Long Awaited Visit and Knitting Done and Sewing Begun

Yesterday was a wonderful day! I got to visit with a friend from my old ballet school! She was in town from Colorado to visit with family. In the past few months we reestablished contact after losing it 20+ years ago. Our visit was much anticipated, and exciting. She and I did not get to catch up on as much as I had hoped, but we will have phone and emails for that. Seeing her smile and remembering those crazy teenage days together is still fun!
Her husband kindly gave my Artist some personal attention with regard to some Tae Kwon Do techniques. He brilliantly and with great credibility said the exact things I had hoped for her to learn about balance, stances, power etc.

Last night I began the sewing on The Quipper's sweater. I got one sleeve attached and half of another. The yarn is so uneven of texture that I cannot use the yarn to mattress stitch the seams. Instead, I am gaining an appreciation for the sewing women did in days of yore, ever so slowly stitching each seam entirely by hand. Today I got to work on the seams a bit more. Now both sleeves are fully attached and one sleeve seam is completed nearly to the wrist. Here you can see how the seams hand-sewn with thread are looking. They are not as large and bulky as I was afraid they might be. When I examine the photo here, I think maybe instead of seeing the seam you may see why this yarn is making me crosseyed! The seam is just to the right of center running vertically through the photo. Oh how I yearn to get my hands on some worsted weight wool again! I can't wait to feel the smoothness of the stitches. A sweater for the Engineer is next. Maybe I can begin swatching for in on Friday--that is the goal!

If I am quite earnest, I may get both sleeves completed to the wrist before I fall asleep. But I'm not counting on being able to stay up too late tonight. Running in Circles played a gig last night. There are also some photos of him preparing to begin the second set.

Macbeth

Last night the Artist and I traveled to Stan Hywet Hall to see the Ohio Shakespeare Festival's production of Macbeth. In 2002 we saw the company perform The Taming of the Shrew and last year we enjoyed A Midsummer Night's Dream. We can't wait to see what is planned for next summer!

Seeing a play at Stan Hywet makes for a lovely evening. We began with a picnic dinner on the grounds across the lagoon from the stage. We took in the scenery around us...
the Japanese bridge,and the stage area. Our anticipation grew as we took our seats and saw that the elaborate stage area made use of the stone edifice to the right in the photo. The evening was all the better for having been shared with friends. These sisters listened with great patience to my daughter as she enthusiastically recited scores of jokes. Thank you both, girls! Valete until we see you next, fellow Latin students!

The keen observer that she is, my 9 year old noticed some differences between the story of Macbeth in her Shakespeare for Children book and the production. She specifically pointed out to me at the end that in her story Macbeth's head is not paraded around on a stake. I think perhaps the door keeper is a bit less bawdy as well!

Tagged!

Ohhhhh! You got me, Barb.

Here goes:

1. One book that changed your life:
The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom. When I decided to write a paper on it for a college philosophy class I was able to reinforce why I was a conservative. Prior to this my reasons were largely "because my parents were."


2. One book that you have read more than once:
Unabridged collection of Jane Austin novels.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
The Lutheran Hymnal

4. One book that made you laugh:
Hmm... Some books, you ask? Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes cartoon collections (all of them) and A trio of Erma Bombeck books we read around the dinner table when I was growing up: The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank, At Wits End, and Just Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own.

5. One book that made you cry:
I just wrote about it a few days ago: Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt. (See July 26 post if you want more info.).

6. One book that you wish had been written:
The Handy Pocket Guide to Raising the Artist and the Engineer by God.

7. One book that you wish had never been written:
The list is too long to distill now. Bonfire, anyone?

8. The book you are currently reading:
The Boys' War by Jim Murphy

9. One book you have been meaning to read:
For quite some time now I've been meaning to finish Dante's The Divine Comedy. At least I'm in Paradiso now. But only Canto 7. I think I started Paradiso in January.

10. Now tag five people:
Ummm -- I'll conscientiously object.

Green-Black

My bigger little one has earned her green-black belt at her Tae Kwon Do school.

Here she is about to receive it,
And here she is proudly wearing it for the first time. Congratulations, Sweetheart!

WHAT was I thinking?!

Last night I stayed up to finish reading Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt. This is a historical fiction novel set in the 1860s during the American Civil War.

I am not usually attracted to books of this type. I bought it for the fourth grade history class I'll be teaching this fall. The resource that recommended the book as part of the civil war curriculum indicates that the book is written on a level that is likely to be difficult for fourth graders. It further directs that the parent should read the book with the student. So I thought I'd prepare myself for the task.

Wow. Excellent, compelling story. I have a headache this morning from staying up till 3 a.m. reading and from balling my eyes out every other chapter.

How in the world will I get through this with a 9 1/2 year old? And think, there are six more books on the fourth grade civil war reading list.

With all that, I did get a little knitting done. The second sleeve to the Quipper sweater is about half done length wise now. The rows are increasing in stitches so the work is less than half done, but I'll round that corner today.

And, along with the "WHAT was I thinking?!" theme today, I have been fighting an urge for the last couple of months. The baseball sock I have been knitting on occasion was a little tight when I tried it on. The heel flap is almost done on the first sock. I decided to quit this project and find another use for the yarn. I came to this decision while reading Maggie Righetti's Sweater Design in Plain English.

In one section she talks about asking the yarn what it wants to be. (Never fear, my dear non-knitters, it is not New Age, it is a metaphor!) My mind immediately jumped to this uninspiring project that has been dragging on for months. I should have 'consulted the yarn' (knitted some sample swatches to see how the yarn behaved with various stitch patterns) to see what it wanted to be. Now I know it would not like to be a ribbed sock. There is not much loft or resilience to this particular sock yarn. This is something it has in common with the cotton I'm using for the Quipper's sweater. My fingers are longing for the worsted wool I bought for the sweater I'll make for my son. Before I start again with this navy blue sock yarn I'll find a patters that uses some ribs and some lace for the socks. Maybe this fall? I have too many exciting sweater projects in line first.

Welcome Weekend

This was a welcome weekend at my house. On Saturday my Artist got to test for the next belt rank at her Tae Kwon Do school. She was the most senior student testing this time. Once the other students had completed their work and departed, she stood alone before the instructor and his assistants demonstrating what was asked of her and answering questions to the best of her ability. She will get her results on Wednesday, I think.

Yesterday, after church, My Dad, brother, husband and daughter and I accompanied some friends from church to a performance by The Ohio Light Opera. My in-laws took the Engineer to their home after church as he is not old enough yet to demonstrate polite theatre behavior.

The show we saw was called The Firefly We all enjoyed ourselves. Following the show, My in-laws and son joined us and we all ate a fantastic dinner and enjoyed the conversation and scenery at the home of our friends.

I did not have any time to knit on Sunday, but due to my daughter's test on Saturday I got much more time than usual that day. The first sleeve on DH's cotton sweater is just a few inches shy of completion.
I picked up a library book in which I learned how to work ribbings with unresiliant yarn. This cotton slub yarn most definitely qualifies. Before I sew the pieces of the sweater together I'll need to run some elastic thread through the ribbings. How much you want to bet I'll come home from the store with more than just elastic thread!

Equipment Upgrade

A garage sale gave me a happy find this week! Someone was selling large sheets of two-inch thick foam rubber (for making seat cushions I suppose). I shelled out 50 cents to get a slab a little shy of one square yard. Now I can block sweaters and other knitting on this slab (on a worktable) instead of pinning them into the carpeting and hoping the cat stays away!

***I have not worked with blocking much in the past, only one sweater. And I would like advice! Do you recommend I make a covering for this foam rubber pad? Or can I use it as is? I have some old bed sheets I could use to make a pillow case style covering for it.

Yesterday I was in a jury pool, but I did not get to the point where I was questioned individually before the jury was settled upon. So, happily, I was excused and I got to get some cleaning done and some knitting.

Best of all, as my kiddos were playing at the Evil Genius' home, I could run errands all by myself! That means I got to stop into the yarn isles of a near by craft store and buy yarn for the next two sweaters on my list. Next I'll make a boy's pullover. The pattern is for sizes 6-8. Even if I make the smallest, it will not fit for another 18 months or so. I'll use Lion Brand Wool-Ease in hunter green and cream.Then for the last sweater I make this summer, I bought this yarn. It is a sport weight acrylic in some of my Artist's favorite colors. I don't have a pattern in mind for this one yet. And so, of course I don't know if I have enough yarn. But I'm not worried because There were several other bright jewel tones (jade, orange, amethyst) to select from. I can add to the mix without worrying about dye lots.

Updates

Jury Duty update: I do need to go to the court house tomorrow. I'll bring a book and hope I get to read it.

Garden update: The perpetrator's print...




...and the crime. Nuts! I was hoping for some nice bell peppers this year.

Knitting update: It is just a little over 24 hours since I last wrote and the sweater has indeed come along faster. One shoulder front is being knitted now and the other will begin from the stitch holder, maybe tomorrow night.

Picking Up the Pace

As I said in my last post, I look forward to more knitting on Wednesday.

Late Tuesday I finally got to the point in the sweater front that I could bind off a few stitches on each side where the seams will be sewn under the arms. The 99-stitch rows seemed interminable in the rough and tough cotton yarn. I did time my work a few days back. I was astounded to learn it actually took me five minutes to do one row of stockinette stitch!

Now, with the rows a mere 12 stitches shorter, the work pace picks up a good bit. At ten till midnight on Wednesday I hope to have another photo to show with more work done.

This photo shows the thickness variation of the yarn. Binding off can be a trick when I need to lift the thick loops over one another.

Jury Duty

I won the lottery. I staved it off for a while, but now it is my turn. At the beginning of the year I had to fill out a form to see if I could serve as a juror. I did list home schooling as a reason I could not serve. Then, in June I got the notice that my four days jury duty would be in mid July. I 'm not excited. But it is my civic duty. Thankfully, this is for my local municipal court, not for the county.

So I gutted it up and located potential sitters for the four days. My letter instructed me to call the Jury Line after a certain time each day before I was scheduled so learn whether my presence was required the following morning.

My first day was a big success. I was not needed at the court house. So we went to the playground and I got all the laundry done in one day. (Has that happened, ever, in the last nine years?)

I can report on Day Two now also. My presence is not required again. (Hooray!) My dad will come over and lunch with the kids and me instead. And I look forward to lots of knitting time as I got so many chores done today.

Through the Eyes of Children

Yesterday we got two interesting insights into our children's personalities.

The Engineer is engrossed. He was absolutely mesmerized by the spinning top. The tops kept him and his little neighbor friend busy for quiet a while.

Later, at bedtime, I told the Artist I had a secret. Then I whispered to her that she had the best dad in the whole wide world. She promptly said "I know" with a slightly smug tone implying 'that's not a real secret'!

I walked away to leave her dad some time to say good night and I told her she could tell the secret. She called after me, "Some other mom in the world probably just told her kids the same thing!"

A few minutes later her dad and I laughed ourselves silly over that one.

Now Thank We All Our God

Giving thanks in all things is not easy. It is just a little more than half over, but when I look back over 2006, it does not look to be one of our best years.

Mostly we're beset with petty, daily worries. Sometimes we are given heavier burdens. We enjoy happy times with our friends and quiet peace by ourselves. We are sustained daily by prayer and devotion.

One of my favorites is the hymn I selected for our wedding:

Now thank we all out God
With heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His world rejoices;
Who from our mother's arms
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.

Oh, may this bounteous God
Thro' all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts
And blessed peace to cheer us
And keep us in His grace
And guide us when perplexed
And free us from all ills
In this world and the next!

All praise and thanks to God
The Father now be given,
The Son and Him who reigns
With them in highest heaven:
The one eternal God,
Whom earth and heaven adore!
For thus it was, is now,
And shall be evermore. Amen.

Thank you, Martin Rinckart.

For the 24 Fans

Thank you, Paul and Brittany for sending this photo!

My brother-in-law and his sweetheart are pursuing their music interests in Los Angeles. When one is out and bout doing things like that, one can run into situations like this: Here is Brittany (in the stripes) and a friend with Kiefer Sutherland. They ran into him at a record store that was promoting an artist signed to Sutherland's record label. If I got any details wrong there, please write your corrections. Paul, I'm guessing you took the photo?

Picnic

Yesterday we hosted some family and friends for a picnic. We had hot humid weather and kids with a lot of energy. We got a chance to catch up on hearing about the trips some folks have taken, the quilting projects, summer camps, knitting projects and plain old fun.
Meanwhile, outside, other folks were playing basketball games and trying to outdo one another with their spectacular shots. All in good fun and working up an appetite! But everyone needed occasional trips inside to enjoy some respite in the air conditioning. Finally "after dinner" had come. The kids were beside themselves with excitement. Some teens helped carry the water pistols and a tub of water balloons to the back of the garage (an area far enough removed that adults who wanted to stay dry could do so). The all out water balloon war was short lived but lots of fun as the kids splashed, squealed, shouted, taunted and soaked one another. When the major artillery was exhausted, the gun battle ensued. No one escaped the battlefield with dry clothing. A good time was had by all.

The Knitting Lesson

My little artist was taught to knit by my friend at Favorite Apron with a group of girls at a home school gathering about 18 months ago. Since that time she has made a few small things for her dolls with her ideas changing in mid stream.

She planned to make a hammock for one dolly, but tired of that and ended up making that piece of work a towel for another dolly to use after her baths. I relished the chance to teach her how to bind off her stitches. She did a great job, and Honey, the doll, immediately got a bath.

After the bath, while Honey's hair was wrapped in that colorful towel pretending to dry, my Artist felt the urge to start on another project. She has asked me a few days earlier about making an apron for Honey. I thought this was a capital idea! In my mind I put together a quick pattern and wrote it out line by line-for-her. In my pattern I introduced two new stitches to her, purl and knit two together. Here she is working on the first knit row after her cast on. Her size 8 needles took some getting used to after working with the size 13 needles from the bath towel project! She learned the purl stitch very easily once we figured out a saying to accompany it (Thank you, Favorite Apron, for that teaching technique !!!). Then she completed the first four rows all by herself. She was excited to see the difference the two stitches made in her fabric. The apron will have a 3 stitch knitted border on both sides with stockinette in the middle.

When she gets to the waist line, I'll teach her to knit two together so the fabric narrows to form the apron's bib. Last we'll loop on some ties at the waist and neck lines.

I think she is off to a great start!

Gray

My nine year old finished her breakfast, looked out the window, saw this:
and then wrote this:


Gray

Gray, gray, gray, gray.
That is all I see today.
I can't do anything about it,
Though it makes my feelings cause a riot.

Gray, gray, gray, gray.
That is all I see today.
I want to run and swing and slide.
All I can do is stay inside.

Gray, gray, gray, gray.
That is all I see today.
Please, please go away,
Gray, gray, gray!

Gray, gray, gray, gray.
That is all I see today.

When I went outdors to take the photo it felt like walking into a steam room. I hope we get some better days for all the folks who go to the Inner Harbour to see the tall ships (see post below).

Tall Ships

The majestic sea goddesses are visiting the Port of Cleveland again this week. There are some dozen of these graceful beauties docked at the Inner Harbor. Read about it here. More photos from past harborfests.

One expected ship did not make the trip this year due to flooding in the northeastern US making the water level in the locks too high.

All these photos are from The Plain Dealer. I credited each photographer above the photo.

Gus Chan's photo: This one shows Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Cleveland Science Center and the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame in the bakcground. Thomas Ondrey's photo: Marvin Fong's photo: Mike Levy's photo: John Kuntz's photo: John Kuntz's photo: John Kuntz's photo: And this last one reminds me of the send off the fire boats give the cruise ships when they leave New York Harbor. When I was five my grandparents took me on a three week voyage to Scandinavia. The fireboats and the ticker tape send off are a great memory! This is Gus Chan's photo:

Milestone

Completing a piece of a sweater is a milestone for me. Last night I was able to reach that first milestone on this current sweater. A few days ago I thought I might go on to work a sleeve next. Last night I decided differently and I cast on the front of the sweater and got a small start on the ribbing, only about three rows. I'm continuing to find the cotton slub yarn difficult to manipulate with the needles, but I like the look of the fabric it created. I can console myself that the front of the sweater is a couple of inches shorter than the back (due to placement of the shoulder seam). So, hopefully, it will knit up faster.

More projects are on the horizon(wish list): many more pairs of wool knee socks, lace sweater for me, boy's sweater, girl's sweater and three sweaters in a magazine I bought many months ago.

My nearly forgotten baseball sock has had a wee bit of work lately, albeit in small doses. I've begun the heel flap. I'm beginning to think of these socks the way I feel about my team, (you all can say it with me now) "Maybe next year." Truthfully, though, I know I'll come back and work these a little at a time in between other projects. They use yarn I have on hand, and the other projects' supplies are still sitting in a store's cubby hole or shelf somewhere.

Where to Begin?

I'm overwhelmed at the large amount of things I'd like to have in my classroom and the small size of the room. I'm having trouble knowing where to begin this move. I think I'll end up moving a lot of books we have hanging around for "whenever" to the basement bookshelves. Then I hope to move the books and materials I know I'll use in K and 4th grade up to the classroom. Plus I'd like to have a cubby hole from the built in shelf for each of the kids to keep their current work and texts, like a locker in high school.

When I spend time thinking about this it seems no matter what I do I'll end up making changes once school begins again. How many times an hour will I need to run from the second floor down to the basement and back for this or that?

Shelves waiting to be filled with more materials than will fit!

Floor to ceiling cubby holes . Some serve as lockers , some as library shelves. The Artist helps the little Engineer with a long lost puzzle as mom organizes piles of "school stuff" in the basement.