I recently came across this photo, which I really love and which brings a lot of memories from my childhood. First things first, the white valenok is commercially made, but the little ones are hand-made by Russian feltmaker
Natalia Simkina . When I saw this photo I immediately remembered my days back in Latvia when I was a kid. As you might know winters there are rough, it snows a lot and temperatures go way down below zero Celsius. So valenki is a perfect footwear for those kind of conditions. Me and my brother used to stay out for hours, lucky us we lived near the forest so we went skiing and sledging all the time. Some good memories there. Nowadays they decorate valenki with embroidery and different other techniques to give it more modern look, but that's another story.
I made this scarf as a present for my brother, who lives in Russia. It was quit a challenge for me. I really didn't find it easy to make something for a family member. My concern was that he might not like it and if he doesn't then he won't wear it and it will end up in the back of his wardrobe. I kept going back and forth with ideas in my head and then one day it just came together. I wanted to consider his style and at the same time staying true to my ideas. That's what I learned from Project Runway, TV show. Tim Gun always says: "Listen to your customer, but at the end of the day it's your design, so don't loose your identity"...something like that. My brother finally received his scarf after 2 months in the mail (never send anything abroad in November/December! lesson learned again). Looks like he really loves it. He said he can fold it in half and wear it short or wear it long like Vladimir Mayakovsky (Russian poet and playwright). My brother is such a funny guy.
My scarf "Saule" is featured in Etsy blog Storque. To see the whole post with wonderful picks go here.
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