traditions

before christmas is completely over (even though in norway the tree traditionally doesn't go down until the 13th day of christmas, which is 7 january, i think, i'm as always sick of the thing cluttering my space after only one week, and aim to throw it out over the weekend) i would like to share a very local christmas tradition with you:

in bergen it's not christmas until you get your chocolate tennis racket!

the christmas tennis racket is a tradition stemming from the 50s, i think. when i was little one of my aunts always gave me one for christmas. back then they only made a dark chocolate one, but in later years they have also introduced a milk chocolate version, which in my opinion is much nicer. a few years back, after the local chocolate factory (where my grandad used to work, long before i was born) was sold to a bigger company, the tennis racket was pulled from the market. this of course led to huge protests, and the next year they gave us back the milk chocolate one, followed the year after by the dark variety. now we're back on track and every autumn they make the yearly batch of chocolate tennis rackets - partially by hand. yum! (read more here (in norwegian) in the local newspaper

when you think about it, it's completely ok to have several of these during christmas. tennis = exercise = good for you!

ok, bored with reading about local customs yet? you came for the knitting, you say? tada:



one finished bed sock and one finished jaywalker. don't let the look of them fool you - the bed sock is super wide and comfy and perfect for, well, bed, while the jaywalker is nice and tight around my foot. except for the cuff, which flares out in a very annoying manner. why?! i am going to do the next cuff on 2mm needles (or even smaller, gasp) to see if that helps. it's just that i have to wait until i finish my first elfine's sock, because i switched to my jaywalker needles on that one as the circ i was using was too short, too nasty, too everything bad you can think of. don't know when i'll cast on for the next bed sock - the novelty has sort of worn off. that said, it was a quick knit so maybe i should try to do the right thing and just cast on for it already. thanks for your input on sock needles, btw - plenty of good tips there and i plan to investigate them thoroughly in 2006.

have a great new year's celebration, everyone! see you next year!