Väinämöinen, the son of Ilmatar and the sea, the legend hero of Kalevala. He is a poem singer and a great wise man - "Väinämöinen, ancient minstrel, the eternal wisdom-singer".
On Kalevala Väinämöinen beats Joukahainen by singing spells. He knows almost everything possible and he also visits in Tuonela, the land of deaths. Väinämöinen helps to create the world and this time he also spells all the Kalevala patterns together to form a unified whole.
I am wanting, I am thinking
To arise and go forth singing,
Sing my songs and say my sayings,
Hymns ancestral harmonizing,
Lore of kindred lyricking.
In my mouth the words are melting;
Utterances overflowing
To my tongue are hurrying,
Even against my teeth they burst.
Come good brother, little brother,
Pretty playmate of my childhood,
Start now with me for the singing
Sit together for the speaking,
Now that we have met together,
After separate pathways travelled;
Seldom do we come together,
Rarely do we have each other
In these ragged border regions,
These benighted northern marches.
(Kalevala, 1. poem, 1-20)
(source)
You can share pictures of Väinämöinen –joining on social media with #kalevalacal_vainamoinen. Hashtag for Kalevala CAL is #kalevalacal.
Infoa Kalevala CAL:sta ja linkit peittoprojektin muihin osiin löydät Arteenin Kalevala CAL –sivulta.
DESIGNER PORTRAIT: Sari Åström
You can find Sari's presentation from her first pattern Ilmatar.
Väinämöinen pattern
A link to Väinämöinen -video which works as a support for the written pattern. Video is done by Iris van Meer.
Other info
You can find pictures of the squares made by other Kalevala CAL participants on Instagram: #kalevalacal #kalevalacal_vainamoinen
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.
VÄINÄMÖINEN – Joining the squares
Sari Åström
You may join the squares of your Kalevala CAL blanket either as you go, one at a time or all in one go at the end, according to the layout given or your own layout. The joining is done in two rounds with thinner yarn (in yarn pack: Pia yarn), which will make the blanket smoother and lighter overall. In the first round, you will crochet around one square with shallow back post single crochets (shallow bpsc). In the first round the amount of side stitches will be matched similar to each other. In the second round the squares will be joined to others. Joining is maybe not the easiest task to carry out, but it will be worth the effort – joining makes a beautiful background to raise the squares as the main role. Later the joining and the border will make the whole blanket unified.
Note:
You can use various yarns of different thickness for the joining, but please note that the difference between the main yarn and the joining yarn should not be either too big or too small. If the difference between the yarns is too big, the border may be too tight. If the joining is made with yarn of same thickness as the main yarn, the first joining round and the last rounds of the border might be stiff and wavy. Please visit Kalevala info for the CAL info for yarns and patterns etc..
When using the official Kalevala CAL yarns, Lasse and Pia, you may change the hook size a half number down or use the size of hook based on the yarn used and your gauge.
In this info, first there is a pattern for making the edge of the square and then the joining of the squares together. The first round is always the same for all squares and the second round you are told whether to join only the sides or also the corners together. The corner of the square is connected DIAGONALLY only to the corner of the square already joined. At this point the outermost corners of the blanket will remain free (no joining), until the border is worked.
Stitches and abbreviations:
· sk skip
· ch chain stitch · sl st slip stitch · sc single crochet · shallow bpsc shallow back post stitch: the sc is worked AROUND the top loops from the stitch of the previous round. Insert hook from back to front under the “V-form” of the st, hook around the top loops from front to back under the “V-form”, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pass the yarn through the 2 loops.
Hints
(…) Repeat instructions between brackets the amount of times specified.
*-* Repeat instructions between asterisks the amount of times specified. This is normally a repeat for a complete side and will consist of multiple instructions.
CopyrightI, Sari Åström, retain all rights to this pattern, pictures and instructions. Please do not copy, reproduce or distribute this pattern as a whole or in part. You can share the link www.arteeni.fi/kalevalacal if you want to share the pattern. You may sell a product made by yourself, but please mention me as the designer. Only for personal use. Thank you!
Väinämöinen
Making the edge around the square
Rnd 1
Join yarn with a standing sc into any corner ch-sp, sc into same ch-sp. *Shallow bpsc all together 45 in the next sts per side, increase the amount of shallow bpsc by doing two shallow post stitch into same stitch as many times as told in the table below. 4 scs into the corner ch-sp.* Repeat * - * 4 times in total, omit last 2 scs on the repeat, join to the 1st sc with a sl st.
Stitch count per side: 45 shallow bpscs and 4 scs in corner ch-sp
Picture: In illustrated picture, blue area represents one side of the square with ch-sp corners. Green X is sc and red X is shallow bpsc. Shallow bpscs 45 in total per side and you need to increase different amount stitches according to each square. (See Table below). Note that stitch count per side is 49 in total.
Table: Amount of increase of shallow bpscs for indicated square; goal to have 45 shallow bpscs on each side (and 4 scs in each corner):
Rnd 2
*(Ch 5, sk 2 sts, sl st) 16 times, ch 7, sl st*. Repeat * - * 4 times in total, fasten off and secure ends. Note. Ch7-sp in the corner starts from the 2nd sc and falls in the 3rd sc of the corner scs, no skipping stitches in the corner. Otherwise skip 2 scs on the side.
Stitch count per side: 16 x ch5-sps and ch7-sp in the corner
Picture: In illustrated picture 0 represents a ch st. In the corner ch7-sp and on the side ch5-sps.
Joining the square sides
Rnd 1
As above
Rnd 2
Join the squares together when attaching the second side of the square. Lay squares right side facing and side by side:
1st side: (ch 5, sk 2 sts, sl st) 16 times in total, ch 7, sl st
2nd side: [(ch 2, sl st into the corresponding ch-sp on square to join, the corner ch-7-chains will be joined later, ch 2), sk 2 sts, sl st] 16 times in total, ch 7, sl st (do not joine the corner ch-sp yet).
Continue working the rest of the sides: *(Ch 5, sk 2 sts, sl st) 16 times in total, ch 7, sl st*. Repeat * - * one more time, fasten off and secure ends.
Picture: In illustrated picture 0 is a ch st and 0 is a sl st. Corner ch-spaces will stay unattached so far.
Joining the corners
Rnd 1
As above
Rnd 2
Join the squares together when attaching the second side of the square. Lay squares right side facing and side by side.
[(ch 2, sl st into the corresponding ch-sp on square to join, ch 2), sk 2 sts, sl st] 16 times in total,
In the joining corner, instead of ch7:
[ch 3, make a sl st into the ch7-sp of the opposite corner, ch 3]
Note: do not join other corners which have no square to join with.
Continue working the rest of the sides:
*(Ch 5, sk 2 sts, sl st) 16 times in total, ch 7, sl st*. Repeat * - * one more time, fasten off and secure ends.
Picture: In illustrated picture 0 is a ch st and 0 is a sl st. Corner ch-spaces will be joined to the opposite corner with a sl st and square directly next to stay unattached so far.
Joining the corners over the earlier diagonal joining
Rnd 1
As above
Rnd 2
Join the squares together along crocheting the 2nd and the 3rd sides. Lay squares right side facing and side by side. [(ch 2, sl st into the corresponding ch-sp on square to join, ch 2), sk 2 st, sl st] 16 times in total,
In the joining corner, instead of ch7: [ch 3, make a sl st into the ch7-sp of the opposite corner AND over the earlier diagonal joining, ch 3] Continue working the rest of the sides: *(Ch 5, sk 2 st, sl st) 16 times in total, ch 7, sl st*. Repeat * - * one more time, fasten off and secure ends.
Picture: In illustrated picture 0 is a ch st and 0 is a sl st. Corner ch-space will be joined to the opposite corner with a sl st in a way that the earlier joining stays inside the sl st. As seen in the photo above, the joining looks neat and beautiful.
Layout of the squares
Model blankets are joined in order as in the picture below (numbers indicate the number of the square). You may also make your own layout. It is possible to change main squares to bonus squares or crochet your favourite square more than once. Please note, if you make many changes for given layout, the yarn packs are calculated only for 24 squares and some colours may run out. You can make your blanket smaller or bigger by changing the amount of the squares, but please note again that this pattern for the joining and the border is designed for an even amount of squares per side.
After all the squares are joined together, there are corner ch-spaces of the outermost squares still un-attached (marked with orange in the picture below). These corners will be joined later along with the border.
Hint: You can share pictures of your Kalevala CAL square on social media with the tag #KalevalaCAL or #kalevalacal_vainamoinen..