I designed the baby blanket to commemorate Martha van Wetteren and her baby. She gave birth in prison. Martha’s baby blanket is completely double knitted in two soft shades of Drops AIR: pink marble and sage green. The colours refer to the old use of pink and blue shades for girls and boys. After all, we do not know whether Martha gave birth to a girl or a boy. The runes for courage, strength and love protect the young child from all evil in the world. Martha could not do that herself - she was burned alive immediately after giving birth on accusations of witchcraft.

YARN
DROPS AIR
34 rose marble 150 g
30 saliegroen 150 g

Rune is an old Germanic language. The word rune means ‘letter’ as well as ‘secret’ and ‘whisper’. The runes were used as an alphabet, but also formed a magical system with predictive powers. Runes were related to everyday life, but also to the supernatural. They were used by seers and other initiates to perform evil and good magic. Combined in bindrunes the signs get even more magic. In the blanket for Martha’s baby I combine the runes for courage, strength and love.

The blanket for Martha’s baby is part of MICCA, a collection that pays tribute to the many victims of the witch hunt. In Europe alone, more than 100,000 alleged witches were burned at the stake. Mostly women, but also men and even children.

MICCA weaves the history of all victims into timeless creations of thread. Each stitch is part of the chain that connects us across the generations. You can find my designs on my Ravelry page Micca-witchcraft and also on my website www.micca-witchcraft.be.