Hygge - it's a Scando thing

ahh October - the days are getting shorter, the nights colder and the scarves creep out of closets and drawers like colourful woolly snakes.

Oh autumn you bring colour in your own special way - oranges, browns, reds, yellows that are too quickly replaced by the bleak, grey existence that winter promises. You also bring the promise of evenings spent indoors, talking eating and generally avoiding the cold and wet outdoors. in scandoworld we have even invented a special word which covers all these sorts of activities - HYGGE!

several attempts at trying to find a good translation of Hygge into English is impossible - this is a translation from danish...
hygge ¹ (en): comfort, cosiness;
[skabe hygge] make the house (etc) look comfortable, make you feel at home.
2.
hygge ² (vb): [hygge om en] make somebody comfortable;
(ofte =) give somebody a pleasant time;
[hygge sig] make oneself comfortable, feel at home; have a pleasant time;
[i aften skal vi rigtig hygge os] we will have a nice cosy evening;
[hyg jer!]
(: afskedshilsen) have fun!
3.
hyggefølelse : feeling of cosiness.
4.
hyggekrog : cosy corner.
5.
hyggelig (adj): comfortable, cosy ( fx room), homelike ( fx place); snug (
fx corner); cheerful ( fx atmosphere, room);
(rar) pleasant, nice ( fx chap);
[gøre det hyggeligt for ham] make him comfortable;
(ofte =) give him a pleasant time;
[have det hyggeligt] have a pleasant time;
[en hyggelig snak] a cosy (el. nice) chat.
hyggespreder (en -e): [være en hyggespreder] create a genial atmosphere.


none of these really hit on the essence of the word and all it encompasses. It is more than cosy, or homelike. it is a feeling and a state of mind. to truly understand the sentiment is to truly understand scandos. and one has to experience it to understand it fully. it involves people (you can also hygge on your own), usually food (of any kind - from a good meal to sweets, to cakes) drinks (not just alcoholic), candles, a good movie or some good music - anything that creates an atmosphere where you feel like your emotional self is wrapped in a large down duvet, and the world is a happy and beautiful place - talk about an endorphin kick.

its about treating yourself, it is about spending quality time. and if you are really going to push the boat out - you have an evening of rå-hygge - or raw-hygge - this is when you may eat whipped cream with a spoon, drink champagne because its tuesday and why not, gorge on chocolate cake without guilt or sin. it is immensely important and it is about feeling good and having a good time with those you feel close to.

the best kind of hygge is jule-hygge - christmas hygge! (lets face it - you knew that was coming) now, in scandoworld we dont just celebrate christmas for 3 days - but we start to build up to it properlyfrom the first sunday in advent (if before the 1st of december) or the 1st of december. Advent calendars (and i dont mean tacky disney ones with chocs), advent candles, calendar candles, evenings of 'christmas-lunches' (an oxymoron, but that is what you call them in danish), evenings spent making christmas decorations (or days at school if young enough). We also have christmas-calendars on TV - a 'nailbiting' series always shown for kids (sometimes for adults too) where the question of will christmas be saved is the constant theme. closer to the date mothers and fathers across the country will start to prepare the food - cookies will be baked, old-school rents will make cold meats for christmas day lunch, marcipan chocs will be produced etc etc.

so a few years ago, as charlotte's sister kat and i 'accidentally' spent an entire grey, wet and misreable weekend in november holed up in my appartment, watching every christmas dvd we could garner, eating waffles (the heart shaped ones that are traditional to norway) drinking and making christmas decorations, we came up with the plan to hold a 'Julehygge' every year. a day of feasting and crafting - followed by a night of drinking and jolly times on the town. we promptly invited likeminded craftiacs - and had a wonderfully hyggelig day - and a boozefuelled laughter-filled night. and got some awesome christmas decorations out of it.

i know its early - only october - but i now declare my christmas deco-making period officially open (well the clocks go to winter time in a few days) and let the games begin!

happy hygge all round!

long time no sew

so i have been under the blog-dar for a spell - but have been busy sewing on my dinky wee sewing machine - which is actually going so much better than i ever anticipated! pics and full details will be posted anon.

the above is an ikea hack (yay!) using 24 of those cheapo frames (i think €1.50 for 3), treated only with colourless beeswax and stuck together using batons of bog standard pine. the photos are family ones i have inherited from times ago - some pre 1900s! :) showing a selection of fun stuff like beach trips, bicycle tours and various other activities. prob altogether cost me €12 not bad in my book .