Guest Blogger: Miss Thang

My kids got wonderful digital cameras for Christmas. They are specifically made for kids so they are brightly-colored and rugged. Really rugged. Today, G. -- home from school due to ice -- steps in her mother's shoes, providing today's post and photos:

My Christmas Pictures

by G.C.S.

This is our Santa. He plays music and dances. Mommy still hasn't put him away yet.






We have a fireplace. This is where we hang our stockings for Santa on Christmas.





This is Charcoal.

This is N. He's my twin brother.

Here is Mommy.



This is J. He's my big brother.



Here is Daddy.


We had a pretty Christmas tree. I like the lights.





These are my everyones. (Note from Mommy: "Everyones" is a word my kids coined to refer to their favorite stuffed animals and dolls. As in, "I can't go to sleep without my everyones in bed with me.")



This is Panda, but when I was little I used to call him "Panna."



This is Violet-Rose. When you turn her upside down, there's another girl!


See?

This is Snowflake.




This is Snowgirl. She's a Webkinz. Her birthday is February 19th. It's coming up!




This is Sparkly. She's a pink pony.

This is Splashie. Splashie is a duck. My brother's toy is next to Splashie.

This is Chewie. Chewie is a Chihuahua!

This is Gus. Gus is the name of the mouse in Cinderella, too.

This is Lovy. A love frog!

This is Pinky, the pink poodle.

This is Pat the Bunny. This was my big brother's bunny. He loved the book "Pat the Bunny." When he was little, he used to call her "Pa Ah Boom."

This is Rattle Cat. When I was a baby, my daddy used to put her next to me and I would knock her over.

This is Rose. She's a pink poodle!




Bye!

On the horizon

One of the on-going things I've been playing with is switching Black Bunny Fibers to its own domain. After looking at a lot of options, I found a very user-friendly e-commerce interface and I was able to build my own website in an unbelievably short time. This week I'm "beta-testing" it but I think I'll be ready to switch over from Etsy to my own domain later this month. Etsy is a wonderful website, but at this point, my volume of sales justifies the switch, since those Etsy fees (for listing and a percentage of sale) add up. And saving money on fees means cheaper yarn for my customers. I"ll let you know when the Grand Opening is, along with the URL.

January Books

Here's what I read in January:

1. Mississippi Mud: Southern Justice and the Dixie Mafia by Edward Humes. Story of a Mississippi judge and his wife, and their unsolved murder; their daughter began investigating when the local police didn't get the job done. Interesting background on the "Dixie Mafia," which I had never heard of before.

2. Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography by Andrew Morton. Yeah, and I read People Magazine at the hairdresser's, too. Your point? Cruise is a fascinating figure with power, celebrity and influence in Hollywood. Morton seems to have done a lot of research, including numerous interviews with people who knew Cruise, and he also extensively quotes Cruise's own words in interviews over the years. Unlike some reviewers, I think Cruise's "religious" beliefs are fair game, since Cruise himself speaks publicly of them in an attempt to influence others' behavior (think Brooke Shields). Morton provides an eye-opening view of Cruise's involvement in that regard.

3. Switching Time: A Doctor's Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities. Oy, this was a bizarre tale, written by a psychiatrist who treated a woman for depression, only to realize as treatment progressed that she was one of those extremely rare cases of multiple personality. I would have thought this was fiction were the psychiatrist not clearly identified and if he hadn't included scans of various notes and letters written in the different handwriting of the various personalities.

Please bear with any technical difficulties

that you may see in my blog over the next week or so. I'm going to update the look of it and God only knows what kind of html hell will break loose until I get it right.

Vindication

Well, I think that the Saga of the Bus has come to a close.

At least for now.

Earlier this week, Tom and I sent a polite yet indignant letter to the school superintendent expressing our concerns about both the bus incidents and the reaction of the principal. We sent the letter by snail mail and email, and a few hours after the email went out, Tom got a call from the superintendent. The superintendent said all the right things -- and interestingly, he told us that the principal admitted to the superintendent that she was out of line when she spoke to me. (My personal suspicion is that the guidance counselor ratted her out, but I am merely speculating.) The principal is supposed to apologize. (Hasn't so far, but I'm not holding my breath.) The hitter was assigned a special seat in the front so the driver can keep an eye on him. We will continue to keep an eye on things and keep y'all apprised. Meanwhile, my posse of bus-stop moms has been alerted and they, too, will continue to monitor both the bus -- and the principal.

Thank you again for all of the thoughtful and supportive comments. It helped a lot for me to be able to reality test and know that I was doing the right thing.


On a lighter note

Thanks to Liz who tipped me off that the two patterns I did for JCA/Reynolds at the end of last summer have magically appeared in the Patternworks catalog (click on the Spring 2008 tab). Both would be very quick knits for experienced knitters and good easy ones for a relatively inexperienced knitter to try. There's the Flutter Sleeve sweater


and the cap-sleeve top with a cable detail running down the front. Both are knit in the round to streamline finishing.


Now I have an Etsy update to see to -- and I'm a bit behind on my photographing... Have a great weekend everyone.

Back to fiber

Suddenly I have diarrhea of the mouth. Well, enjoy my frequent posting while it lasts, eh? Back to fiber-y pursuits today. This is my new sweater project.




Doesn't look that exciting yet, but that's okay; it's early days. It's the skater sweater from Véronik Avery's book; I'm going to make the undersweater only, shown here.



I snagged some Wool Bam Boo on sale in a charcoal-gray color called "Flint." I love that this sweater is knit in the round (from the bottom up). I'm very much enjoying both the yarn and the pattern.

I've also been getting ready for a Black Bunny update on Friday. I've got a new, limited edition sock yarn: this is a Corriedale blend from Wild Geese Fibres, 50% corriedale, 20% alpaca, 30% lincoln wool, and around 7 sts to the inch (maybe 6.5?).

Each skein is 200 yds., so I'm going to sell in batches of two. I've got 10 pairs' worth. About half of them will go up this update; the rest the one after that. I've also got some rovings and some wool/nylon sock yarn and a few large skeins of laceweight (2400 yds). Update goes live Friday around 1 p.m. EST.

I also need to do a quick shout out to Sheri at The Loopy Ewe. I had a yarn emergency last week -- yes, even someone who has as much fiber around the house as me sometimes has a yarn emergency -- and Sheri came through in the clutch with an overnight shipment. (Chill, Philadelphians; it was a yarn that Rosie's doesn't carry.) I can't say exactly what it's for, though, as it's a new project I'm working on for Interweave Press. Thanks, Sheri!

If you're in a U.S. primary state, please vote.

"Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

[That is the message] that can change this country brick by brick, block by block, calloused hand by calloused hand - that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things; because we are not a collection of Red States and Blue States, we are the United States of America; and at this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe again." -- Barack Obama

Pam Allen, will you marry me?

Okay, I'm already happily married, and we'd both have to move to Canada (which wouldn't be that much of a hardship, but still, those pesky green cards), and you probably prefer tall, dark and handsome to medium, blonde and plump.

But I must say that receiving three brand-new CEY (i.e. Classic Elite Yarns) pattern booklets in the mail on Saturday made me very, very happy, reminding me of those halcyon days when you were editor of IK (not that I don't still love IK, mind you).



Oh the gorgeous photography!



The adorable models who don't irk me at all!




The lervely, lervely patterns!



Kate Gilbert, you can be a bridesmaid at our wedding --I love this sweater


Don't forget the purty new yarns -- in addition to Wool Bam Boo, which I dearly love working with, there's a new Cotton Bamboo and a blend of linen, wool and alpaca called Soft Linen (which is what this hoodie is knit in).



[Sigh of pleasure.]

It was almost enough to make me forget about the dreaded Bus Incident. (Thanks for all your comments and ideas. We're drafting our letter and sending it out today. In the words of John Paul Jones or Patrick Henry or whoever it was, "I have not yet begun to fight!" My kids are everything to me and woe betide anyone who doesn't treat 'em right. I'll keep you posted.)

Reality testing

Okay, you're not going to believe the next chapter in the Bus Story. Quite honestly, I can't believe it myself. So here goes: When we last checked in, Elvis got kicked in the chest on the bus, we emailed the principal the same day, no response for 2 days, called her, got a less-than-helpful call back. The less-than-helpful call back ended with the principal saying "I'll get back to you eventually."

Eventually.

Eventually ain't cuttin' it.

Friday at midday I was still very upset and unsatisfied about this whole thing, so I put a call into the guidance counselor. (Here's where it gets unbelievable.)

Foolish me expected the guidance counselor to be, oh, let's say, sympathetic and affirming? The first thing she did was to say that she had the principal in the room so that the three of us could talk in a conference call. Then:

1. The principal tried to ream me out for "going behind her back" and approaching "one of my staff" and "repeating my words verbatim to her."
2. The principal denied saying that the kids were "out of my control once they get on the bus" and said I was "mischaracterizing what she said unfairly."
3. The principal said she was "highly offended at my attitude."
4. The principal said I had "unreasonable expectations" because an adult can't ride every bus every day to monitor the kids' behavior.
5. She said the bus driver's job is to drive the bus, not worry about what the kids are doing.
   
6. The principal said that it wasn't true that she wasn't doing anything about the bus; she had held bus niceness programming at the beginning of the school year and she was very upset about the way the kids were treating each other on the bus.
7. The principal said that she couldn't tell me whether any disciplinary action had been taken against the repeat offender kid because it was "private."
8. She said she could assign my kid a special seat near the front of the bus by the driver.
9. She gave me crap for calling again because, you know, she's busy and she didn't get the first email message because she couldn't (wouldn't?) access her email for two days and she said she'd call me back so how dare I call her staff member (see no. 1 above).
   

I'm pretty sure she said some other obnoxious things, too, but they were the highlights.

In case you're keeping score, please know that I responded with, inter alia, the following:

1. I said that I was under the impression that the guidance counselor's job was to help with situations of interpersonal conflict and I had the right to speak with her about helping my kid have a better experience on the bus. (At this point in the conversation, I had pretty good self-control.)
2. I said that the principal's exact words yesterday were "out of my control once they get on the bus" and that I had written those exact words down because I was so astonished that a principal would say such a thing. I said that the school was legally responsible for those kids from the minute they stepped on the bus until they stepped off at the end of the day. I said that the school clearly was charged with monitoring bus behavior since the school district has a written bus conduct policy.
3. After repeating several times "My kid gets struck three times on the bus, and you are treating me like I'm a pain in the butt?!" [you can see how my self-control is still pretty good here, because I didn't say "pain in the ass," but it's starting to crack], I said I refused to apologize for going to bat for my kid when he gets hit by other kids on the bus. I also suggested that when a parent comes to the principal with a legitimate concern about bullying, the principal might want to reexamine her own attitude given the way this conversation was shaping up.
   
4. I told her that the previous principal (who retired last spring) would get his butt on the bus and ride it when necessary to ensure that the kids were aware that they had to behave. I told her that if the message is communicated to kids that nothing will be done if they misbehave, they will continue to misbehave, and that if no repercussions happen when a kid hits, they will act as though it's acceptable to hit. (Okay, here's where I lost it a little. I also told her that my father was a schoolteacher and administrator for over 40 years, and my brother is a teacher and my aunt teaches third grade, and so having come from a family of educators, I know darn well how hard the job is and am completely supportive. I also told her that my father would never have tolerated such a situation on a bus that he was in charge of.)
5. I told her I didn't understand how a bus driver could drive safely with bedlam behind him, and that at the very least, when made aware of an example of physical aggression (as this driver was, because I told him), the driver needs to report it.
6. I told her that programs at the beginning of the year don't address this specific issue (well, maybe I forgot to say it that clearly and I wish I had said that) but I definitely said "are you telling me that a kid kicks my kid in the chest and he's hit him once before, AND YOU WON'T TELL ME if he gets any discipline?"
7. I told her that I did not think she should punish MY kid when he's the one getting hit, and that it was ridiculous to focus on him rather than the kid doing the hitting. Why wasn't the hitter getting a special seat? I pointed out that my kid got hit three times and NEVER hit back, and they should be giving him a medal rather than a special seat.
8. I expressed skepticism that a principal in charge of a high-tech, well-funded school like Radnor would either not have access to or check email for two days and continued to reiterate that it was my kid getting hit and this was UNACCEPTABLE. I think I also repeated myself about not apologizing for going to bat for my kid WHEN HE GETS HIT MULTIPLE TIMES ON THE BUS, twice by the same kid. I also told her that the last time we spoke, she said she'd get back to me "eventually" and told her that I wrote that word down to because I was astonished that her attitude was so blase.
   

I like to think I at least held my own.

Oh yeah, the guidance counselor tried to come in at the end and say a bunch of crap about how she and the principal "get it!", oh yes they "get it" for "we are parents, too!" Yadda, yadda, yadda.

At this point I was so angry I was afraid I might use some vulgar language so I said I expected to be kept apprised of the situation and hung up.

It's time for a letter to the superintendent, with a "cc" to every member of the school board.

Rowan: Spring 2008

So I had a very cranky encounter with the principal of Elvis' school yesterday. On Tuesday, some kid kicked Elvis in the chest on the bus. This left a foot-shaped mark on Elvis' skin. The bus driver was aware of it but didn't submit any kind of report that an "incident" happened. Tom emailed the principal (we like putting things in writing). A day and half later: no response. I left an exasperated message on her voicemail, which did trigger a phone call; however, the principal's attitude was "We have no control over the kids once they get on the bus." Grrrrrr. By the way, this kid hit James last fall on the bus. Double grrrrr.

All of this, however, made snuggling in my bed with the new Rowan 43 even more delectable than usual.




I liked this issue. Now, I usually like Rowan Magazines, and this all boils down to taste, but I thought it was a lovely magazine, with pretty layouts and a nice variety of patterns: lace, texture, some simpler and some more complex, men and women, lots of layering pieces and options for warmer weather, attractive styling, many wearable designs but also some trendier ones. (And, thank goodness, there was no Maori warpaint.)


Rowan 43 features three "stories," or themes. The first is "Heavenly," and features lots of sheer, ethereal, lacy garments in icy pale colors and lighter-weight yarns. You'll see several garments -- a batwing-sleeve top, a sheer tunic, lacy sweaters and a stole -- knit in Kid Silk Haze yarns



for that gauzy, clouds-in-the-sky style. There are also several short-sleeve sweaters that can be worn alone or as layers in some of the DK and fingering weight yarns;



some wrap styles; a dress; and a 3/4-sleeve cardigan.

The second story is "Weekender." This has a country cottage or resort feel, and while some of the patterns seemed a little, um, more matronly, others were quite trend-conscious (including some crochet pieces). The Mustang henley is a great casual sweater.



Of special note are some Kaffe Fassett designs with .... set-in sleeves and less boxy silhouettes. [general huzzah of applause] Look at this lovely design.




Way to go, Kaffe-ster! Nobody puts color together like you.

Last is "Elemental," with some slightly thicker yarns (worsted/aran, like Summer Tweed) and neutral shades like taupe and navy.



There are several men's designs in this story, and I like this women's sweater in Bamboo Tape (you can see how beautifully the sheen of the bamboo is shown off by the photo).

By the way, if you are into quilting or sewing, there's an article about American fabric-maven Amy Butler, who has a book coming out soon.

New Yarns

Rowan is introducing an environmentally conscious line called PureLife, beginning with an organic cotton (whimsically named Rowan Naturally Dyed Organic Cotton). This DK-weight yarn is dyed with plant-based dyes, and was sourced with fair trade principles in mind. It will come in eight muted colors -- like pale coral, taupe, butter -- that will weather and fade somewhat.



Mmmmm.

RYC is introducing Silk Cotton, a roughly fifty-fifty blend of (you guessed it) silk and cotton, just under a hundred yarns per 50g ball. There are 12 shades,

some muted and some deep. I lerve the Wool Silk (hey, somebody who works for Westminster Fibers, send me a bag or three of that there Wool Silk, willya?) so this sounds like a must-have for me. Gauge is around worsted weight.

Rumor has it there's going to be a Rowan Pure Wool 4-ply (same line as the DK weight) in lots of colors, to help overcome the loss of the Jaeger Matchmaker 4-ply; and maybe another new cotton. I'll keep you updated when I hear more.

Pattern Books

One thing I always appreciate about Rowan is their stellar pattern support. You'll notice that when they release a new yarn, they also release a booklet of patterns -- high-quality, beautifully-photographed patterns -- designed especially for that yarn. I'm pretty fearless when it comes to yarn substitution, but not all knitters are, and Rowan is smart to help the more risk-averse knitters to avoid stressing out about yarn substitution.

That means that Rowan's got The Organic Cotton Collection, devoted to this new yarn. You'll find women's and a few men's designs by Marie Wallin. Think English country, with wildflowers and soft colors that suit the natural, kind-to-the-earth aura of this yarn.

RYC is releasing three more books (I forget what number they're up to -- 28, 29 and 30?). You'll find designs for the new Silk Cotton in Summer Delights (with designs by Martin Storey; lots of layering pieces).


Summer Breeze contains all women's patterns, in DK/sportweight gauges and yarns like Bamboo Soft.


Colour of Summer also includes designs by Martin Storey, in Cashcotton 4-ply and DK yarns.

In addition, Rowan's got a booklet of All Seasons Cotton designs, called "All Seasons at the Mill," using its popular aran-weight cotton. (I made a sweater for G. in it and it was her favorite sweater 'til she outgrew it.) This booklet uses real people as the models; there are designs for men and women in this one, mostly casual stuff. It's fun to see the designs on people other than stick-figure models, including the short of stature and the amply-figured.

If you've got teen or tween girls at home, look for "Teen Rowan," a brochure of eight designs. The description says that the garments were selected from the ones featured in Rowan 43, then reknit and resized for girls age 9 to 15. This is a very interesting concept and I'm looking forward to checking it out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed this will contain stylish yet not slutty sweaters for young girls...

So there you have it: the Rowan preview for spring. Now excuse me while I open a can of some whup-ass with the principal's name on it.

We interrupt this political discussion for breaking news

Rowan 43 is here! The jolly UPS man just brought it. As soon as I'm done salivating, I'll give you the full report. But if you're a subscriber, take heart: it's on the way!

My two cents

I am no Ted Kennedy (I always report traffic accidents promptly) or New York Times (I will provide the news that isn’t fit to print), but for what it's worth, I've decided to talk about the U.S. presidential race. You know that I'm interested in politics; you also know that I am (ahem) highly opinionated. I like to think that my opinions tend to have a basis in logic and fact; I also know that my opinions also take into account my, for lack of a better phrase, gut instinct. If you don't care about US presidential politics, or you don't particularly care what I think about US presidential politics, you can just skip over this one; I won't be offended.

I had been supporting John Edwards all last year. Yesterday, however, Edwards withdrew from the race. Since the first democratic primary of this election season, when Edwards’ numbers were on the low side, I've been watching Obama and Clinton carefully, figuring that I might have to transfer my allegiance to one of them should Edwards drop out of the race. After the events of the past week or so, the time is here.

I endorse Barack Obama for President.

I look around at this country. I hear talk of blue states and red states, of voting blocs -- the black vote, the hispanic vote, the christian right, the senior citizens' vote -- and I see a country being destroyed by its divisions. I look at Washington and I see fear-mongerers trying to scare us into relinquishing our constitution and our values so that they might obtain more money and more power over us. I look at the staggering economy and I see a nation drowning in debt to pay for a war that we didn't need to fight, our president dangling puny income tax refunds in front of us while borrowing money from China to pay for tax breaks for corporations and the richest of the rich. I see one of the wealthiest countries in the world, where millions of people don’t have health insurance. I see a Democratic-led Congress, but by the slimmest of majorities, too afraid they'll lose power to take a stand on many of the important issues that need to be addressed.

And I look at the two front-runners in the Democratic primaries. I see two intelligent candidates, both relatively new legislators, with positions on most issues that aren't tremendously different. Either is capable and smart enough to do the job; neither has a tremendous amount of experience to draw on. Both candidates have the advantage of being a potential "first": first woman or African-American President; both have the corresponding drawback of possibly tapping into irrational prejudice. How to decide between the two?

I can point to some specific differences: I like that Obama has opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning, and I don't like that Clinton has yet to categorically state that her vote in favor of invading Iraq was a mistake. I like that Obama has refused to take money from lobbyists and I don't like that Clinton still does. I like that Obama or his surrogates have never played the gender card, and I don't like that Mr. and Mrs. Clinton have, directly and indirectly, used race to try to gain political advantage in these primaries. I don't like political dynasties -- the Bush double-whammy is proof positive of why not -- and I don't like the intimation that Hillary Clinton somehow deserves payback because her husband and his political enemies put her through the wringer or because it’s “her turn.”

But really, the most important reason that I've come to support Barack Obama is not any of the above. My head tells me there isn't that much of a difference between the positions of the candidates; but my heart tells me there is a big difference. I listen to Obama describe the problems that our country faces:

We are up against the belief that it's ok for lobbyists to dominate our government - that they are just part of the system in Washington. But we know that the undue influence of lobbyists is part of the problem, and this election is our chance to say that we're not going to let them stand in our way anymore.

We are up against the conventional thinking that says your ability to lead as President comes from longevity in Washington or proximity to the White House. But we know that real leadership is about candor, and judgment, and the ability to rally Americans from all walks of life around a common purpose - a higher purpose.

We are up against decades of bitter partisanship that cause politicians to demonize their opponents instead of coming together to make college affordable or energy cleaner; it's the kind of partisanship where you're not even allowed to say that a Republican had an idea - even if it's one you never agreed with. That kind of politics is bad for our party, it's bad for our country, and this is our chance to end it once and for all.

We are up against the idea that it's acceptable to say anything and do anything to win an election. We know that this is exactly what's wrong with our politics; this is why people don't believe what their leaders say anymore; this is why they tune out. And this election is our chance to give the American people a reason to believe again.

It's corny and hokey and earnest, but I want a reason to believe again.

I want a candidate who is capable of bringing us past the divisions that are fracturing our society – and Obama has consistently delivered that kind of message during the campaign.

I want a candidate who isn’t so desperate to win that he’ll say anything or do anything to get there. Obama has refused to let the Clintons and their race-baiting change his message or his tactics, even when the Clintons have tried to marginalize him as “the black candidate.”

I want a candidate who can get people – people of all ages, backgrounds, walks of life – excited about leadership and inspire them to make positive societal change. I see that in Obama’s supporters.

I want a candidate who has the real-world ability to work with politicians from all parties to try to get something done, without important legislation getting stalled by sound bites or pork or extremists. I don’t think Hillary Clinton will be able to do that effectively.

I want a candidate whose nomination won’t serve as a rallying call for the crazy conservatives (and Hillary’s certainly will, calling into question her ability to actually get elected) and I want a First Spouse (brace yourself; this one’s harsh) who isn’t a convicted perjurer who can't keep his pants zipped.

I want a candidate who believes this:

make no mistake: the choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It's not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white. It's about the past versus the future.

It's about whether we're going to seize this moment to write the next great American story. So someday we can tell our children that this was the time when we healed our nation. This was the time when we repaired our world. And this was the time when we renewed the America that has led generations of weary travelers from all over the world to find opportunity, and liberty, and hope on our doorstep.

If you are so inclined, donate here.

Is this for real?

From Amazon.com, Knock Down Knits: 30 Projects from the Roller Derby Track, by Toni Carr, scheduled release date July 21, 2008. Sez the book description:

Roller derby is experiencing a humungous resurgence, and roller derby–inspired patterns are popping up all over the coolest crafting sites, the hottest knitting magazines, and popular knitting and crafting television shows. This will be the only book to feature knitting patterns designed, knit, and modeled by a roller derby team.

Sadly, I was unable to locate any press photos as of this writing.