cousin Doris, said in the funeral;" Be not sorry she is gone, Be happy she was here.Other highlights: Concert with cousin Bjorn and his mrs. listening to Jonas Field performing Bjorn's song "The Two Elderly."
That song was published in our local newspaper as a memory to my father. The chorus was written while cousin Bjorn waked over his own dad the week he lay in hospital, dying.
Cousin Arne, named after my father, visited us for a few days this autumn. I don't remember how long he had hiked, but he sure is a trooper with lots and lots of smiles and stories.
Meeting with cousin Sig and his mrs. coming all the way from Montana was huge. Of course cousin Margunn was the hospitable hostess to this great gathering. She's one of a kind. I so appreciate what she's doing.
Ruby girl is finishing her third year on Writtle college north of London.She has performed wonders both in studies and self development. A beautiful and strong Dandelion, even trusted to care for Bengal tigers.

2 Friends
The holy clover from 30 years back are still sticking together, celebrating birthdays, doing some wining and dining, sharing laughs and tears like we always have done.
Hiker girls, also a group of basically four fantastic, enthusiastic, adventurous and loyal 60+, are gathering every Tuesday, come sun come rain. best thing is, they don't give up on me, even though I unwillingly have to spend some Tuesday in bed.
This last autumn I've also made a new friend; lovely Cecilie who is following us to late Friday afternoon bathing.
In May we had a 40 years jubilee of students from nursing school. Amazing how little people had changed and how we still enjoyed being together. The happy and enthusiastic 69ers still had much of their spirit intact. We decided not to wait more than 5 years till next gathering.

3 Blogworld/Facebook
Terry has become a central link in my blog-world. She's always there, with smiles, encouragements, prayers and laughter. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Scarf has broadened my horizon socially and spiritually. I thank God for my new sisters and hope we get to travel together for a long time. Teach Mary has challenged me to go new roads when it comes to photographing as well as watching my surroundings. How I love being busy being born.
John Cowart, an author one of his kind, also challenges me with new ways of thinking and understanding God & life. I am so thankful.
I have taken up a low scale face booking. It is a good way of maintaining contact with the ones I already care about.

4 Travels
Not many, not long, but inspirational and cope-able. Oslo once, Bergen 2 times, Stavanger 3 times, Jaeren 2 times and Sauda about once a month. The faithful Rover is ferrying us around in the local scenery as well. Gunnar is an expert finding interesting off road sites. We are indeed pathfinders and also all the time looking for traces back to the past.

5 Hikes
Likewise the hiker ladies are also looking out for new goals and new experiences. We've been sailing out to the islands out in the North Sea, trotting out to remote lighthouses, walking windblown sandy beaches, exploring old uranium mines high up in the mountains and conquering a few hilltops as well.

6 Art experiences
I don't know how to rank them. The Oslo concert with Bob Dylan, Dubliners singing here by the quays one beautiful summer afternoon, Norwegian world class pianist Leif Ove Andsnes playing Mussorgsky one week before Christmas, Metropolitan soloists performing in Beethoven's 9th in Bergen, the local chamber music ensemble playing in the remote off,off road old church, folksinger, poet and violinist Sondre and Annbjorg forever influencing our minds and hearts on our pilgrims travels, the Russian balalaika orchestra playing along with two local choirs making the Church of Our Savior boil with joy, or standing on a bench in a tent in Skudesnes with Serina singing out of a full heart along with Kaizers Orchestra "Ompa till you die" (and no, Lina Kristine neither of us had tasted a single drop of alcohol!)

We have enjoyed our local art gallery over and over again. Some pearls are always nice to revisit, like dear friends. Young art sometimes also make us moved, especially at Haa old vicarage. They have a taste for values down south. In Bergen the costly galleries are stringed up like pearls on a row. Never a dull moment. Most impressive? The vast Chinese collection. There's still so much to see. We don't buy much. Gunnar bought me some beautiful photos picturing the "Leaving of Sauda" this autumn. I treasure them highly, sentimental reasons, maybe. Most youths growing up in my birth town have to seek education and work elsewhere.
The leaving is both an adventure, but to most also a final goodbye to one part of life.
One new hobby developing from all the recent concert; Visiting "new" and interesting churches both in the neighborhood and when we are out of town. Great architecture, great histories, great congregations a well.

7 Garden
Our garden is where I gain power and my main source of recreation. I set the last bulbs in February and started outdoor living in March.
The herb garden can be harvested from April till November. Though rather chilly it also was a good year for the roses. (meaning all kinds of flowers from April till early November)I managed to set 200 new bulbs in October. Now I just have 80 more to be planted this February. We are getting older and more tired though. This year we'll have to rent help to cut the hedges. Even though I kind of like it, our garden is looking more or less like that of Thornrose.

8 New wisdom
Being chronically ill doesn't mean stop developing. On the contrary. To survive one has to look for new solutions and ways to go.
Meeting with my Feldenkrais physiotherapist has been a major turn for the better this year. I have sessions once a week and it' amazing what wonders she has worked to my old and broken limbs. I both move, walk, sit and sleep better than in decades. Best thing is bringing new hope and enthusiasm for my future.
When things are turning for the better one also get inspired to seek further. Gunnar brought this book about the Silva method forth. I thought I might give it a go. I have not reached further than to exercise two, but that too is working out just miraculously for me. Imagine, me!
Mrs. Mac is an inspiration to develop new ways of domestic working and thinking, so is my friend Turid and Gunnar's cousin Doris.
This is why I have taken up bread baking, filling the freezer with herbs mixes, berries and black currant juice.
What a pleasure. Even my mom is impressed.

9 Books
We definitely are readers more than watchers. Our home is gradually bursting with all the books we cannot avoid buying. Best read this year? John Coward's Glog, Flogstad's Grense Jakopselv, Falcones' Cathedral of the Sea and the ones I got for my birthday by Cecilia Samartin.
Gunnar just got a heap of art history books, and yes, I mean a heap. The old julenisse is literally buried in books. I have just been browsing so far, but wow, what a gift!

10 Health
Ups and downs for the whole family. Getting a wash-lady sure was a major help to take off the daily overload,as Paul so wisely puts it.
We have a good doc and have not in anyway given up, so I'll have to claim, we are in a rather optimistic mood.

11 New skills
Serina is half way to a bachelor grade in media and communication. She is doing better and better. In writing moment she's celebrating New Year in London with her two best friends from junior high.
She is indeed having a ball.
Gunnar has developed his skills in Tai Chi. He's
got this strong will, never giving up. I admire him enormously. He's also found new ways of using his limited forces in home decorating.
Always reaching forwards to new goals and never giving in, that's my hubby.
We've both bought new cameras this fall and are further inspired by that. Serina took upon the job both of painting our house and remodeling grandma' garden this summer. She's a girl growing with the challenges. At school she suddenly found herself a technical leader for a film festival,- and guess what; she made it with flying colors.

12 The Lord's prayer
I always have found great strength and comfort in praying. Unloading burdens and seeking help, wisdom and forgiveness-, I don't think I could manage life without it. Neither would I.
He who prays shall get, is the promise. I have been richly blessed, this year too.
The hardest as well as the most rewarding prayer, still i the Lord's Prayer.
I often find myself praying "Help me forgive", cause I know in the bottom of my heart I am struggling doing so. Likewise I pray help me not being evil, cause I know I sometimes am.
And it is relaxing praying "Thy will be done."
Handing over the responsibility to the only force able to protect and love and care for all of us in this world and into the afterlife.

Wishing you all a blessed New Year
From Felisol