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We Don’t Say Dis

So I’m maybe a third of the way through Lilith Ubbelohde’s cowl-neck shell, Sexxxy Librarian.  Yes, that’s sexxxy with a triple x; though, as I knit this in my ginormous yoga pants and mismatched hoodie, I’m looking a little more frummmpy with a triple m.

There were certain words my children knew not to say, words they saw as bad: “shut up!”, “b-u-double tt”, “dumby”, and “fart”, to name a few.  I told my son, “We don’t say this.” about those things.  (I know everyone says butt now, but the older generations in my family find it insulting, so “We don’t say this.”)  Somewhere along the way, maybe because of tv advertisements for non-age appropriate things, he added “sexy” to the list.  How can you explain that sex isn’t bad just that a lot of the things that sell it are to an active toddler… repeatedly?  So in our exhausted, modern-parent-that-tries-to-reason-out-everything-with-their-child way, we just said,”well…. sort of…”

Is there really a good way for a toddler to use any of those words, anyhow?  So we let it go.  From then on, in the midst of all sorts of chaos with a house full of children at play, if the words butt or fart were uttered, you’d hear the quiet pronouncement, “We don’t say dis.” beneath the din.

You don’t realize how often you hear words like “sex” until you have a little one that robotically mutters,” We don’t say dis.” every time they hear it.   That was also true of anyone saying God’s name in vain.  Conversations between adults might be interrupted with a toddler’s judgement: “We don’t say dis.”  Even riding in the car listening to a Christian worship song where the singer sang of his love for God: “Oh, my God…you’ve turned your eyes…”  we would hear a deadpan, ” We don’t say dis.” from the back seat.

It became a running joke in our family.  It became a running joke with friends of friends of our family.  Even last night, as I watched tv with my now 14 year old son, some curse word was said and I leaned over to him and smiled as he rolled his eyes at the implied, “We don’t say dis.”

So every time I type or say the name of this project, Sexxxy Librarian, it is followed by a mental “We don’t say dis.” and a smile.  That took up way more of this post than I intended.

I had to re-start this because the seed stitch was too loose the first time.  This time around, I ran a longer circular through the hem so I could try it on and make sure it fit. Thankfully, it did.   Then things have moved quickly.  I think I will have it finished by the end of the Knitalong.

Already I can see some things I love about this sweater:
1)  I’m knitting it in City Tweed, which is tweedy, but soft.  I’ve never knit a turtleneck or cowl neck sweater, but I imagine this is a good yarn choice for something like that.
2) No sleeves.
3) Cables.  It’s been a while.
4) No sleeves.

(more on ravelry, kollabora, flickr)

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9 Comments

  1. We have a similar thing going on with T she makes you say sorry hahah Moose: Oh crap! T: DADDDYYY crap isn't nice! What do you say?? Moose: Sorry T!

  2. i can totally relate to this post! growing up i had several words that were off limits and even hearing them as an adult, i think to myself "thats a naughty word" 😉 i just want to say that i love that you use knit picks yarn. i watch and listen to a lot of podcasts and read blogs that consider knit picks almost like a box-store type yarn. i personally love knit picks and i love that you have knit with it so much! i may have just purchased A TON of felici self-striping since it was being discontinued, some swish worsted for my onward shawl and a couple of needle tips. you really can't beat the price…

  3. You made me smile trying to imagine your son saying "We don't say dis?". It's incredible how some things get stuck from when we're children and stay there forever.

  4. Hehe. Girls are especially good at being a "little Mama." I used to sometimes have to intervene when my daughter was fussing over her little brother and say,"Now, you're not the Mama." when she was just bossing him too much. Of course, later when a nursery teacher told him not to do something, he let her know real quick,"You're not the Mama!" Sigh. They still grew up pretty well-balanced, though 🙂

  5. I totally agree about value-priced yarn, Kristen! I hear that it pills and it has more negative comments on ravelry than some others, but I think that's because so many more people use it and for large projects. I don't find it pilling anymore than any other fairly soft wool or alpaca I've tried. Another one I like is Patons. My only problem is finding enough for a project in stores.

    Speaking of Felici, are you doing Jane Richmond's Linden KAL this Monday?! I have had Felici just waiting for it, so maybe I'll see you there.

  6. Ha, I bet you and your sister have little inside jokes and sayings from when you were kids, too. I know my siblings and I do. One is said almost monthly. It's one of those special little things about growing up with other people. I had this thing where I didn't want to be given sloppy kisses as a kid so I'd turn my head when people wanted to kiss me and say, "On 'da head." so they'd have to kiss the top of my head instead. So weird. Every once in a while, someone says that too.

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