Life's a Stitch

Google can sure do some interesting things. I’ve used the translate feature to shop for yarn in Japan and Germany. It’s not totally accurate, but it works. Recently I’ve noticed somebody from France is googling my blog and using the translate feature to read it. I took a look at what she was getting and it was so interesting. I have high school and some college French and I could understand a fair bit of it. Brilliant, aren’t I? I mean I actually wrote the stuff so I have some clue as to what was supposed to be said. But it seemed more accurate than some of the English translations I’ve used. So, if you are that person from France, welcome, you’ve made my day interesting. By the way, Le Vie Un Point – Life’s a Stitch!

Look what Mari and Mitch made this weekend:

And I’m trying to come up with a caption for this photo, so if you have any ideas, please help me out:

Angie made a comment the other day about a radio show that featured mountain climbers naming their "seven peaks of mountain climbing." I take that to mean their ultimate climbing experiences.

She asked about the seven peaks of knitting. What would they be for you? So far for me it’s my Marina sweater, my Charlotte’s Web done in glitter alpaca and kid silk mohair and may be my first Fair Isle, a combination of Philosopher’s Wool patterns. I need four more peaks to make a complete set.

On the topic of Charlotte’s Web, I taught my first Charlotte’s Web class last night. It went as I expected, which was pretty good, but I’m not sure everyone else feels that way. Those of you who have done one know the learning curve. Really, these guys did pretty well. Ignore any nasty comments that appear on this blog 🙂 A reminder for those of you who took the class – remember, when you put in your lifeline, go around your stitch markers, not through them. I’m not sure I made that clear and I hope I haven’t sent anyone overboard with a poorly placed lifeline.

I really enjoyed all your kidisms. I remembered another one – Elina referred to the car park at the mall as the "too dark."

Some Marina relief, how about a photo of my WalMart orchid, $14.97CDN and still blooming after four months. At one point it had eight blossoms:

Or my Christmas Cactus that has bloomed for six months. OK, I have two different plants in the same pot and they bloom sequentially; all I have to do is turn the pot around for the full effect:

Sitting around the dinner table, all three children, various boyfriends, dinner guests, and my mom, this is a rare event. We start talking about things we used to say when we were kids. Bryant called his cuffs his "cliffords" as in "roll up my cliffords, Mum." He called his jacket hood his neighbourhood.

My friend’s child used to think the first line of the Canadian national anthem was "Oh Canada, we’re almost out of land" instead of "O Canada, our home and native land," and my daughter thought the second line was "two saints in love" (that must be her Catholic school upbringing), instead of "true patriot love." So that would be "O Canada, we’re almost out of land, two saints in love, in all thy sons command."

My sister used to call music: moose cake. I say "used to" because she sure would sound funny calling it moose cake at age 47. My favourite was Elina’s expression for a sneeze that wouldn’t quite come. She called it a "stuck bless you."

Do you have any favourite kidisms?

Marina, three weeks into it, from a different angle:

This weekend Gracee graduated from the school of mouse hunting to hunting bigger things. She was begging to go outside and I knew she had just been out so I wasn’t inclined to give in to her pleas. I heard Mari’s b/f Mitch ask Bryant to take her out, but I was busy and didn’t interfere, thinking it couldn’t hurt. Was I wrong. Next thing I hear is Mitch’s ultra calm voice saying “There’s a big-ass bear out there and Gracee is barking at it.” Holy, I took one look at 20 lb Grace, barking into the face of a 300 plus pound bear and hysterically went inside not wanting to see white fur fly. It was a long minute before Mitch was calmly dragging in by the collar an unhappy, but all in one piece, Grace. That dog has no clue as to her size. Although I am grateful for his bravery, Mitch has no clue how dangerous a hungry bear can be:

Nadia was right when she called Marina an epic knit. I hope following this project isn’t as boring as reading the Illiad; it certainly isn’t a boring knit. Really, if you look at all the photos consecutively, there is progress:

Quite a few years back when I was working in programs with first time parents I knew a different generation was having babies when the new moms were appearing with nose piercings before they were fashionable. Yesterday I saw something that indicated that we were into yet another generation of parents. I saw a dad pushing a stroller with a tiny babe, but he wasn’t walking. He was pushing the stroller while skateboarding. Whatever makes parenting easier works for me. It looked like he was being safe enough and both he and the baby were enjoying it.

Hope to get some Marina time in this weekend. Progress so far:

That’s daughter #2’s word for the flawed thinking that comes out of our mouths at times. Come to think of it, even she has spewed some flawgic in the recent past:

We own three cars. Gasp! We register two during the year when the girls are away at school. The PLAN was that if they wanted a car during the summer they would register and insure the now almost 17 year old Grand Am with only 60,000 miles, and use that for work. The REALITY is that they pay for the insurance and we drive it while they drive one of the other vehicles. "Oh, I can’t drive standard," whines one, "Oh the minivan is too wide," moans the other. So, the Grand Am is relegated to the parents.

This plan had become so very comfortable for the girls that  I was lectured by daughter #2 that since she is paying for the insurance on the Grand Am, the Jetta was hers to use as she pleases this summer starting with a trip to the boyfriend’s place, three and a half hours away, on her first night home from school. I maintained my parental cool and used it as a teachable moment. She now knows that insurance is half the cost of a car, not counting maintenance and car payments, something her sister will discover really soon with her first vehicle. I admit, she was gracious in her reception of this information. This is the same girl who used to swear she would never carry a purse full of coupons and shop the sales like her mom, that is, until the realities of university life set in.

I can think of examples of knitting flawgic regarding things like gauge and blocking.

In the spirit of flawed knitting blog logic (say that three times fast) here’s a photo of Gracee enjoying  a last drop of Bailey’s:

I’m the last person in the world to be talking about balance in life. I’m sure that in the end it will all balance out, but for now full speed ahead! I did, however, bring some balance to my knitting life while in Edmonton.  I have Marina going very well on teensy weensy needles, and to compensate I am knitting Sirdar denim ultra on huge fat drumsticks. It takes about the same amount of time to knit the entire back of the Sirdar cardigan as it does for eight rows of Marina (the colours look pretty accurate):

As for balance, my dream was to work half time. I figured by the time you were tired of home life it was time to go to work and vice versa. I’m feeling balanced right about now in that I’ve had a week of vacation and I’m ready for work. That will probably change once I hit the office.

And finally, the graduate:

Still in Edmonton, we drove out to Stoney Plain to Pam’s Wooley Shop in their new location. I was surprised when they didn’t have a ball winder in house, but the nice clerk offered to wind with me by hand. She explained that when she was a kid, many years ago, her mom would ask for her assistance in winding yarn and use that time for "sex talks" as they wouldn’t necessarily have eye contact and she had a captive audience. I always thought riding in the car was a good time to talk about stuff for the same reasons. I was very good at Pam’s, only exchanging some leftover yarn from my last trip for some circular needles.

I was not so good at the Aveda shop. I have very sensitive skin and eczema. The hotel had Aveda samples in the bathroom and the mint cleanser was so soothing… It didn’t end there, I mistakenly bought some eye cream that was far more expensive that I thought I had read on the sign. Can I rationalize it by the fact that there is no provincial sales tax in Alberta? Nice try.

The convocation ceremony was beautiful, but I can’t post photos here as Elina’s computer won’t accept my camera. I fly back home on Sunday and hope the turbulence is better than on the way out. All I could think of is that our wills are incomplete and my house is a mess. Speaking of which, while Chuck and I came out here for graduation, leaving two kids in charge of the house, my mother arrived from back East. That’s right up there as one of my worst nightmares along with the time my boss came to cook at my house.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Thanks to all of you for your kind words for our family. There will be a memorial service next month and that’s a relief because I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to attend. Rosie was right in her comment that even when expected, death is a shock. My Dad died young at 47 and I always thought that when someone lives to be 91 like my MIL that the impact would be less. I’ve found, over the years, that I was wrong. It’s difficult no matter when.

Here we are in Edmonton, having a much needed quiet time together. It’s been nice to just hang out and spend the time relaxing and reminiscing. Yesterday we toured the building where Elina and her roommate have bought an apartment.Here we are, Elina, me and Jeanie (the recipient of the shawl I made last month) in our hardhats:

Elina has her RN exam today and the graduation ceremony is tomorrow. I’ve had some time to work away at Marina, it’s coming, slowly but surely:

It’s off to Edmonton we go this morning, to the graduation. I’m still figuring out how to travel with Marina. This project needs its own luggage:

Call me quirky, but I know I’m awake in the morning because I have a song in my head that wakes me up. It’s not always the same song; it’s my morning soundtrack. I also brush my teeth with warm water. I didn’t think that was so strange, but the dental hygienist, last week, was incredulous.

This weekend I collected on my Mother’s Day gift. On the day itself, my daughters pointed out that the reminder was going off on my PDA. I was surprised since it was a Sunday. I picked it up to be informed that on June 4th I had a mystery date scheduled for a performance of Miss Saigon. My daughters had schemed with my friend Lynn’s daughters, and Saturday was the day. It was a smaller travelling production, but very good. The first half didn’t grab me but the second was an emotional roller coaster. I wouldn’t mind trying some of the drugs vitamins "the engineer" was on, his performance was spectacular. Musicals are my thing and I’ve hardly ever seen such an inspired performance.

Update:

We’ve had sad news regarding my MIL, who I wrote about on the18th. She had taken a turn for the worse this weekend and passed away last night. It was so fast I can’t believe it. We’re very sad.