Me: Look, Emily! What do you think?
Her: It’s nice. It’s soooo pretty.
Me: Thanks! You know, anytime you want me to knit you some socks, you can just tell me. We can pick out the yarn together.
Her: Aren’t you knitting me a shirt?
Me: … yes. Yes, I am.
Busted! Okay, back to the sweater. I’ve already had to lengthen the torso once to accomodate Tall Girl, I’d better finish it up if it’s going to get any wear this Autumn before she outgrows it. The original design is pictured left. The front is pictured right. Eh, close enough. I’ve just bound off a few stitches for the armholes, now it’s upward for another 40 rows. Besides, I have to finish this one off so I can make my dad’s Charlie Brown sweater. I’ll leave any “widen the torso” jokes until I can razz him on the phone. Love you, Dad!
It looks like several of my daughter’s toys are part of the Mattel toy recall. They’re not being recalled because they have lead paint, but because they have little magnets that younger kids could swallow. The chances of my daughter doing this are slim, but still. I knew I disliked Polly Pocket for a reason. DAMN YOU, MATTEL!
(Mom, the one you have seems to be unaffected. So that’s something.)
I just ran into a Dragonrealms Trailblazer on Ravelry. I remember her – she and her husband were quite well-known. It’s like I happened to run into a high school pal in a coffeeshop in Minsk or something. What are the odds? She and her husband are playing Gemstone now, which I’m glad to hear. It makes me smile to think of them and the old days.
I’m ramping up the amount of schoolwork I do with Emily to get her ready to return in a few weeks. She was rusty on some things, like subtracting with regrouping, but the mechanics of it came back. More troubling is that she still has to count sometimes to add simple numbers.
Her: “seven plus eight… that’s easy… seven plus eight is… three.” (this is just said to stall).
Me: “Is that your answer?”
Her: “No. Seven plus eight is… ten. Seven plus eight is four.”
At this point, I either wait until she stops randomly naming numbers and settles upon the correct one with a tone of confidence and finality, or I prompt her with something she can use to figure it out, but never thinks of on her own, like:
Me: “Seven plus eight. Isn’t that a double plus one?” (She knows all her doubles, like 7+7=14.)
Her: “15!” This is said quickly with a tone like, “I had it, Mom!”
When she subtracts, she’s almost always counting. She should have this stuff memorized. This is not a good foundation going into a year which will see the introduction of multiplication. I’m open to suggestion on other ways to work this, since I’m not experienced with pedagogy. For instance, no matter how many times I try to explain the whole trick about adding 9 to a number making it equal 1+one less than the number, like 9+5=14, it never ever sticks. This is exactly why I shouldn’t homeschool.
Anyway, we’ve been working on this intermittently all summer, but we’re laying into it harder now. Less playing Sims2 (which she’s understanding a little too much of now anyway) and more schoolwork! Diddy mao!
In honor of last night’s Trek showing (which was AWESOME), more Trek on You Tube. When TNG was still in first run, this was the audio slide sent at the head of the satellite feed to let the master control operators verify the audio settings. Rumor has it that the first version of this slate included Michael Dorn saying at the very end, “Don’t f___ it up.”
Woot! Ballantyne theater is showing Wrath of Khan tonight and tomorrow night at 9:40 and midnight.
ETA: We got a friend to babysit for tomorrow night! Yay!
Say it with me, now: KHAAAAAAAAAANNN!!!
This half of a bobbin of the blue wool that I dyed. The half on the left was spun at Simucon. The half on the right was spun at home. As you can see, I’m still not ready to spin evenly with a lot of distractions. At Simucon, I chose conversation over consistency, and it was the right choice.
This is the sock I was working on at Simucon. The picture was taken on the banks of the mighty Susquehanna. Knitting needles are permitted on planes, but if the screener chooses, he or she can deny them. I decided to put the sock on bamboo DPNs, which seemed less threatening than two long metal circular needles. I also put in a lifeline and brought a self-addressed envelope and book of stamps, in case I had to mail it back to myself. You can see that the lifeline is halfway down the foot. I got as far as turning the heel on the trip. Good progress! I also listened to Harry Potter on audio, finishing it just after returning home.
Table Rock, with Mother.
We were hoping for some nice cool weather. It was not to be. Instead it was 90 degrees. On the river, however, there was shade and a fresh breeze. We stopped as we walked through town to take in the air and be in the moment. Very calming. Here’s a view of Towanda from Table Rock taken in 1899. We would be about where that bridge crossed into town. There are more phone lines now, but the town is not really much larger, to my eye.
Next time, hopefully a post with actual events.
Emily and I were just outside playing with the hose, and some evil insect bit or stung me twice on my right hand. Once when I was going to turn the water up higher, and once when I was going back to Emily. Why twice in the same area? That’s my knitting hand, and it hurts! Damn you, nature!
Still no time for a faboo entry. In the meantime, smoke ’em if you got ’em. Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, and Veronica Lake wouldn’t steer you wrong!
I’ve just been busy.
I am alive and well and back in Charlotte. Until I get a chance to do a proper update, I leave you with this gem from McCall Needlework Knitting Crocheting, Summer 1944. He-man indeed. Leaving aside the question of why you have to “butch up” a design made for an infant, I guess with the menfolk away at war, you dressed the boys in whatever you wanted and called it whatever you wanted.
It was the best of times, it was the… still pretty good but not quite the best of times.
If anybody in Towanda, PA happens to find a digital camera, let me know. Le sigh.ETA:
ETA: Never mind! We searched ten times for it, but it just turned up! Yay!
