Steven, playing clarinet while sitting in his favorite tree.I’ve been bragging on Facebook about my daughter a lot lately, so today it’s my son’s turn in the spotlight. He’s very bright, a little quirky, and he waves the geek flag very proudly. He’s a mostly straight-A student, who plays the clarinet, has made a point to get over the feeling of stage fright because he loves dancing, singing and acting, and he can go head-to-head with his math geek math teacher at chess, and win.
What I did not know, until yesterday, is that he is also a budding poet. He has an assignment in his Language Arts class to create a book of his favorite poems. He can include stuff from famous poets, stuff he’s read in class, and even people he knows or his own poems. So he decided yesterday to write a poem of his own. And he sat down, and did this, in almost no time.
Perhaps he has a future as a greeting card writer? Maybe…. when he’s done writing mathematical theorems or starring in this one-man off-off-Broadway show.
THE FOUR SEASONS
Spring, a time of new beginnings,
A time for life and a time for living,
The time when the new bird sings,
With flowers, bees, all sorts of things!
With pollen stirring through the air,
Oh, springtime! So wonderful and fair.
Summer’s next, coming with overwhelming heat,
When the kids run around the fields with just their bare feet,
And the greatest way to stay refreshed and cool,
Is just relaxing by the pool.
The little kids play without a care,
It’s summertime! With plenty of heat to share.
Next is fall, or autumn if you’d please
When the wind blows, and leaves fall with ease,
With colors of red, brown, and orange,
Oh, I forgot! Nothing rhymes with orange!
Piles of leaves stacked up so tall and fair,
It is fall! And people celebrate everywhere.
Last is winter, which is when you hear
Yuletide carols from through the years,
For it’s the season of giving, and you should know,
That it is Christmas, with the ground covered in snow.
The year is nearly gone, but do not despair,
A new year is coming, with a new hope and a new prayer.
Wow. So it’s been a few weeks since I’ve blogged. Not much going on really, except that it’s summer, and that means there are kid activities and family events to attend and even a quick weekend away, though I would not exactly call it a vacation. More on that part later. But suffice it to say, that even if my blog has been neglected in recent weeks, my knitting has not.
I made a pact with myself earlier this summer to be sure to knit something, even if it is just a few stitches, every day. Most knitters out there are probably laughing at me for this, because I am sure most of you do knit every day, or at least more than I do, judging from the number of FO’s I’m always seeing on Ravelry. But for me, for whatever reason, I love to knit, but often go days at a time without doing it. And then I’m mad at myself for not making progress on my projects. And the truth is, I feel better when I knit, so why not make a bigger effort to do it?
I haven’t quite managed to knit every, every day, but I’m getting closer. I’ve even got several projects going that are all seeing some progress, including an alpaca tube scarf, dishcloths, and yes, my own Color Affection shawl. The shawl is what I want to give a peek of today, because I have finally started the short-row section, and thus have added the third color to the mix:
Color Affection Progress
Sadly, the longer I work on this, the less I am liking the color combination. Which is silly, considering that I am all about purple and green in combination, in so many of my yarn choices right now. And I’m sure it will be great when it’s done and it’ll look like “me”–whatever that is. So I’m keeping at it. In fact, I made a lot of progress on it so far this weekend, because of a weekend road trip that had me in the car for many hours. Hence, my next topic.
Yarn Tourism
Last week my daughter attended Music Camp at University of North Carolina Greensboro. On Friday, which was the last day of camp, each group gave a concert, and I did not want to miss it. So, my in-laws took her down there, and went to visit their daughter in Cary for a few days, and then met my husband, son and me back in Greensboro at the end of the week. It meant driving seven hours on Thursday, attending dinner and the concert on Friday, and seven hours in the car again today.
So, faced with a few hours to kill in the late morning/early afternoon, which was too long to do nothing, but not long enough to do anything major, I whipped out my iPad because I remember someone on a podcast I used to listen to mentioning that there was at least one nice yarn shop in Greensboro. The first one to come up in my search was Gate City Yarns, so I called to make sure they were wheelchair friendly (they are! yay!) and off I went with my patient husband. I was not disappointed. The shop is situated on a bustling main street of the likes that I did not expect to find in Greensboro. It would seem that there is quite the artist community there. with galleries and fun cafes and shops all up and down the row. The shop itself is roomy and inviting, with a big antique bathtub full of yarn inside. The place sort of gave me the modern, industrial feel, but with an air of coziness. (The comfy sofa with afghans draped all over it added to that feeling.)
I’m the kind of person who buys yarn by sight and feel. That is, if it looks pretty, I’m attracted to it, and if it feels nice, even better. Plus there was the whole “souvenir factor” of buying yarn in a new shop in a strange city. So, I got these:
Rainbow silk and lavender and green sock yarn
The one in front is Schaefer Yarn “Andrea” in the colorway “Hermione.” (I have always been attracted to rainbows, and this is, indeed, the softest rainbow I have ever encountered.) It is a silk lace weight, about 1090 yards… which sounds like a lot but can be used up quickly. So, as usual I have no idea what to make with it that will bring out the colors in just the right way. I’m open to suggestions… I’d love it if I could get the colors to pool in such a way to achieve a tie-dye look, rather than a mottled, varigated look, but I don’t want to have to think too much.
The other yarn is Frolicking Feet by Done Roving Yarn, in the lavender and sage colorway. (Green and purple? Yeah, I told you I’m obsessed.) I did just sign up for a sock class on Craftsy , so maybe this will be used for that.
Oh, and I even had a knitting related birthday gift! Well, to be fair my husband and I are past the point of surprising each other with gifts so I sent him a link about a month ago and said, “Click here, honey, in case you mgiht like to know what I want for my birthday this year:
Addi Turbo Clicks
Yep, I am now the proud owner of a set of Addi Turbo Click interchangeable needles. I bought one pair in advance to make sure I can operate them, and after fumbling a bit, I did figure it out. So, I asked for the set, and my husband was sweet enough to get them. Kinda makes turning 48 not so bad. Sometimes.
Well, this blog post has been a long one! Hopefully I will start posting again so I won’t have to catch up so much all at once. If you made it this far, thanks for reading! And do let me know your ideas for that rainbow yarn. I don’t want to let it linger in the stash, but I do want to do something that will do it justice.
It’s just another Monday at the House of Day. I don’t have anything knitting related to share today; I’m still working on the shawl project, and trust me–it looks exactly the same as it did a few days ago. I spent most of the weekend at home except for a few errands on Saturday, and I have very few stitches to show for my down time. Some weekends are like that, though.
This is testing week at BoyZilla’s school so he doesn’t have a lot of homework. Which, yay! is a break for Mom and Dad! So, how was he spending his time? He asked me if he could play games on my computer after dinner, to which I agreed, for a time limit of 30 minutes. Fifteen minutes later, though, I could hear that he was no longer on the computer. THIS is what he was up to:
My boy, the filmmaker
That’s him, trying his hand at stop-motion film. He’s got his Lego characters set up in a scene, and he’s moving them ever so minutely and taking frame by frame photos with my husband’s camera. He’s written a script, too, complete with shot and camera directions. I love it when he decides to express himself in such a productive and creative way. I love watching him learn like this. It makes me wonder, when I watch him write stories, or draw, or now, try his hand at movie making… at 9 years old? What in the world is this kid going to be? I think it’ll be amazing to watch.
It’s been a while since we’ve checked in with Zöe, the cat. She just had her 19th birthday about two weeks ago, and she’s doing amazingly well:
19-year-old kittyKitty Glamor Shot
Not bad for 19, eh? She’s doing great. I’m kinda sad to admit that she is much happier being an only cat since our other one passed away six months ago. She eats very well, is still playful, and is way more talkative now that the other, more boisterous kitty isn’t around to overshadow her. I’m sad, knowing in hindsight that the presence of the other cat might have made her unhappy for a full 17 years, but glad that her elder years are so happy.
Like I said, it’s just another Monday. Thank you for indulging me by peering into our little slice of life this evening. I’ll be back on the knitting soon. I promise.
I was sitting in the very back of our large community theater. My daughter, the one with the blue hair, was a small speck of a kid on the stage. And THIS, this photo? From my seat, all the way to her, with NO flash.
Not bad, eh?
Oh. And neither was the concert. Festival’s this Friday, and my fingers are crossed.
