Kalevala CAL - Part 5 - Big Oak, The World Tree

The fifth square is made of robust tree. According to the Druid Horoscope of Trees the oak is "strong and brave, awesome, optimistic and social. An oak person is independent who does not like changes".

Photo Challenge: Take a photo of your Big Oak with your favourite tree or in the forest and share the picture for example in Facebook group or Instagram!

Spread the oak-tree's many branches, Rounds itself a broad corona, Raises it above the storm-clouds; Far it stretches out its branches, Stops the white-clouds in their courses, With its branches hides the sunlight, With its many leaves, the moonbeams, And the starlight dies in heaven.

(Poem 2, 81-88)

Source

You can share pictures of Hidden Sun square on social media with #kalevalacal_isotammi. Hashtag for Kalevala CAL is #kalevalacal.

General Kalevala CAL info and all the links to other parts of the blanket project will be found on the Kalevala CAL page on the blog of Arteeni.

DESIGNER PORTRAIT: Maija-Leena Siuvatti

My name is Maija-Leena Siuvatti, I have two adult sons and a bichon frise dog. I work as a service point coordinator. I have always been interested in handicrafts. I inherited this from my father who thought that anyone can learn to do anything. In crocheting I am self-educated, and when I am crocheting I settle down and forget all my worries. Taking part in collective projects makes me feel communality and makes new friends. Beforehand I have made crochet patterns just for my own pleasure.

I designed the Big Oak square for the Kalevala CAL project. I love nature and walking in the wild, and I love round forms, and these were my inspiration for my design. To create the oak form I used the techniques that were familiar to me already. The story of big oak in Kalevala had a perfect connection to my square and its figure. I was fascinated by the mystics and magic powers of the story as well: “The treetop cutter gets the lifelong magic touch, the cutter of the branch gets happiness forever and the leaven cutter gets the eternal love.”

Hint to the crocheters of my square: Remember to check the stitch count after every round.

Favourites of the designer

Yarns: Cotton mercerized

Colours: All colours, especially orange and yellow

Favourite stitch: Learning new stitches

Place to crochet: On the couch with my husband and my dog

BIG OAK – THE WORLD TREE

Hints from test crocheters

* Beginner ** EASY *** Average **** Demanding

Rather small RIGHT SIZE Rather big

This square might get a little bit bigger than other squares on average, so if you want you can try a bit smaller hook on this square.

Colours

Here you can find all the colours needed in every row for different colour packs (Click to see the lists bigger). The colours for the Metsä / Forest -colour pack can be found also on the pattern itself.