Monday 15 August 2011

Haapsalu Shawl Day

The picturesque town of Haapsalu celebrated the annual lace knitting day yesterday: woolwhite lacework was to be spotted everywhere, both in finished and work-in-progress status. The seaside resort atmosphere was something well worth envying as always.

The lace knitting contest was not too crowded with its fourteen participants:

Haapsalu Shawl Day knitting contest


Some people just knitted on the street without competing:

Haapsalu lace knitters


Shawl dance presented by a classy local dance group:

Shawl dance group

Shawl dance

Shawl dance


And some other highlights of the program:

Haapsalu folk dancers

Haapsalu Shawl Day 2011 singers


Shawls and other lacy items made by the local master knitters were also sold at the craft fair. And for a shocking price of 50 Euros - unfortunately, this is what people who value handmade can afford here. (The price for being an economically well-behaving country.) Well, start planning your lace shopping trip for next August!

Haapsalu Shawl

Estonian lace


This is the window of the Dome Church chapel, where the White Lady appears on full moon August nights (she must be hiding in there by day as well):

Haapsalu White Lady chapel window


By the end of the day, all this motivation overdose resulted in a midnight swatch with Karukellakiri pattern. This project cannot be postponed any longer and as soon as I'm done with the hardest part - choosing a stitch pattern - my first Haapalu shawl will be cast on.

Lace knitting swatch


There is also a sweet short film about knitting in Haapsalu in 1937 available in the Estonian Film Archives:






5 comments:

  1. Thanks for your entry. Väga ilusad fotod! Can't wait to see more of your first Haapsalu Shawl. It's a shame that those shawls are sold at such low prices over there.

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  2. Thank you for visiting my blog!
    My shawl is growing one pattern repeat a day, it is so hard to put it aside, but unfortunately some other things need to get done as well.
    The Haapsalu knitters really need a modern marketing strategy, any ideas are welcome of course.

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  3. Danke für Deinen Kommentar auf meinem Blog! Warum kannst Du so gut deutsch? Yes, it takes me relatively long to knit these shawls, too. If I come up with a strategy, I will let you know. I have just added you to my friends on ravelry!

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  4. what a wonderful post! thank you for sharing with us!

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