I think Halloween socks! Booo-hoo!
Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
We don’t celebrate Halloween here in Sweden. Though, as everything around the world is becoming americanized, we do have access to pumpkin-ghost-stuff in some stores these days. When I was a kid there were nothing like that here. And so far I haven’t picked up on this new-to-me tradition much. Instead I’ve been painting my nails black (as usual). I’m sitting alone in my room, stirring in my (yarn) pot with my magic wand.
If the rest of the world population consumed at the level of the U.S, we’d need the resources of 4 more planet earths.
EO Wilson
So sorry, but you can see it’s true; Halloween sucks, at least here in Sweden. Or at least I think it does! I always feel tricked this season! Booo-hoo! Sorry if I’m a bit hallow-whiny today, it is my personal holiday spirit.
I’m planning to scare as many kids as I can – and maybe dye Smilla black tomorrow, just for the season spirit. Anything to keep (and develop) the holiday tradition, right? Or maybe I’ll just put on my newly finished Halloween Socks in pink, blood red and pumpkin orange and treat myself to a big bag of candy to celebrate that I sure ain’t dead yet! The pink yarn is Karusell (from Marks&Kattens, Norway) 100 % merino wool superwash. The orange is Bambino ull (from Schachenmayr, made in Norway!). The red yarn ball lost its label a long time ago.
Yeeahaa, I love finishing a pair of socks but I can’t remember if these are my fifth or sixth pair… Or seventh maybe, if I count again! The yarn is three different brands of wool that I’ve gotten on different occasions and locations. All three are favorite colors and stripes are a favorite pattern of mine, especially for socks (and tops as you’ll soon discover).
Next I need to experiment with knitting mittens – if I ever get a pattern that will go with the yarn I already own, I refuse to buy more yarn. I don?t even want the yarn I have right now because it is weighting me down. Do you ever feel the burden of your material?s expectation on you? I know the expectations are my own, but I always imagine I would be light as a feather if only? If only I could use my magic wand to compress it all into a manageable size, but instead yarn and the likes magically lures me in the wrong direction every time, thinking I need more when I need less! It?s a strange world we live in, us creative types.
Now, I will click my ruby-slippered heels together three times and fly away to a witch meeting in town!
Pumpkin & smooches to ya!
Oh heck, here are even more photos (I can’t stop myself);
Smilla, not a black cat (yet), thinks it’s a bit too cold to go outside today.
Encore – just for you! My hand crafted Halloween socks. Yummy, warm and mine mine mine.
My broken glasses haunts me… They slide down my nose and makes my eyes look slanting in a crazy angle. :-)
I know. It’s time: Quit complain and just stitch it up girls!
Happy Halloween to everyone who is celebrating it!
Fine sokker!!
Living in a country that is so influenced by the american traditions, it never occurred to me that Halloween is NOT an international celebration! How sad is that???
Make Halloween your own. But please, I beg of you, don’t dye Smilla black! She wouldn’t be Smilla then! ;-)
*hugs*
and Happy Halloween nonetheless!
Sophie
Hanna, you are so funny! “…eat a whole bag of candy to celebrate you sure ain’t dead!”. That really made me giggle out loud, silly! I LOVE it, and I’m sure going to remember that next time I eat a candy bar.
Sorry that Halloween isn’t so fun for you. I LOVE Halloween…my husband and I even got married on Halloween because we love it so! I think it’s because we celebrate it a little differently than a lot of our fellow Americans. We aren’t into the hokey, ugly decorations of grinning pumpkins and goofy looking ghosts and bats and of trying to scare people or watching gory movies. (Read up into the original history of these icons and you’ll find that they actually have European roots and have been SO Americanized that a lot of people find them silly. =P )
One thing may be that I am pagan and believe that the festival of Halloween (also called Samhaim) means that the seasons are changing big time…the year is coming to an end really. The trees and plants are losing their leaves and going into gentle sleep for the Winter until they are revived again in the Spring. Though in the Winter,the world is covered in bright white and lights, some of us feel that time of year as a time of darkness, where we reflect inside ourselves (sort of like the trees going to sleep) and try to get ourselves sorted out for the next year, so we can be green and refreshed when we reawaken! It’s not a sad time, though it can be a time to really think about how fragile life can be and sometimes people can perceive this as being macabre, but really, I don’t think so as much. I think it’s a welcome rest to be surrounded by dark colors and thoughts just for a little while. Sometimes it’s fun to play in the darkness. =c) That’s where the scaring people and the superstitions about black cats and ghosts and all that come in.
By the way, I have owned many a black cat and have only found them to be a little strange, but mostly sweethearts!!
Not to try to make this the longest comment ever, but I am originally from the state of Texas where there are a lot of Mexican heritage people in some parts. The Mexican people have a super neat holiday called Dia De Los Muertos which is a day (Nov. 2) that they honor their friends and family, ancestors who have died. This festival is brightly colored and can be joyous (because they believe that on this night their loved ones can “visit” with them, in a way) and features lots of neat decorations of colored “sugar skulls” and bright colored flowers. It’s also a time to celebrate that we ARE alive and to be happy that we are still breathing and dancing… and able to eat loads of candy!! =cD
Thanks for the smile today, Hanna! You are wonderful. Give Smilla-baby a kiss-kiss for me!!
Smilla is adorable. I think she rather stay her cool orange self than be dyed black. Though not to many people celebrate Halloween where you are, in our lovely world of blogs you can celebrate with all of us. I love your socks, Hanna!!
Vannesa at: http://afancifultwist.typepad.com/a_fanciful_twist/ had a Halloween party about two weeks ago. I was part of it. You can go there and check it out if you want to feel some more Halloween spirit.
Pumpkins and kisses to you.
h?rliga halloweeninspirerade bilder!
?nskar dig en sk?n helg
kram
Cattis
I’m so jealous of your new socks!
i need a lesson today! those socks are so cute, and like it or not you look happy halloweenish in them :) so adorable!
Hanna, again you have written my exact thoughts … it’s freaky! : )
“… thinking I need more when I need less! …” YES! I have begun whittling down my yarn and fabric stashes … using what I have instead of purchasing more (well … ahem … without purchasing too much more). I’m always trying to improve!
I totally understand just NOT liking a holiday! Personally, I love Halloween; it’s my favorite one. But that’s probably because of my time in wicca, and my knowledge of the origins of the holiday, which is Celtic and not Nordic, but still… I love the colors, the change of season, the magic of everything. I don’t care about trick or treating, but I DO love the acknowledgement of the dark and mysterious part of the cycle of life. And I’m really looking forward to Day of the Dead this weekend! I am honoring my mother in that.
I know I’ve gone on about my own stuff, but I guess when you love something you want to say! Lucky Smilla, to have such a loving companion with an artful heart!
those socks are *awesome!!!* you are such an inspiration, hanna!!
Thanks for your comments girls! I’m not really sad about not having Halloween, so don’t worry about me! :-)
Courtney!
I think this is maybe THE most difficult thing in a creative life… Keeping enough to always have something to play with but finding a balance so that you don’t feel weigh down with “stuff”! Good luck with using what you have! It’s what I always TRY to do but somehow the stash still grows… How is that? ;-)
PS: this could be the beginning of another post, right? hehe.