Children Course - Filting

Dignity Trip to Beiteddine

In February 2011, Dignity - Maghdouche invited its members and friends to an educational trip to Beiteddine where we all got a different perspective on the palace, its history, patterns, colours and much more... Thanks to Trond Einar S. Indsetviken who was our instructor and guide.

Christmas Fair !

"Dignity" has just participated in a 4 day Christmas fair organized by the sisterhood of Our Lady of Mantara - Maghdouche " Akhawiyyet Saydet el Mantara. The friends of "Dignity" exhibited different kinds of embroideries and needlework as well as many other different products including the Brain Warmers.

The visitors of the fair appreciated the beautiful products, the high quality of the materials and the elegant finishing...

It is to be mentioned that this was the first fair in Lebanon in which "Dignity" has participated, on the hope that this would be the start of many participations to come.

Well done girls !!!

"Under Brua" Festival - Dignity's Stand

Her er vår lille "Stand" for Dignity produkter på "Under Brua Festivalen" som pågår på Hamar 20 og 21 august 2010.

Her er et utvalg av "Putene" Disse er brodert i tynneste ull og foret. Alt er 100% håndsøm.

To hyggelige jenter ble fasinert av våre "Hjernevarmere" og ville vise dere andre også....

"Bakgården Market" - Dignity's Stand

Dignity's stand - "Bakgården" Market in Hamar.

Dignity Products in "Bakgården" market

We have been invited to participate in the "Bakgård" market in Hamar.

So, friday and saturday, the 18th. and 19th. of June 2010, we will be having a stand, selling our Dignity products as well as some pelargonium. If you are in Hamar this weekend, dont hesitate to pass by and say hello.
Thanks to Veldreid for their support, initiative and invitation.

Back From Lebanon !

So, the vacation is over ! 45 days, in the warmth of Lebanon, have passed like seconds.

During our stay, we did a lot of things for the project. Many things that we wanted to do seemed to be impossible. We end up by being the first ones to benefit from the project: we are learning day by day, to work on our patience (and our impatience), on accepting things as they are presented and when they are presented but without loosing the track: Keeping our eyes looking straight forward on our target... and the results are rewarding !

We come back to Norway with our luggage full of products made by around 20 women (and one man): embroidery, cross stitch, knitting, crochet, etc... all made by "Dignity"... What makes us feel satisfied and proud.

Where did Dignity products end? - Hvor havnet våre Dignity produkter?

- Here and there... Our Dignity products have found a good home. We still have some that have never been posted in our net-shop : (http://www.bydignity.blogspot.com/ ) but can be bought in our galleri in Norway, on the hope of renewing the products in the net-shop after Christmas.

Here are some photos that show where Dignity pillows have gone.

Dignity Cats !

Trond Einar's cats idea was a success. People, children and adults are showing a lot of interest and curiosity... and for that, they are excused. The cats are adorable ! so cute that you feel to touch them, hug them... They awake the child inside you that you feel to play with them.

During the process of knitting, the cat gets a name and a little story that awake the imagination and let your thoughts fly in a wonderland... "Uheldig Hilde" translated as Unlucky Hilde, "Dolly Dollar", "Dolly Simpel", " fru L.V. Fransen" and many other names. Most of them has find a good and loving home.

The demand on the cats is growing and TrondE is not able to fullfill it by himself that he asked Sissel to help with the knitting on the hope that our people in Maghdouche are knitting cats and that we will bring them to Norway after Christmas. Note that TrondE had a course in Maghdouche, in May,on how to knit the cats.

Lately, the press got interested in the "Dignity cats" and the clever idea of owning a cat while supporting our Dignity Project. Here is the journalist Håvard Lillebo from the newspaper "Østlendigen" taking photos of TrondE and the cats after a long interview with us about Dignity Project that will be published soon in "Østlendingen". Dont miss it !

Up till now, people supported our project with a "pelargonium" plant so why not supporting it with a lovely wool cat ?

Before the Weekend Market

Just one day before the weekend market, "Hamar arbeiderblad" made a very interesting reportage. Rolf Småriseth, the journalist, was clever in putting the light on the coming event and the preparations going on, which helped us getting a lot of visitors during the whole weekend.

"Hamar arbeiderblad" is always playing a major role in sharing Dignity's activities with eager readers.

Dignity Weekend Market 2009

Natthagen galleri has the pleasure of inviting you to the weekend market 2009 dedicated to support our Dignity project in Maghdouche - Lebanon.

Location: Natthagen galleri
Adress: Vensbakeriet - Løten - Norway
Date: Saturday and Sunday, the 1. and 2. of August
Time: from 12:00 to 4:00 PM.

All are welcome ! Help us spread the news.

How did it go with the courses?

We haven't been posting any articles lately. Things were a little bit out of control after our last trip to Lebanon, in May, that we are having the feeling of being behind schedule all the time !

But although it seems a long time since May and the news are old by now, we have to tell our readers and friends how did it go when it comes to the courses. During our stay in Maghdouche, we had time to offer 3 courses... Berit gave the first course. It was about making wool socks (the norwegian way) using 5 sticks.

Robert gave the second course that was a course in tatting where participants got familiar with the shittle and its use, made their first double stitches, picots and rings. The participants saw the light when they were able to understand the logic behind the weird elegant hand movements of tatting...

The third and last course was with TrondE. It was about knitting small cats. After the course, the participants were able to knit a cat on 2 sticks, filt it as they were introduced to filting and personalise it by embroidering the eyes and the mouth.

This time, the courses were given to a limited number of people on the hope that these people will be able to teach the others that are interested in learning the techniques.

Makkook - Nupereller - Tatting

Course #: 6

We are glad to inform you that a course in Makkook (Makkouk) work will be held in Beit el Founoun soon. Those who are interested, please take contact with Georgette Hayek.

Makkook, known in english as tatting is a very old tradition in Lebanon dated since the Ottoman era and that dissappeared with the Lebanese war... and to just revive this tradition, could be a big achievement.

Ready for the Season !

Spring is in the air !!! Time to cut the 370 different pelargonium plants and make sticklings, and of course the money goes to our Dignity project...
So friends and pelargonium lovers ! if you need pelargonium sticklings, you know where to go !!! and if you have any particular order or request, please dont hesitate to send your wishing lists or take contact by email.

Wheel of Fortune

Since we decided to start Dignity project, we have been very active, actually a little bit too active, I have to admit... But for Maghdouche and its wonderful people, we are willing to do anything, almost anything... We took every opportunity we got, researching and learning, planning and training ...

På norsk
Siden vi bestemte oss for å starte Dignity prosjektet, har vi vært aktive, kanskje litt for aktive, Men for Maghdouche og de flotte menneskene som bor der, er vi villige til å gjøre så mye vi kan. Vi har benyttet enhvær mulighet vi har fått, undersøkelser, lært, planlagt og holdt kurs.......

During a "strikkekafe" (translated as knitting cafe) in our gallery, here in Norway, where we invite friends and yarn lovers to join for a coffee and a chat while doing handcraft, we tried the spinning wheel and that was ... what can I say?.... challanging but exciting... Yes!!! this is something for Dignity project !!! but can we afford to buy and transport wheels to Maghdouche ?

Under en strikkekafe i vårt galleri ( neste er 19 mars) hvor det kom venner og bekjente som liker garn, kaffe og en god prat........og mens de andre strikket prøvde vi å lære å spinne, og det var......ja hva kan vi si........utfordrende men spennende. Og dette hadde vært noe for Dignity prosjektet men hvordan kan vi få råd til å kjøpe en rokk og transportere den til Maghdouche?

Few days after, we got an old woman that we know, knocking on our gallery door. With her, she brought a gift to the project : a spinning wheel, made in Holland and almost unused !

Noen dager etter kom en eldre kvinne vi kjenner , hun hadde med seg en gave til prosjektet: En rokk, laget i Holland og nesten ubrukt.....................

For the record, the spinning wheel is a little more sofisticated instrument than the spindle, used to spin whool, cotton or silk. In Norway, to spin, using the wheel is a very old tradition and the original antique wheels cost a fortune.

Researching Maghdouche Costumes - På leting etter klær fra Maghdouche

One of the first things I do when I visit Lebanon, is to get back to the family photos that survived the 17 years of lebanese war and the fire that burned the family house in 1986 due to a heavy war that took place in Maghdouche and lasted for one month.

På norsk:

Noe av det første jeg gjør når jeg kommer til Libanon er å finne de få bildene som fantes etter 17 år med krig og nedbrent familiehus i 1986.

As a part of our Dignity project is to research the lebanese traditional costume that was used in Maghdouche, I rushed to see the photos and was eager to find a particular photo of my grand grand parents that I know it is still there...

Som en del av vårt Dignity prosjekt forsøker vi å finne tilbake til tradisjonelle klesdrakter som var brukt i Maghdouche. Jeg fant et bilde fra mine tippoldeforeldre............

I showed the photo to Trond Einar and he was fascinated by 2 things: the brocade shirt of my grand grand father and by the hair cover (mandeel) of my grand grand mother and all the small flowers surrounding it, and he said: "here is something that we need to research deeper !".

Jeg viste Trond Einar fotoet og han var fasinert over to ting: Min tippoldefars skjorte og tippoldemors hodetørkle (mandil) med de små blomstene.

Cultural Salon and Dignity

Yesterday, the dream of a cultural salon in Elverum area was transformed from just an idea to a concrete reality. Of course we were there, and with us was our Dignity project !

The program was intensive and we had few minutes to talk about Dignity. Trond Einar was very clever in using the time, explaining about the project and its importance for the people of Maghdouche as well as for scandinavians.

After that, we exhibited the first few Dignity products and people could admire the high quality of the work and the design.

We thank the guests of the salon for their economical support for the project, we thank Snefrid and Ragnar for giving us this opportunity and for all what they did for Dignity and we wish them all the best with the next cultural salon in the 4th of April.