twinset.us

Hi, Jan,

That’s right, at least 91 knitters showed up for the Knit Out event at the ASI Bohus exhibit opening weekend.  What fun to see the diversity - old knitters, young knitters, female knitters, male knitters, expert knitters, novice knitters.  And the knitwear on everyone was a bonus treat - the Bohus sweaters on display remained a great distraction, but heck, there was a whole ‘nother exhibit on everyone’s backs and heads!

My theme for the day was connections, bringing knitters together.  Energy seemed to radiate from the clusters of knitters.  You’d see a knitter in one group suddenly turn to another group saying, “I didn’t mean to overhear, but could you tell me about that pattern/technique/yarn, too?  Impromptu lessons were happening all around.  Comments on how to keep knitting groups running.  And the one that made me really pleased - one knitter commented how she was learning even more about the Bohus tradition from other knitters attending the event, beyond the wealth of information in the films and lectures.

Speaking of films, I found tears running down my cheeks as the new documentary, “Bohus Knitting – From Relief Work to World Success” produced by  Kjell Andersson  ended.  The Bohus history, which I find so compelling, was made richer for me upon learning how the founder, Emma Jacobson, and her husband worked to help Jewish family and friends emigrate to Sweden, much to their political disadvantage.  The respect which the knitters were given by the Bohus Stickning organization touched my feminist heart, as well.

We ended the day with a casual get-together of 14 of the attendees.  We had a number of Bohus sweaters with us - check these out.  suebell (Ravatar) is examining stashmuffin’s mother’s authentic Bohus, which is a pattern we can’t identify (the sweater suffered some dye bleeding which confuses things).  She’s wearing a Blue Flower.  Yesterday she had a Wild Apple on, and I am predicting her Swan to show up tomorrow.  And look at Lynette wearing a gorgeous Blue Shimmer and holding up a Forest Darkness in progress.  Great food, tons of laughs, and even some knitting - and we managed to split the check with no problem.  We attributed it to the superior math skills that knitting teaches us.

I am feeling so spoiled with one more day of fun to look forward to.  Monday is going to be extra hard this week!

Love,

Ellen

P.S. Be sure to check out Susan and Sally’s blog for more info on the exhibit.

P.P.S.  Wendyknits also writes about the opening night - and you can just see the top of my head and the shoulder of my Forest Darkness in her photo of Bohus wearers towards the bottom of the post.