Alive and Knitting!

I made my way to our public library this week for the first time in several months. I had been purposefully staying away out of embarassment after a bad spell of turning in books late and acquiring late fees. The kids wanted to attend a local chess club that meets on Tuesdays after school at the library, and so I was lured back into the world of new books and magazines.

I LOVE the library!

I can't leave without an arm full of books. I especially like the new books, craft books and children's books sections.

On this visit I First perused the kids books with my 7yo. We found a wonderfully funny book by Daniel Pinkwater, The Magic Pretzel: The Werewolf Club #1. I remembered when my older son had read it, and my 7yo was immediately enveloped in the humour of a club full of kids who want to be werewolves. With 7yo being a boy, it is also very important how many pages and how many chapters there are in a book. The MORE you are able to read, the smarter you must be! It helps when, as in this book, there are lots of chapters that are only 1-2 pages each. He was so taken by the book, that he finished it in one evening! This from a kid who was diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder in kindergarten, and who was expected to have major difficulties reading. [...A word of advice for parents of kids who are not reading in Kindergarten - JUST WAIT. I have been through this with 3 kids, DS#1 started reading in first grade, DS#2 started reading at age 3, and now DS#3 is reading unbelievably well, but it did not click until 2nd grade. I can't tell you how worried I was about his never being able to read, and VOILA, all of my worries were in vane! ]

Back to the library....Next I went to the new book shelves. The Knitting Stura: Craft as a Spiritual Practice by Susan Gordon Lydon immediately caught my eye. I snapped it up and have been devouring it each night. I am going to devote a post to the book in the near future because I just love it!

I also picked up Get Crafty: Hip Home Ec. It has been fun to look through, and has a lot of references to knitting, Stitch 'n Bitch groups and even a plug for the blog NOT MARTHA. There are several surveys in the book that you can take to find out what type of craft is for you, or what type of girl group you should attend.

An interesting question on one of the surveys had to do with smoking, asking you if you had ever (a) been or a smoker in the past or were a current smoker; or, (b) if you had never smoked. I had to answer with (a), as I had smoked in high school (bad girl), and college (worse girl) and some as a young adult. The explanation for this question, was that if you answered (a) like I did, you were more likely to be a knitter, or should try out knitting as a hobby. Knitters tend to be ex-smokers (or current - but better be careful about that smelly wool) who are happy to keep their hands busy!

As I thought about smoking and knitting, as well as contemplated Susan Lydon's thoughts on knitting as a spiritual practice, there seemed to be more of a connection for me. If you have never smoked you probably can't relate to this, but if you have enjoyed (I mean really enjoyed) the intoxicating, relaxing feel to sitting silently and smoking a good cigarette, you will relate. I admit that I miss that feeling of enjoying a good smoke. In one way, smoking and knitting did have similar effects on the mind; but, from a physical persepective, common sense has told me that:

1. Smoking is great for that one cigarette, but it leaves a terrible taste in your mouth, gives you bad breath, and makes your clothes smell bad.
2. Smoking is really really bad yor you.
3. Smoking is really really bad for the people around you.
4. Smoking will kill you.

And so, my imaginary moment with a good cigarette is over, and I am back to knitting.

Knitting keeps your hands busy. It is intoxicating and relaxing. It won't make you sick (unless you knit too much like I do and your arms start to hurt). It won't make the people around you sick - unless they get sick of seeing you knit or you forget to do your chores, or forget to feed your loved ones. As Susan Lydon writes: "The activity itself is satisfying, addictive, absorbing, enjoyable and productive. It is soothing and meditative in nature. And as an added bonus, it results in something useful in the end." Knitting keeps me alive!

$1,000,000 would be nice

There are times in life when it seems like things just whirl out of control. It's happened to me several times as an adult, and the last few weeks have been like that for me. That's why my posting has been nonexistent.

Thanks for all of the kind thoughts regarding our family. This is the first time that I have experienced a close relative and friend with cancer. It is so hard to know what to say and do. This is a new game with unfamiliar rules. The treatment is so harsh, but the disease is relentless. I am in awe of all of the fighters and survivors out there!

On the knitting front, I have not made much progress on any of my projects. I have been too preoccupied with personal and work related stress. I finished two major work projects today, and thus am feeling a little bit less weighted down. I may actually be able to concentrate on knitting again.

I have to say that it is hard to be down for too long when you have three boys under the age of 13 to provide comic relief. That happened this weekday. My brother-in-law hosted my children to a ride on the tall ships sailing on the Chester River. Afterwards, he treated them to lunch at MacDonald. They came home with sporty caps from the Ship Mildred and Monopoly Boards and Stickers from MacDonalds.

By the end of lunch, the older two had decided that they were going to pool their stickers in order to have a better chance at winning the $1,000,000 grand prize. The youngest felt completely left out. Here is what transpired next:

13yo to Mom: "Mom, when we win the million dollars we have decided to give you five thousand and to give 7yo $1000 daollars."

Mom: "Wow, that's awfully generous of you!"

7yo to 13yo: "That's not fair" and runs from the table up to his room.

Mom goes upstairs to comfort 7yo, trying to rationalize with him about how no one you know ever wins, they only make one winning sticker for the whole world, the odds are terrible etc... but to no avail.

10yo from downstairs: "7yo, 7yo, we have som really good news for you!"

10yo and 13 yo bound into room.

10yo: "We have reconsidered our offer and have decided that we will give you $10,000 dollars. That is enough to buy 100's of x boxes. It is a really good deal. Aren't you happy now?"

7yo thinking - looks dubious.

13yo to 7yo: "Yep, and we are going to give mom and dad $45,000 dollars because they are our parents, and we will give grandma, grandpa and Uncle Stephen another $45,000 but they have to split it three ways. SO, your getting $10000 is actually really good!"

7yo thinking

10yo adds : "And, if you agree to be our servant boy we will throw in an extra $1000."

7yo: "How many x boxes will I be able to buy?"

I went back downstairs and found their computation sheet. It had the $45,000 allotments and the $10,000 allotments all spelled out on one side. I turned the other side over and saw that they had figured their award to be $450,000 each.

What did I learn from that exchange?

• It's amazing how one's perspective changes once money enters the picture!
• Servant Boy? What is with that?
• It's gotta be tough being the youngest!
• How heartwarming to think that they didn't forget about their parents, grandparents and uncle.

Meanwhile, I began dreaming about all the yarn I could buy with the $22,500 coming my way!