This morning, early, I cast on Babysvøbet - Det hele kongerige by Marianne Knorborg. This is a shetland shawl the Crown Princess Mary of Denmark (an Australian commoner) has brought both her babies home from the hospital wrapped in.
I've been eyeing it for quite some time, but I've been a day late and a skein short. It takes a lot of skeins. I now have 16 skeins of Jamieson Shetland (grown and processed on the Shetland islands, thank you very much), and I'm still worried I don't have enough. I'm halfway through the center square, and I'm halfway through the first skein. It's boring enough. Good thing the next part involves a lot of Danish translation
embriotic shetland shawl
Actual color is dark, dark green or "pine."
On to the story already in progress: my solo trip to the Vesterheim!
It took awhile to find them, but once I did, the people of Iowa were very nice.
The Vesterheim. Everyone should go!
The Vesterheim's Sámi exhibit.
I left the family having a lovely holiday in Minneapolis and drove down for an appointment with a curator and some gorgeous hand knits in the holdings. What an incredible thing to be ushered into the inner sanctum -- just me and my camera -- and allowed to handle, take notes on and pictures of some beautiful, vintage Norwegian hand knits.
My uncle and aunt's gákti.
The man's gákti collar. From Enontëkio, Finland.
The woman's gákti shawl and brooch. From Enontëkio, Finland.
I was well into this Sámi thing, when I found out my aunt is of Sámi heritage. I always knew she was Norwegian-Finnish extraction. It turns out the Finnish part was a Sámi man from Enontëkio -- the far, far NW of Finland. These beautiful Sámi gáktis are hers. Don't you love the stacks and stacks of ribbons? The shawl and brooch?
While in Minneapolis viewing the beautiful holdings at the American Swedish Institute...
reindeer skin pouch decorated with beads
Sámi gákti
woven bands on bells
knitted socks and mittens
birch bark bag
...we did other fun Sámi things, like visit North America's first Sámi themed coffee house. The Lavvu Coffee House is owned and operated by Chris Pesklo, a Minnesota native of Sámi ancestry, whose other jobs are lavvu builder and former Social Studies teacher. His Lavvu website can be found at http://www.lavvu.com/index.html. Lavvu are the tipi-like tents Sámi traditionally made and travel with.
North America's only Sámi inspired coffee house
Dinkytown, MN
lavvu coffee
knitting in the lavvu
working on a Sámi mitten in the coffee house
We also visited Ikea for the first time. Wow. It's like furniture Disneyland! We purchased a few things, and I briefly considered moving there.
Tomorrow: my first trip to Decorah, Iowa, and the motherland of all museums: The Vesterheim!
Today is Tuesday, April 2. It is the beginning of a busy week, after two busier ones.
Yesterday, the kids went back to school after a two week Spring Break. April 1 is a bit of a tradition in this house, though. For the past four or five years, I have served a joke dinner as my contribution toward April Fools. This year, it was meatloaf and peas and carrots. It all sounds rather hearty, until you learn that the meatloaf was made of crushed cocoa rice crispies, and the peas and carrots were Jelly Belly candies.
candy meatloaf
You don't have to clean your plate to get dessert!
Never were the kids so happily obliging to eat meatloaf.
We had two kids as guests for dinner, and, unlike normal meals, there was very little complaining, except for me and one son: he didn't eat and I felt a little sick afterwards. This is the price I pay for fun!
Two weeks ago, the five of us drove up to Minnesota for weekend at the beginning of break. I got to visit the American Swedish Institute and their current exhibition on the Sámi, called Eight Seasons in Sámpi, the land of the Sámi People. If you are close, please check it out! It is excellent: the same exhibit Seattle's Nordic Museum had last year, most of it on loan from Ájtte, the Sámi museum in the Northern part of Sweden. The ASI had a new component, however: they put out a call for local people to bring in other Sámi artifacts which could be put on display. As a result, they got a lovely collection of textiles and handcrafts that showcase the handiwork of a wide area of Sámpi.
crocheted hat
woven belts and laces
Through it I also got to meet a new friend, Eleanor. She has collected Swedish and Sámi textiles over quite a number of visits to Sweden. Most of the Sámi display cases contributed by local people come from her collection. She brought many more for me to see. We toured the Sámi displays, ate lunch together, and generally had a great time meeting one another for the first, but hopefully not last, time!
