Craft Night!

 When I lived in VT/NH some of my friends and I spent most Wednesdays for probably over a year having Craft Night. We would switch around to different houses. Sometimes the host would cook a full meal. Or if there were a lot of us, we would go at it potluck-style. And everyone brought their own craft to work on, and we defined 'craft' very loosely, so it was quite an inclusive activity.

That being said, you better believe I was excited to hear about the craft night hosted by the folk dance group. Partly I was excited because of my love of Craft Night, but partly I was excited because I really want to make friends with the folk-y people.

The main activity at the craft night was making candles. The cabin that the group owns doesn't have electricity, so they hand-dip all of the candles that they use for the year during this one craft night. I got Really into the hand-dipping of the candles. That is an activity I'd like to incorporate into my future life. I really think it would make me a better old world woman.

There were also many other Swedish holiday crafts. The oddest by far was this:

Take an orange, stick cloves in it, wrap a red ribbon around it. And now you have a thing you hang in the window and it smells good.

There was also a wool station which was really quite cool, but I spent so much time dipping candles that I didn't have any time leftover to get into the woolen goods.

Here are photos I took after I got home of my loot!

 
A tiny flower pot with a Swedish flag!

 
I'm sorry to say, but this was painted by me and not by a five-year-old. It is like a jar that is painted and you can put a tealight in it and hang it like a lantern. Pretty special painting there.

And some hand-dipped candles! I got to take three home with me. I gave the best-looking one to Greg, so these are the two less-than-perfect ones. Pretty awesome right?