Norwegian Winter Fairytale Family ~ Nisse Style

Every year when the temperatures turn chilly enough, I bring forth my long winter hats. I’m like a real Norwegian nisse, a folk creature often depicted with long pointy hats, they are like a gnome/elf/pixie of the North, for the lack of a good translation. They represent our ancestors and the spirits of the Land. I was 15 years when I knitted my first long hat. It was brown and was so long it almost touched the floor when I wore it. I wore it all the time, and joked that it magically grew with me as I got older, and that when I’m 90 years I would have to wrap it several times around my neck to be able to wear it.

Since then my collection of long hats has been growing. I made up the consept of skogsnisse/forest nisse in my teens, and used to make stories about them. I made a blog entry about them some years ago, click here to read more. I wore only long green or brown hats back then. I thrive in earthy colors. But these last years, I got hold of 2 second hand hats of yellow and red. And I kind of love them as well, so wanted to use them for a wintery photoshoot. Because now that we have a baby, we are suddenly a real “nisse” family. And then you need a Christmas card to send to friends and family!

Here you can see the result 🙂 Just a couple of days later, lots of snow arrived. I can’t help but imagine how lovely the pictures would have been with a bit more snow. But we have a tight schedule, and I’m just so grateful that we got to take some pictures and explore these lovely places at all.

The location is Eikesdalen, the lake Eikesdalsvatnet is just half an hour from home, and it is such a stunning location, with majestic mountains and a very biodiverse nature with lots of big and fascinating trees.

In front of the beautiful lake Eikesdalsvatnet, and the mountains by Eresfjord.

By the frozen Mardalsfossen. Actually one of the highest waterfalls in Europe. It is an amazing place in summer, when it is open and not frozen. This place close to where we live was where the first environmental activists in Norway fought for nature, to keep this stunning waterfall from being turned into a hydroelectric power station. They did not succeed, but a part of it runs free for a couple of months every summer, and it is still so beautiful! Will we ever get to see it in its full and former glory again?

I wanted to take some pictures of him in a baby hammock. He was kind of impatient and hungry, so I only managed some very few pics before nursing time. We was holding him while he was in the hammock so he wouldn’t fall out 🙂

I’m very pleased that our baby has got quite the collection of long pointy hats as well!

Can you see the heart shape on the tree trunk? <3

This is my favorite birch tree, so majestic and magical!

Having some fun on the ice, which was not very slippery 🙂

I’m curious to know: If you had a long hat, which color would it have? Personally I’m planning on knitting a purple one, and one in many earthy colors 😉