Knittymama

I ripped this directly from the American Swedish Institute website:

Radiant Knits: The Bohus Tradition
January 23–March 29, 2009

The exhibit Radiant Knits: The Bohus Tradition will be on display at the American Swedish Institute from Friday, Jan. 23– Sunday, March 29, 2009. The exhibit focuses on the history of the Swedish Bohus knitting style and the Bohus Stickning industry (1939–1969), and will feature original garments knitted in the Bohus style. This will be the first time that Bohus couture garments have been on exclusive exhibit in the U.S. since the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. The Bohus Stickning organization came into existence in the province of Bohuslän, Sweden, during the Depression era of the 1930s. During this time of financial hardship, a group of women—most married to unemployed quarry workers—sought out Emma Jacobsson, the wife of the governor of Bohuslän, hoping to find a means of supporting their struggling families.

Bohus Sticking was thus born out of need and produced beautiful hand-knitted garments while helping the women support their families financially. From Sweden, the fine knitwear designs spread internationally, including to the U.S., before the operation ended in 1969. Bohus Stickning had grown from the home-based industry of its origin to become a successful business of international reputation.

During the opening weekend, a variety of opportunities to learn about Bohus knitting and its history will be offered at the ASI, including workshops, lectures, guided tours, and a film premiere. A number of special guests from Sweden and the U.S. will be present to share their expertise. For more information about the exhibit and related events click on Bohus_flyer.pdf or visit the Events page.  The registration form can be found at Bohus_registration.pdf

The Minnesota Knitters’ Guild is a proud sponsor of this exhibit.

I am jumping up and down about this one. I’ve been dying to actually knit one of these sweaters. I’m planning on attending and getting inspired to take the plunge!!

I also wanted to share this lovely letter from  Alice Walker to our amazing President-Elect Obama. I have been so full of excitement and emotion this week…tears, hope, relief. As much as I love politics I’m not a political blogger, but this is too much of a big deal to me not to say how thrilled I am and share something. I hope you enjoy her letter regardless of how you voted.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. As I write this post, Knittykid is half asleep in a nest of blankets on the carpet. For the last 5.5 years I have prayed for one of those kids who just falls asleep when tired and it’s happened about twice; once was when Little Man ate a whole bottle of homeopathic teething medicine. They just don’t tucker out easily around here.

The down side of this is that Knittykid stripped himself down to nothing before making his nest, and he still needs a diaper when he sleeps. We also need to be dressed and walking to the bus stop in one hour, which makes this whole possible nap futile and a bit reckless on my part. But it’s so quiet right now, I can’t resist….

The ouch??? I came down with a massive case of mastitis Sunday night. Monday I was so ill I barely had the energy to walk to the bathroom. Thanks to my smart midwives I’m on the mend and about 80% better. But now it’s a gloomy Minnesota day, the kind when I’m not sure what to do with myself, which is then compounded by the fact that I have a baby who only likes to nap in the sling and orders to “take it easy.” So I’ll blog, and maybe knit, and I’ll ignore the mess I keep looking at. And enjoy this quiet while it lasts.

Spinner turned a whopping six weeks yesterday. He also started blessing us with his first real baby smiles. Not the sweet little newborn smiles, but the smiles that say, “Hey, I know you! And I like you! And you’re kind of funny! And you feed me too!” I love those smiles, and I love them even more when he gives them to his big brothers. All three of them were snuggling in bed with us yesterday, smiling and laughing and boy did that make up for the three part screamfest we had the night before.

No new baby pics today, I’m too lazy to download right now. But I do have a WIP to show off. Can’t tell you much as it’s a gift. But if you read Spin Off you may be able to guess!!

Knittykid’s awake…probably for the best since the school district does not consider “new baby plus toddler” reason enough to give you a bus stop in front of your house.

There is so much I could write after these first three weeks. It’s been a priceless time, getting to know our new little guy.  We are all so in love with him!! Little Man and Knittykid are head over heels, and although there has definitely been some big brother drama with our two older guys, they absolutely adore their little brother as much as we do.

I’m too tired to write a ton (just about time for the wee guy and I to head up to bed) so I’m going to leave you with the fabulous one liners that Knittykid has been blessing us with these weeks in regards to his new sibling:

• “Can we go watch Bob the Builder now?” Said literally five minutes after he watched his baby brother be born.  Apparently birth is just another part of the morning routine when you’re two: Eat cheerios, watch brother be born, TV time. Makes sense, right?
• Can you put that baby on the table/on Daddy/right over there? I want Mama time.
• Can I bite the baby? (Said in the sweetest voice) Noooo, I can’t bite the baby, but I can bite raisins!!!
• I don’t think my baby is coming out. As he points to his tummy oh so sadly.
• My baby is coming out!!! My baby is coming out! Oh. no it isn’t…. Coming to grips with the fact that he is not really pregnant like Mama was, despite that he’s insisted on for the last six months.

I’ll have a blog name for our newest boy in the next post, hopefully!! I’m still working on one.

1. “Mama, you know what the scary thing is about kindergarten? Every day my teacher picks a helper, and you have to take the folder to the office all by yourself!”

2. “We had gym.”

3. “We don’t have gym until Monday.”

4. “We sat in a circle and did nothing the whole day.”

5. “My teacher let me walk all over the school by myself and I found all my friends rooms.”

6. “We were really safe because our teacher stayed with us the whole time, even in the gym.”

7. “A burglar came into the room but I chased him out.”

8. “We didn’t sing any songs or play any games.”

9. “We played Run For Your Supper.”

10. “Our teacher taught us this song.”

I’m guessing 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 would be marked False. How I’m ever going to figure out what he really does there is beyond me. I”ll get the hang of decoding, I guess. Either way, kindergarten is cool, Little Man is happy and mighty relieved to have that first day done with.

First week of kindergarten: CHECK. Now we can officially have this baby!

I’m so glad this baby is coming out relatively soon. Both boys were early, at 38 and 39 weeks. I’m trying not to assume that this one will be early too, but oh how I would appreciate it if baby shows up before week 40! I’m so wiped out with this one. Tired, swollen, and worn out! I feel like my feet are going to explode. I have a hopeful theory though:

Little Man: Super easy pregnancy, I bounced right through it. Little Man now? We’ll say he’s spirited, creative, spunky, but not easy! As one friend at playgroup said today (after I told her the story of how he played a “joke” yesterday that involved a giant jar of raisins being thrown all over the room) “I’m not sure what I’d do if my boys did stuff like that all the time.” Heh…..yeah.

Knittykid: Kind of easy pregnancy. More tiring, a bit of bed rest, but not too bad. And now, for the most part? Kind of an easy kid. He’s definitely more laid back than his big brother, that’s for sure, although he’s got his moments, and he’s BUSY.

Baby #3: Wearing me out, and just 35 weeks! So I’m hoping, maybe that means super easy kid? The kid who likes to sit and color all afternoon long? Who likes to help Mama clean up? (Do these children exist?)

Of course, I’m assuming that we’re getting another spunky little boy to join this family (or maybe a spunky girl?) but it’s funny to think about the possibility of a quiet, easy going little kid. I’m not sure I’d know what to do. I’m pretty used to the chaos by now, and crazily I think I prefer it a bit!

Anyway, enough of that theory. I’m just about finished up with soakers for now. A couple more to finish up, but here’s the latest showcase:

Curly Purly in Classic Elite Tweed with Cascade 220 trim:

Culry Purly in Wool of the Andes and Cascade 220 trim:

Little Turtle Knits Picky Pants in Handpainted Yarn.com merino:

Little Turtle Knits Picky Pants in Blackberry Ridge Merino:

Little Turtle Knits Picky Pants in LTK farm yarn:

“Sure honey, go ahead and go out on the road for a week. We could use the extra money and I know how much you love to work washed up rock and roll shows at county fairs. I can survive seven days with the boys, we’ve done it before.”

All I could think of for seven days was “I f$%#ing agreed to what??”"” If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m pregnant right now and therefore not drinking, I would have thought that I must have been drunk to say yes.

The Skeptic is back now. Here’s the short list of what happened in our week:

-exploding plumbing under the sink

-two year molars + possible weird ear infection resulting in fever and massive screaming three nights in a row, plus intensive clinginess all week long

-the death (AGAIN, how many freaking times can I have this happen?) of my computer

-massive temps and humidity but me with no air conditioning (we couldn’t find the foam inserts that keep the bats out, I thought bats in the house would be extra, extra bad, so I said don’t put them in the windows yet)

-general bedtime mayhem plus pregnancy hormones that left Knittykid saying “Are you okay Mommy?” as Little Man hid under his blankets

-cat diarrhea

I’ll stop there, but you get the drift. There were fun moments, I managed to get both boys and both dogs down to my parents for the weekend, which helped a great deal. And somehow things managed to settle down by Thursday (maybe I was the five hours of TV I gave into for Little Man). By the time the Skeptic got home I was actually somewhat cheerful and in a good mood again. Which he was happy about, since the last time he called me I told him “If someone came over and broke both of my legs right now it would be a relief.”

Okay, maybe it wasn’t THAT bad. But to my Skeptic: Let’s keep the shows local for the rest of the summer, okay?

Stupid birds, stupid sun.

Despite the fact that I made heavy felted curtains to block out nearly all bits and pieces of light, Knittykid is still choosing to get up before 5am every day. The time of choice today? 4:30am. Just needed to share the agony a bit here.

Other than that, Have a Happy 4th my American friends!!!!!

Wow, the last two weeks have been a whirlwind! I actually have a ton of FO’s to show you, but not any time to post them all. Here’s a little sneak of the BSJ:

Any button suggestions?

A colorway closeup. It’s the Knitpicks fingering dyed by me with onion skin and tumeric.

I’m off to Chicago this weekend for a conference. A trip like this always gives me mixed feelings. It’s three nights by myself in a swanky hotel without the boys. Just like Toronto, I’m sure I’ll love it the first night and be ready to come home already the second.

Any Chicago travel suggestions for me? The conference is out by O’Hare, but I guess there is a train station close by. Remember, you’re talking to a 27 week pregnant lady who has to rely on public transport and hasn’t been to Chicago since she was 18. I’m looking for good yarn, good food, easy to get to!