No one ever stated their troubles as lightly as they might. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

There are good days. And then there was today.

'Nuff said.

People find life entirely too time-consuming. (Stanislaw J. Lec)

I haven't posted in over a week. Actually, I thought it was longer than that, since there's so much to catch up on.

The kids started back to school this past Wednesday. My son is already complaining that he's tired and wants a day off (the two day weekend just wasn't enough to rest up after three whole days of school, I guess). It's hard for me to think of him as a Junior this year. His birthday was also this past week, and he's now 16 years old. Everyone gave him money toward the car he says he wants, and he promptly went out and bought video games. He'll be able to take his driver's test in September, but I guess it'll be a while before he actually has a car.

My baby started high school, and she looks way too grown up in her scrubs (the required daily uniform for students in the medical program at her new school). She's the opposite of her brother, with a study schedule already in place.


We had gone out Thursday evening for school supplies, and my son grabbed a couple of binders, some paper and pens, and was ready to leave. My daughter, on the other hand, spent over two hours searching for the exact notebooks, matching binders, the perfect pens, #2 pencils, page protectors, dividers, index cards, erasers, pencil sharpener, dictionaries ("The one from last year is copyright 1985! I can't possibly use that -- I need a new, revised dictionary."), and of course the perfect bookbag. PJ's school supplies cost me less than $10. Becky's were closer to $90. Oh well, I definitely want to encourage any enthusiasm for school.

My mom is up in Jersey, visiting my grandmother. I really wanted to go with her, but I just didn't have the time/money. Hopefully I'll be able to do a trip there in a month or so. She took the Crusoe socks I finished for Cari with her in hopes of bribing her granddaughter to make the trip down to see the family.


The Crusoe socks, by the way, are my favorite socks so far. First of all, how can you resisted a sock pattern with a pun for a name (they're stranded, hence Crusoe). And I love the way the yarn colors stayed randomly mixed. This is the same yarn I had tried to use for the scrolls pattern, and had ended up frogging them into this pair. I ended up going out and buying more Koigu yarn to make socks for both myself and Becky. Becky decided on a simple garter stitch pattern, which I've already started.


Today I've been very indulgent, and finished the first of the I Love Gansey socks from the Six_Sox_Knit-along group I joined. This sock has been a lot of firsts for me: The first sock I've done in cotton (much nicer and softer than I thought it would be, but it does tend to split as I'm knitting); the first time I've ever done any cables (which are really a lot of fun!); the first time I've ever read a pattern chart (which didn't work out so well for me; luckily one of the KAL members posted an excel chart with the K1,P1 directions written out and I was able to follow that); and the first time I've knit one sock at a time. I didn't have enough needles to do both socks at the same time, so I have to get the second cast on tonight (otherwise I'm afraid of the dreaded second-sock syndrome - although this pattern was fun to do, so there probably isn't much danger of that). I wasn't sure who I was knitting this pair for, but Becky's claimed them after trying on this first one. I'm not sure if I should really believe her that they would be too big for Cari, but I agreed that she could have these.

Hey mom, what's for dinner? (PJ and Becky)

Dinner? Who needs dinner? Just look at how pretty the sock turned out!

Besides, give me a couple of minutes to work on the second sock, and then I'll do something about dinner...

Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance. (Samuel Johnson)

I don't know what it is about this pair of socks, but they just don't seem to be getting anywhere. After frogging the scrolls pattern for the THIRD time, I decided to give up on it. For now, anyway. I still want to do it, since it was absolutely incredible. But I just can't seem to get it done right now.

So I went to Blueberry Waffle, another pattern that I thought was very pretty and looked so comfortable to wear. I worked on that Saturday evening and Sunday (it's the sock on the right). It's nice, but the pattern really isn't coming through as nice as it could. I think the yarn/coloring is wrong. So last night I googled Koigu socks, and found Crusoe. That's the sock started on the left. I need to get a little further, but I think that's the pattern I'm going to go with.

I have learned a couple of things, working on these socks. Like: It's okay to admit you made a mistake; just be willing to go back and redo it right. And: Not every choice is the right one for every yarn/person. Be willing to change if necessary. And most of all: I'm never going to be a great philosopher, so my time would be better spent practicing my knitting!

If you have the opportunity to play this game of life you need to appreciate every moment.

A lot of people don't appreciate the moment until it's passed.
(Kanye West)

We have been having a wonderful time. I'm so glad that I decided to do this trip! There are lots of pictures, but I'll put them up in pbase rather than here.

I did have to share this one of "Go-kart Goldilocks" -- she's turned out to be quite a little speed demon. I'm not so sure that there is a driver's permit in her future, given her performance out on the racetrack. She's earned her name, by the way, because "This kart was too slow; this kart was too fast; this kart was just right!"

And there are the boys... what can I say (in public), other than this was the last pilot simulation able to be run today, but of course it had nothing to do with the wild trip they put it through!