It is May or June, 1987. Theoretically I am a senior in high school, about to graduate and go away to college. But I've actually lived away from home for ten months now, as a Rotary International exchange student in Pargas, Finland.
On this particular day I am receiving a lovely parting gift from my school headmaster, a copy of W. F. Kirby's translation of The Kalevala. (Years down the road, in May 2009, I will do a presentation for my Archaeology of the Book class featuring this same book.)
Please take a good look at my sweater. I knit it myself after my second host mom, Gina, taught me to knit. I'm particularly pleased that my socks match exactly. I wear bright ivory eyeshadow all the way up to my eyebrows and teal (to totally match!) on my eyelids.
In Finland, the graduates from the lukio (high school) get these cool hats (on the right side of the photo). They keep them forever and wear them every year for Vappu, May 1st, a day of drinking, picnics, drinking, and drunken carousing in the streets.
Not being a graduate of the lukio, I do not get a student cap in Finland. Drunken carousing, however, did commence.
I wanted to say, "You knit?!" Then I thought, duh, fabric artist. Me, I like to do scarves, enjoy the sense of accomplishment at completion, which comes fairly quickly when the project is small.
ReplyDeleteDo you still have the sweater? That's a heck of a project for a new knitter!
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