Howdy, y'all.

I volunteered to assist with "Physics Fun Fest" at Third Son's school today (Second Son, the math/physics major, informed me that it should be Engineering Fun Fest. Ah, the joys of educated children). I got to enjoy the thrill of young minds eager to learn.

Oh, what a fantasy! What I really got to enjoy was trying to attract the attention of 20+ screaming 6th graders (I had 5 groups of 20+ each over the course of the morning) to explain the airplane toss rules to them. I got a mouthy hoodlum right off the bat, the second group had a mouthy female hoodlum and the other three groups were not as bad. I am a strict parent (yes, I'm a Liberal Democrat, the two things are not mutually exclusive) and do not care for ill-mannered children who are not house broken. I blame the parents. I do not inflict children upon the world who are unable to sit still, shut up, or keep their hands to themselves. My family always thought that my older sons and their exemplary behavior, good grades, good manners and all round wonderfulness were just luck. Ha, ha. Now that I've adopted my younger sister's children (after my sister and her husband were involved in a murder/suicide) and my husband and I have applied our parenting principles, we have shown that it ain't luck, folks, it's lots of hard work! We have seen an incredible improvement in these children. Third Son was in special ed when he lived with his birth parents. His last teacher in special ed (before he came to live with us) told him that he was the worst student she'd had in 30 years of teaching (that BITCH gets a copy of his report card every six weeks). When he came to live with us, we made a deal that he would only have to spend 6 weeks in special ed and that if he did everything they wanted - sitting still, task completion, focusing on work, not talking out of turn - that he could be put into regular classes. He sailed through those 6 weeks and was in regular classes where he makes mostly straight A's. English is about half A's, half B's.

Folks, all it takes to have terrific children that are adorable and able to attain their dreams in life is for the parent to be the grown up! We do not have television, we keep to a schedule, and bedtime is rigidly adhered to, no caffeine, very little sugar, balanced nutrition, and a stable loving home. Both children know that school is their first priority. They don't do anything until homework is done and checked over. Then, they have chores. We have a sit down family dinner every night and then watch some anime (currently watching Prince of Tennis, Naruto, Inuyasha, E's Otherwise, Princess Tutu, and Last Exile. We just finished Hikaru no Go for any anime fans out there) or play a game (Little Girl loves chess, Go, Settlers of Catan, Third Son likes Bob's role-playing game, Battlering). Low key, low stress, time to talk. Yes, we give up a lot. I have no idea who is getting kicked off whatever continent Survivor is infesting at the moment. Six Feet Under, CSI (any version), Friends, etc. are something I read about in People when I'm waiting for the kids when they have a psychologist appointment (only when I've forgotten my knitting and a book that stays open on it's own). All of this sacrifice will be worth it, two more decent human beings who are capable of having a terrific life. This in addition to the two homegrown sons, I feel that we are vindicated in our strict parenting style. Getting on Jerry Springer for your chaotic lifestyle is not normal, people!

Whew, tirade over. My buttons really get pushed when I see what the schools have to put up with every day. They get the blame for parenting failures and still come to work year after year. Our legislature is trying to emasculate public school in Texas and de-professionalize it until we drive everyone who cares out. Prisons we'll build with glee, schools can go hang.

Didn't I say tirade over? Back in the box, down, girl, down!

Okay, in the Knitting News, I ripped the second sleeve of Shapely Tee back to first decrease and started re-knitting the cap of the sleeve. Bob just downloaded 2 "Prince of Tennis" episodes and we watched them on his lunch hour. I got the sleeve finished and it looks much, much better.

I picked up my teal mohair lacy raglan chemise and saw a note that I'd swiped the #11 needles off it for the CNC for Oldest Sister. Okay, finish that first, then back to the Mohair.

I was thinking about all the folks out there in Knitting Land participating in a swap, sort of like charm swaps in the quilting world. The quilters are trying to accumulate lots of different patterns for scrap quilts and they'll get bits of fabric from all over. I was envisioning something like an orphan ball of yarn swap. I have some odd balls that I would be willing to throw out to the Universe and see what the universe gave back. I'll ruminate over this some more. I think it would be fun. Details later…

I finished a cotton/linen blend plaid camp shirt for me and realized that I'd picked buttons that needed periwinkle thread, not the lime green I'd used to sew the rest of the shirt. The buttons been riding around with me for several days waiting for a visit to the fabric store. I need to finish that. I had some fabric left over and thinking of making a pair of shorts, but I'm not sure if the world is ready for my rear end wrapped in that much vibrantly colored plaid.

I have 20 yards of a lingerie style tricot (sheer with a white background and a light gray-blue sort of floral design), that I bought for $1/yd at Wal-Mart. It's been speaking to me for several days and suddenly, I could hear it clearly! It said "Cut me into 1/2" strips and knit me like ribbon." Well, I obviously need to increase the dosage on something since my fabric stash is talking to me, but what an idea! 20 yards of 60" wide fabric cut into 1/2" strips will yield 2400 yards of ribbon. Hmm….if I save some yardage, I could make a knit/sewn hybrid garment. Now, if I can just get a zombie to do the cutting…..

The problem with fabric is that once you cut it you've committed yourself. Knitting can be reincarnated into other things. Frogging into princes? Oops, my free association is showing again.

I'm meeting some really wonderful people through blogging. I'm so grateful for all the comments and a special thanks to my regular correspondents.

Take care, I'll be posting to you later.

Greetings, y'all

I have the Knitting Goddess by the bed (www.knittinggoddess.com). I bought it some time ago and flipped through it and it was shelved until "later". I picked it up recently and started reading chapter by chapter rather than scanning for interesting projects. Most of it is New Age, female empowerment babble stuff and would probably offend the same people who are offended by Harry Potter. Lest you believe me to be closed minded, I would like to assure you that I am fairly open-minded. Dear Bob's family was New Age before it became nouveau. In our living room at this very moment is a large wall panel that hung in the office of Hugh Lynn Cayce, son of Edgar Cayce (the sleeping prophet, the one quoted by the National Enquirer). My MIL bought it at an A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment) auction and gave it to Bob for his birthday some years ago. Bob went to A.R.E. camp every summer in his childhood and was a counselor in his teens and felt very close to Hugh Lynn.

I am also not anti-feminist, far from it!

But I digress…..

In spite of the skepticism with which I approached the text of this book, I have kept reading it. After reading about red yarn, I was reminded of a Miyazaki animation "Whispers of the Heart". This one is not as well known as "Kiki's Delivery Service" or "Spirited Away". It's a wonderful little love story. In it, the boy and the girl refer to being bound together by a red thread, which shows that they are destined to be together. When I read about red yarn, I was suddenly inspired by a project for my female relatives. I want to make a red shawl for all of them. It has to have silk in it. So, I'm researching and making sketches.

I have not abandoned anything I'm knitting on; Shapely Tee in "Green Tea" Silk blend is almost done (a little longer now that the sleeves are wrong) and matching skirt for summer wear. You can still get this yarn on ebay, just type in "Green Tea Silk" in the search. I'm almost finished with my sister's purple CNC. And I'm nearly done on my Older Son's Rib Striped Cardigan (I'll be peddling that design around to the yarn companies!). I still have not frogged the afghan, I'm ambivalent about what to do with it. I've started on a second kumihimo braid and Little Girl decided that she wanted to try one. She picked out four colors of embroidery floss. I cut each skein in 4ths and had her wind the pieces on 16 bobbins. I used a Godiva lid for her since her braid will be short and it is working very well.

I realized my mistake with the sleeves on my Shapely Tee. I knitted just 18 rows and should have gone for 36 rows. Oh, I see, reading the instructions would have helped! Then, actually following what the instructions said as opposed to what I thought they said. Hmmm, note to self, procede more carefully next time. I get this “feet first, ask questions later” from my paternal Grandmother. When making a boxed cake mix, for example, she would dump the mix in the bowl and then dump the box in the trash. Then, she would have to retrieve it from the trash to see what to do next.


The Bois D'Arc trees are all planted and in 8 years we'll have our own fruit for using in firing pottery (bois d'arc fruit makes a sunburst effect when fired directly on pottery. This is what I've heard, but have not tested myself). By that time, we should have the wheel, kiln and pottery shed all set up. I'm sure you've heard the saying "Don't dress for the job you have, dress for the job you WANT to have". I've taken that as permission to buy things that I won't get started right away. I remind myself that it is for my future life. When I had a full time job (and had a full complement of siblings), I bought fabric, fiber, yarn, equipment, etc., etc. Now I'm a stay at home mom for the two new kids and have less than half the money we used to have. My planning for the life I wanted to have has really paid off, since I have lots of raw material to work with.

We got some new plants ("slow pets" as Bob calls them) at the plant swap today. I planted the passion vine starts immediately. I had a gallon of cold tea in the 'frig and fresh banana bread (my secret? Really ripe bananas) to serve to everyone who followed us home from the swap.

We saw X-Men 2 yesterday. Is it just me, or did it look like Prof X was going to kiss Cyclops/Scott when he was channeling Jean? Ha, Ha, Ha. We have not seen Matrix re-do yet, but since Third Son has been salivating ever since Oldest Son brought over Matrix the First to reward him for progress in Math, I know that I will be seeing it ad nauseum this summer. It's rated R and I will have to be with him. Thank goodness I can knit in the dark!

Take care, I'll be posting to you later.