The Mother's Grimm

Interesting scientific fact: a three year old screaming at full volume reverberates spectacularly in the mountains. The effect was particularly sonorous at the crest of the hill by the Chateau Whistler, dampening somewhat once we dipped into the trees. Probably more effective than those insipid bear bells, however. I know I felt like fleeing.

Thich Nhat Hahn suggests regularly reminding oneself to adopt a half smile, along with mindful awareness of the breath. I think of that often these days, as I catch myself with jaw set and eyes narrowed in a "grim mother"-ly expression.

A few random knitterly things:

1) Thanks to all for the lovely compliments on the vest and the silver work. As soon as our "real" computer arrives (the one that will run software written after 1995), I am either going to switch to WordPress, or else look into having my comments hosted by Haloscan. I see a number of the folks who have stuck with Blogger doing this, and it allows them to collect email addys and reply to comments personally.

2) After looking over the stash, I realized that I omitted quite a number of projects in my recent roll call, most notably this:



This is authentic Shetland wool for my magnum opus Fair Isle. Which I haven't actually designed yet. By far the more intelligent thing would have been to design it first and then purchase exactly the right amounts of each colour as determined by the chart, however, when I bought it earlier this year, I feared that once we assumed our thrifty mountain lifestyle I would never again be able to justify the outlay. I went with "one of each in blue," and hoped for the best. I think I can make it work, possibly with the addition of a complementary skein or two for balance.

3) Christmas presents. Blogland is teeming with gifts in progress, and with our newly streamlined budget, this year would be an excellent time for handknit pressies. Problem is, a goodly portion of my would-be recipients are just not into the whole handknit thing. While, for example, a luscious pair of fine merino socks would seem terribly special to me, the giver, the majority of my giftees would be merely puzzled and bemused to receive something utilitarian that they could have picked up cheaply at Costco. Same goes for hats and scarves, and quite likely even sweaters (not that I'm going there - I do have at least a marginal grip on reality.) So, the handknits will be confined to hubby and the kids, and the rest of you (many of whom I know full well read my blog) will get.... other stuff. No more hints.

4) Speaking of my kids, who are still young enough not to read this, I plan to make a pair of these Knitted Babes for DD:



I figure we could have great fun making outfits for them together - an opportunity to teach her a bit of sewing, maybe introduce her to knit and/or crochet.

Then I just have to decide on a project for DS - I am dying to try the Wallace and Gromit and Shaun patterns I scored on ebay, but both kids are big fans and there might be jealousy issues... Still thinking. A more basic bear or dog might be safer.

And then there's the Spiderman balaclavas.....