viking summer, part 4: craft

this year, i sold every piece of childrens linen clothing i had brought. i sold wristwarmers made in the needle binding technique, using plant dyed yarn. i sold every bottle of homemade elderflower syrup i had made, and the first day i even persuaded my kids to walk around the marketplace and sell pre made elderflower lemonade in small glasses. it was a hit. i also sold several of my felted pouches. new this year was hand stitched, embroidered linen napkins like the ones you see in the above pictures. the motives are bronze age rock carvings, embroidered with plant dyed linen thread.

my friend, the bone carver

from around the market:

we both came home with one of these each.

salt smoked with juniper.
leather work

needle binding - hats, wristwarmers, socks. needle binding was the technique used before knitting and crochet was invented. even though i would say it's almost impossible to learn without having anoyone to show you, randi - a norwegian woman living in the u.s. - proved me wrong. she visited gudvangen last summer, was intrigued by the technique, and when she came back this year she told us that she had tought herself from various tutorials on the internet. i'm impressed!