Neulakko in English
Neulakko is a site devoted to the arts and crafts of the medieval period. I mostly focus on medieval clothing. My main interest is in 14th century clothing and various textile arts, but I’m also interested in a wide variety of medieval history, everyday things and archaeology.
Neulakko is Finnish for needle case. I originally started Neulakko because there weren’t that many sites on medieval clothing in Finnish. And although it may seem so, not every finn is fluent or comfortable with English. I recently noticed that I have quite some non-finnish readers as well. Because of this, I began providing English versions of my blog posts in spring 2009.
What you will find in Neulakko
Blog
The front page is my blog (with texts in English, always underneath the Finnish text)
The blog entries are tagged by theme:
Neulakko is for site updates etc to do with the site
Projektit is for Projects ie. Things I’m making / have made
Kirjat is for posts on books
Linkit is for posts that contain links
Tapahtumat is for events and other interesting occasions
Museot is for museums
Reseptit is for cooking and recipes
Kuvat is for posts containing and on pictures
Teltta is for my tent, encampments and camping
Historianelävöitys is for posts on historical re-enactment
Ohjeet is for instructions and tutorials
Tutkimus is for posts on research
Instructions and articles
It has instructions and tutorials for making your own medieval clothing as well as some articles on medieval clothing. Many are in Finnish, but some in English and some just have enough pictures to be understandable.
Books and Links
The site also houses links and a list of useful books. So far, only a part of my library is listed here. Someday, I’ll have everything listed here. For more links, it’s good to see the Linkit – category in the blog, which is for posts that contain links.
Pictures
The picture gallery has my collection museum snapshots. You can also browse my gallery of finished projects.
About me
Me at Glims in 2008
I’m a medieval enthusiast and a re-enactor. I started out in this hobby in 1995. Medieval re-enactment can seem like a bit of an odd hobby, but it’s a lot of fun! For me it’s a great way of doing something completely different, pursuing my interest in history, being creative and just relaxing.
I’ve taught classes on medieval clothing (and continue to do so with great gusto), but I’m not a professional historian nor a craftsman. My master’s degree is in social sciences and I work with communications and government.
I can be reached at an adress that is made up of these elements: the name of this site (and you’ll never guess which sign should be put here) and iki.fi. And of course I follow the blog comments very carefully too, there’s room for questions and discussion there too!
