Another day, another insult

The day dawned early, with a 4:30a squirrel sneaking under the covers, shivering and complaining of alligators. Thankfully, he went back to sleep, but unthankfully, I did not.

Instead, I continued my study of the Sami peoples in the Northern Nordic countries, and the Kola peninsula of Russia. Fascinating info, and I kept being reminded of some of the folk practices of Mongolia. I emailed several Ravelry people in Norway and Finland asking questions re the handcrafts of the Sami peoples, particularly knitting traditions. Through a series of exchanges, Tuulia in Finland burst my bubble and basically said there are no knitting traditions. Sob! All knitting has come in through the majority culture of Norway, Sweden, Finland (and Russia?), and all "Sami" patterns are done by other cultures mimicking symbols from Sami weaving, or silvermaking.

Bummer. I love the vivid colors of the Sami, and am intrigued by their cultural history. Too bad I can't combine the study with my love of knitting.

In the course of the morning, I had message exchanges with people in Iceland and Sweden as well. This here internet thing is pretty fun! Life is sooo different from when I went to college in Canada and lived overseas in Siberia and Mongolia. I feel like an old-timer when I say I had no phone, there was no computer, I had no TV and the only way for communication was letters home. And yet, that was freeing, as well -- to not be tethered to an electronic gadget. I was able to do my real work.

What with the early wake-up, I was in a fog most of the day as well. Enough to insult people half-way around the world, and not operate heavy machinery. I'm good that way.

My brother-in-law opened his Christmas present late. Here is a picture of it. Oh, I forgot to tell him it won a first place ribbon at the fair. It is also encrypted with a code. Enter it, when you figure it out!