Sweden on the 4th of July

I had the experience of being out of the country on the 4th of July. It's a strange experience to be away on a special national holiday. The funny thing was we did celebrate in a very special way.  We have friends who live in Sweden and they have been our hosts while here.  Our families have stayed connected through the years. We have visited with each other (they have come to the US more times than we have gone to Sweden). We have met their friends and learned about each other's lives.  So on the 4th of July we had a picnic!  One of Ingemar and Kristina's friends is a transplanted American who is married to a Swede.  We went to their house and had a little touch of America in Sweden!  We had grilled hamburgers, chips, and strawberries along with some wonderful elderberry juice that they made from the flowers on the elderberry tree in their yard (that's the Swedish touch).  We played Bocci (not quite an American game) and had a great time.  What a special time to remember.

One of the highlights for me was seeing our Swedish friend's loom and her weaving. Elisabeth has a large (maybe 60") countremarche loom and she was weaving a beautiful blanket of yarn's she had hand dyed with natural dyes. It's interesting to me that weaver's share a common language and it doesn't take long to begin to talk pattern design, thread counts, and yarn diameters. (The world is not so big!) A weaver's signature is always there in the weaving hand of each person and is what makes each weaver's work special. It's so much fun to see another weaver's work and learn about their process.

So I share here some pictures from my wonderful 4th of July.  Hoping that you can share special holidays in new and interesting ways.

Elisabeth's Loom

Close up of Elisabeth's blanket

International Friends Celebrating