Kalevala CAL - Part 17 - Fire and Light

"Fire and light" reminds us of a camp fire where people sit around the fire and roast sweet and sticky marshmallows... The community that has grown around the Kalevala CAL, both nationally and internationally, is like that group around the fire: we breath and crochet in the same rhythm, in the beat of the squares and millions of stitches.

Then he took the willing Panu, Took the willing fire of Ukko, Laid it in a box of tinder, In the punk-wood of a birch-tree, In a vessel forged from copper; Carried it with care and pleasure To the fog-point in the waters, To the island forest covered. Thus returned the fire to Northland, To the chambers of Wainola, To the hearths of Kalevala. (Kalevala, Poem 48)

You can share pictures of Fire and Light square on social media with #kalevalacal_nuotiovalkea. 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: Heli Isoniemi

I am 32 years old crochet hobbyist. I have a family of a husband, two children still under school-age and an Icelandic Sheepdog. We live in a house that is built in 1930's and most of our leasure time is used to renovate the house. My mother taught me chain stitches when I was under school-age. I crocheted my first doilies when I was in the elementary school, and since then I have made a quite a lot of them. Then I focused a few years mainly on knitting and made lots of lacy scarfs, for example. I deepened to the crochet world again when I noticed that crochet translators were wanted on Facebook. I thought that it could be a convenient brain-teaser for me as a housewife with small children. With translating patterns and other volunteering it is a great opportunity to be part of a group that is fun and active. I have also had experiences of succeeding and project management. For me crocheting is a way to use my creativity and different colour combinations.

To the Kalevala CAL project I designed my very first crochet pattern, Fire and Light square. I got the inspiration for it by browsing Kalevala poems and crochet books and by reading texts about fire. I wondered, if I could put fire into a crochet piece.

Hint to the crocheters of my square: This pattern might feel quite easy to do after earlier squares. Enjoy your crocheting! Note that it is intentional that the dc-groups on round 8 are "upside down".

Favourites of the designer:

Yarn: Wool mix and cotton

Colour: Shades of green and turquoise, and pure white for the crochet doilies

Favourite stitch: Double crochet and its variations

Place to crochet: Crochet is easy to carry along, so I crochet almost anywhere: car, sofa, bed...

Fire and Light

Hints from test crocheters

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

RATHER SMALL Right size Rather big

You can adjust the size of the square by going up/down the hook size. If this square seems to be smaller than other squares of yours, you may want to try bigger hook size. The flexible texture of this square allows easy blocking to reach the right size, so it doesn't even matter if it will remain a bit smaller.

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.