Sari and Milla, the project managers of the CAL, send their warmest greetings from the sea! We are just now on a handicraft cruise from Helsinki to Stockholm (Sweden) and back. What a joy to dive into the waves of wonderful yarns and different workshops with so many people who are all handicraft enthusiasts!
"Imatra, the falling water, Tumbles, roaring, into Wuoksi." Kalevala, Poem III
You can share pictures of Nothing Conquers the Vuoksi square on social media with #kalevalacal_eiolevuoksenvoittanutta. 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: Seija Ervelius
My name is Seija Ervelius, and I am an interior designer, a professional organizer, an estate manager and an IT consultant. I learned to crochet from my grandmother who liked to crochet a lot. I was a little girl back then, not at school yet. I remember how difficult it was to make chains, but I learned it and I got more skilled. My first selfmade item was a dust cloth. Crocheting is a way to relax for me, I find it pacifying to count repetitive stitches. I haven't designed crochet patterns earlier but I like to try new and fun things. When I heard that there were designers wanted for the Kalevala blanket project, I immediately thought that it was worth to try. After this designing experience I have made two blankets based on squares that are my own designs.
I designed two squares for the Kalevala CAL project: Nothing conquers the Vuoksi and Fingers into curve of fingers that is one of the bonus squares. In Kalevala the river is described as awesome power of nature. The Vuoksi river is a famous sight in Finland and its foams are mentioned in Kalevala, too. In Nothing conquers the Vuoksi square you will find a totally new kind of extra long treble crochet that I invented to describe the river foams. The inspiration to the other square came from the influential beginning of Kalevala, as it is said "Let us clasp our hands together" in the first poem.
Hints to the crocheters of my squares: It is worth to make "the foams" quite tight so that the size of Nothing conquers the Vuoksi would keep same as other squares. In Fingers into curve of fingers the catch is in the "fingers" going overlapping to each other in the center of the square.
Favourites of the designer:
Yarn: Wool, linen when making doilies
Colour: All the shades of grey and burgundy as an effect colour which is my absolute favourite
Favourite stitch: Double crochet in its many variations
Place to crochet: In my armchair and always in the car when travelling somewhere
Nothing Conquers the Vuoksi
Hints from test crocheters
* Beginner ** EASY *** Average **** Demanding
Rather small RIGHT SIZE Rather big
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.
Nothing Conquers the Vuoksi Pattern
English (pdf)
Čeština (pdf)
Español (pdf)
Deutsch (pdf)
Nederlands (pdf)
Suomi (pdf)
Svenska (pdf)
עברית (Hebrew) (pdf)
A link to Nothing conquers the Vuoksi video, which works as a support for the written pattern. Videos are done by Iris van Meer.
Other info
You can find pictures of the squares made by other Kalevala CAL participants on Instagram: #kalevalacal #kalevalacal_eiolevuoksenvoittanutta
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.
