It’s time to start getting ready for the Folk Song KAL – the spring version of the Seasons of Lace hosted by yours truly. This season we will be knitting three lace shawls that are inspired by three different folk songs.Each month from March through May there will be a new pattern posted in the files section of this yahoo group. The first shawl is called Havsfrun (the Sea Witch). One version of the song, performed by a Finnish-Swedish group called Gjallarhorn, can be heard on Youtube.
It is based on a medieval ballad from Sweden. The lyrics, translated to English are:
Herr Olof readies his gray horse and rides it to the realm of the Sea Witch
Herr Olof rode and the golden saddle floated, he sinks into the grasp of the Sea Witch
“Welcome, welcome to me, Herr Olof, I have waited for you for fifteen years
Where were you born and where were you raised and where were your courtly garments made?”
“I was born and raised in the king’s realm and that’s where my courtly garments were made.
That’s where my father is, and my mother, and my sister and brother.”
“But where are your fields and where are your meadows and where is your bridal bed prepared?
Where is your beloved, with whom you would live and die?”
“There are my fields and there are my meadows and there is my bridal bed prepared.
There is also my beloved, with whom I will live and die.”
“But come, sir Olof, and follow me inside, and drink from my jug the clearest of wine.
Where were you born and where were you raised and where were your courtly garments made?”
“Here I was born and here was I raised and here is where my courtly garments were made.
Here is my father, and here is my mother, and here are my sister and brother.”
“But where are your fields and where are your meadows and where is your bridal bed prepared?
Where is your beloved, with whom you would live and die?”
“Here are my fields and here are my meadows and here is my bridal bed prepared.
Here is also my beloved, with you I will live and die.”
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The stole is knit using two skeins of Pure Cashmere Lace from Hedgehog Fibres
http://www.etsy.com/shop/hedgehogfibres