Straw Balaclava / Halmbalaklava by Elin Flognman

In the 1800s my grandmothers grandmothers mother Lisa Stina sat deep in the woods of Dalsland braiding straw hats. She did this surrounded by starving children and childrens children in a cabin that was one room and a fireplace with no floor. She braided straw as sole provider for the family since her husband Anders had severe body ache. The reason straw hats were so popular at the time was the trend to have a fair complexion. Only workers got sun tanned and no one wanted to look like a worker.

More than 150 years later I got the chance to sit at the same location braiding straw in the same technique. It takes me a week. From the straw braid I make a balaclava.