Teenagers

For those of you with teenagers, you'll be shocked and amazed when you read the following. For those of you who were teenagers (and can still remember that time), you'll be equally amazed.

I'm altering my niece's prom dress. She came down today to try it on before I do the final sewing of the seams. I nailed it. I don't think I could have done a better job of turning a size 10 into a size 4. She's so excited that her dress fits perfectly. She is equally excited that Vince is making her jewelry to go with the dress, something her friends just can't (or don't) understand. She bubbles when she talks about it. She also bubbles about the fact that she is getting away freaking cheap on her dress and accessories for this prom. She bought the dress on e-bay ($38.00 including shipping), shoes at Goodwill (some equally ridiculous low price), she's getting her dress altered for free, and she's getting free, custom-made jewelry. The prom tickets cost more. And there is the added bonus that the "future prom queen" has the same dress (in blue), and paid full retail plus for it. Gotta love karma. But, I digress.

Leigh has been talking about how she wanted to learn how to do bobbin lace. I remembered between her visits that I had a small, but servicable set of bobbins and a piece of foam that I had gotten at one time when I took an intro class at an SCA event. They have been sitting in my basement since we moved in here 10 years ago. I dug them out tonight, and gave them to her, along with two books on the basics. As I handed them to you, I jokingly said, "Who's your favorite aunt?" Knowing full well that I am her ONLY aunt, I wasn't really expecting what she said to me.

"Yeah, you've always been my favorite. You do alterations, you taught me to knit, and now you're giving me this. You're cool."

I have been validated. Now, if I can get this out of my son when he is a teenager, I can die happy.

Spring in Indiana

Means really nasty storms. Our cars look like someone took a ball-peen hammer to them. Last Friday (you remember, Good Friday, Sean had pink-eye), there was a heaven-opening, dive for the basement thunderstorm, complete with hail. Large hail. Marble and golfball sized hail falling from the sky for a good 15 or 20 minutes. Hail that was bouncing 8 to 12 inches off the sidewalk and yard. Hail that pummeled our cars, including the van which Vince had made only the 1st payment on.

We were relieved that the dents were the only thing that happened. We received a call from Jackie, Sean's daycare provider, asking if we were ok. Apparently, about a mile or so south of us, the hail was more of the size of baseballs. They lost 5 panes of glass, and the rear window of her husband's Acura (which still has not been replaced, and it is now Wednesday).

Personally, I think it is the gods' way of saying, "Why in the heck did you change time?" I still cannot get my internal (or external) clock readjusted. I ended up going to bed at 9:45 last night just so I could catch up. It didn't work. I can't get Sean to bed at his "normal" time because it is still freaking bright outside. How about we compromise, and move a half hour, kind of like Newfoundland?

Good Friday

It's turning out to be not so good. Sean has pink-eye. Eewww.

But, last week I received my last package from my secret pal Carolyn. She is a goddess. The photos below reveal the treasure trove.

The first layer contained some rubber stamps, ink, some Clover needle protectors, a box of Tazo tea (yum), a vanilla soy candle, some vanilla cologne (also yum), and a box of the most wonderful chocolate covered caramels I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. These things are HUGE I am SO glad DH doesn't like caramel.

The second layer contained 7 balls of Pierre Cardin "15" a wool/cotton/polymide blend in a great shade of purple, and a book called "The Knitting Goddess." It talks about the various Classical goddesses and how textiles actually played a part in their mythos. Being a Classics minor in college, this is facinating reading. The yarn looks much bluer in the photo than it is "live." Forgive the camera strap in the photo, I was so excited.



We (DH, SIL, and moi) had taken Sean and nephew Patrick to the Newport Aquarium that day, and I was beat. We had a good time, but finding this at the house just capped off the day.

I'm making a "feather and fan" scarf with the Silkwood that Carolyn sent me in my first box. I'll take photos when it's a little further along. It's turning out very pretty. Even my 17 year-old niece likes it. No, she can't have it.

I'm going to be altering her prom dress for her. Mint green with a black lace midriff overlay (what is it with me and black overlays?). She picked it up on e-bay for a song, and found out that the future prom queen at her school has the same one in blue, but paid through the nose for hers. Karma is good that way. I've got about 3 weeks to get it done. I'm going to a friend's house Monday who actually does alterations for a living and get her spin on what I should do. I have to take it from a size 10 to about a 3-5. Leigh is a skinny thing, but has a nice rack (so, is it wrong that I notice?). I think this will be her first formal. Since I won't be doing the formal thing for Sean (gods willing), I'm living vicariously through her. I didn't go to my prom. Just as well.

Need to figure out what's for dinner, and get stuff together for a class I'm doing tomorrow.

Does anybody really know what time it is?

For the first time in over 30 years, Indiana is observing daylight savings time. Yuck. For me, this means one less hour of sleep per night, and one less hour of knitting time in the evenings (because, of course, you're supposed to be spending that extra hour of daylight OUTSIDE).

Stress has reached an all time high: I ripped out the Eris collar. After re-counting the stitches originally picked up, I was 20 stitches short of what the pattern called for. CRAP! I won't be working on that for a while. I'm going to try to enlarge the Rogue so I can wear it. I may use the Eris yarn for that.

Saw another knitter friend of mine who was pushing, er, um, giving away spools of silk for people to try to either knit with or use for tablet weaving. Two strands held together on #00000 needles. Yes, that is FIVE 0s in a row. She has knit some spectacular things with it, but then again, she's not married and has no children.

My secret pal has not revealed herself to me yet. Maybe there is a final package in the mail. Don't know, but I hope it didn't come yesterday while we were gone. Someone took out our mail box. That is like the 4th one in as many years. I'm ready to surround it in brick and concrete. We luckily recovered one piece of mail.

Time to go see what else I can rip out.