St Lucia Day. Nordic Julekuler 51, 52, 53/55.

Hi all! 

So, the day has finally come - St Lucia Day. I'm a great lover of Nordic art and culture and basically all things Scandinavian so I just couldn't miss an opportunity to celebrate St Lucia Day (first time this year!) when Heather came up with this lovely idea of organizing St Lucia Blog Procession. Such fun to prepare for and a great opportunity to share your Scandi-interests with others. Thanks Heather! 

On this special occasion I decided to bake something Scandinavian and it was well obvious it would "Lussekatter" buns. My first try at Scandinavian baking and first baking experience with saffron and cardamon. I used a recipe from the "Scandilicious" book. With the proportions suggested in the recipe, the buns came out very spicy but spicy in a different way than gingerbread normally is as no ginger or cinnamon here. The freshly ground cardamon mixed with saffron gives a powerful bursting flavour to the buns and at first I found it a bit overpowering. 

Then I tried the buns with a bit of butter and some spiced orange jam on top, accompanied by a cup of milky coffee - nice! 

My another make for St Lucia Day are the next 3 knitted balls (by the book of Arne & Carlos - Scandinavian knitwear designers) I rushed to knit those quickly as their motifs fit perfectly into today's theme - "light". Each ball has been given its name by the authors. There is an angel with a candle, a girl with a lamp  (perhaps St Lucia herself ;P) and "the light of the three holy kings" - referring to Epiphany. (Sorry for the quality of the photos - taken when dark outside and so hard to make a good photo in an artificial light. Hoping to change these pics over the weekend for some better ones)

 ("Angel with Candle 51/55)

 ("Christmas Light" 52/55)

("Light of the Three Holy Kings" 53/55)

I even started making St Lucia Christmas cards for today but unfortunately in this pre-Christmas rush I didn't manage to embrace all of it. Perhaps I'll finish them over the weekend and add the photos later on :)

I've been fascinated with the Scandinavian culture for well over 2 years now and I love to celebrate it in various forms of craft - I (cross) stitch, I knit, I paint glass and make cards in Nordic style. It just give me immense pleasure to translate the Nordic theme into many pretty things :)

Now looking back, time to sum things up and here is an overview of the Scandinavian-themed things I created in the past:

 (Some of) My cards:

My cross stitch projects:

(currently being stitched)

My knitting: Julekuler 

(in Norwegian: Christmas balls)

My glass painting:

Pretty much, huh? ;) Hope you enjoyed looking :)

Now, since it's well past midnight in the UK and it's a long day ahead I'm off to bed. I shall be visiting your lovely blogs and leaving comments tomorrow, or I should rather say... tonight. Stay "Scandi-tuned" and thanks for visiting my blog.

God Jul everyone!

Nordic Julekuler: Reindeer 47, 48, 49, 50/55

Time to reveal another knitted balls, this time it's a bunch of red knitted reindeer :) I've waited to knit those designs for months! As always, it was great fun to make those.

 (Reindeer heart 47/55)

 (Rudolph 48/55)

 (Reindeer 49/55)

 (Running Reindeer 50/55)

And all 4 balls together :)

Currently 53rd ball on my kneedles. Just 2 to go!