Spoons & Stitches

Okay, I just had to share this story with you. If you're a parent or a child's caregiver, then you know how hard it is to herd a tired child. For ages now my youngest has been in the habit of getting up with the sun-when he waits that long. He's an early riser like I haven't been since college. By the time I get up in the morning, he's already out of bed and on the computer. Oh yes, we are raising geeks, never fear. Unfortunately, this means that frequently he is more tired than he appears. That tiredness can manifest in many different ways. Lack of cooperation is a common one. When Michael tells Connor to get dressed, instead he gets Connor hopping around like a bunny rabbit 'cause it's funnier (at least to Connor). We don't have the inclination to chase Connor-bunny, so sometimes things escalate. The good news is that as days go, this was not really a bad one. We got Connor dressed and he was acting pretty helpful. Then it was time to leave. Usually th...

Okay, in retrospect this is too frickin' funny so I must share. At the time it was just a major pain in the tuckus, but I'd rather laugh now. Wednesday night I was supposed to be at a friend's house to hang out. Someone I hadn't seen in ages and ages. I got a call just as I was about to call her and it was from my beloved husband. He told me the van wouldn't start and would I listen to the sound it was making? I tried, but we all know what wonderful reception cell phones get, so the true sound didn't come through. I kept giving him advice to deal with it, including such gems as: "Turn the wheel and try again." "Pump the accelerator a few times, then try again." "Give it a minute. Now make sure you turn the wheel and the key at the same time." Okay, that last one I just made up, but most of my advice was about that useful. One note of suggestion to those of you with decent regular cars: Do not take advice on starting your car from so...

I finally conquered that project that's been nagging me. The turtleneck dickey . I finished the neck today and struggled with the binding off starting around midnight. I tried to use a regular bind-off method, but that wasn't going to happen wiht this one. I tried it and couldn't get the piece over my head! I had to start over and alter the bind-off method. Instead of the usual knitted bind-off, I added some stitches to it. For every knit stitch that you bind off, there are two additional yarn overs that are also bound off. Basically, knit a stitch, bind it off, then YO and pull the YO through the loop on the needle. Do that twice, then knit a stitch and bind it off, etc. This made a neckline that was loose enough for the piece to fit over my head and be comfortable. Personally, I think it looks good, too. :)

I would call this Project ADD, except that perhaps that might be overstating the issue a bit. Have you ever had one of those projects that just seemed to drag on and on? Then maybe you look and realize that it isn't the project that took so long but you. I keep finding neat and exciting new things to try. I'm 95% finished with the turtleneck dickey, but got distracted by a necktie pattern . No, I have no need to make a necktie. But I will b/c a friend would like it and it's something to do. So I'm trying hard to finish the dickey by the end of the weekend now. I need to before I get completely derailed. One thing I didn't mention earlier this week was my untimely footing Tuesday morning on the ice. I was walking around the van after getting the kids into it. Thank goodness it was after . One foot slipped, then the second. I tried to brace myself with my right arm and that didn't work either. In the end, I fell on my rear end and almost flat on my back. I have to...

So I've been trying to crochet a pair of socks, but that effort has hit multiple brick walls. I got it started, but I clearly made some kind of mistake with the heel. After finishing the heel section I had an additional 20 stitches! So I'll ripping out the heel and starting over. I might convert it to an afterthought heel, but I'm not sure yet. In the meantime, I started yet another project. I'm knitting a turtleneck dickey from a vintage pattern. This pattern is from Coats and Clarks Learn to Knit, Book 190 , published in 1968 and has been somewhat challenging to read. I've been finding it very interesting to see the differences in how things are described in this booklet vs what I'm accustomed to reading now. For example, this pattern will tell you "finish it like you did the other side." Seems normal, until you realize you're left wondering exactly how much of that finishing you're supposed to do. Am I supposed to bind off and sew it up? Or ...