The Moment I Said It

Winter has finally hit the East Coast. Sure, we have dabbled in attempts for the past few weeks, but I think that it is here to stay no matter what Punxsutawney Phil or that ground hog from Staten Island has to say about it. It was 11 freaking degrees this morning on the way to church and only warmed up by about a degree in the ensuing 45 minutes.

Veronica kindly modeled the class hat even though Betty has claimed it

We had parent teacher conferences this week, which can only mean one thing: heartache. The conferences in February are the gut wrenching ones; we only ask for them if the student is in danger of failing the year so they are never truly happy conferences. I believe that I heard the following statements way too often: I don’t know what to do with him/her and I am not making excuses but (fill in the blank). You get the picture. I told the Flyer that if I had a dollar for every time I said that, I could book another trip to England post haste. Luckily I had my EZ Fair Isle sweater with me. There was a lot of down time in this conference, so I knit while waiting. In a few long conferences, I even picked it up and knit under the table.

Having a relatively simple pattern has come in handy recently. I knit the whole way through Pan’s Labyrinth last night which was probably for the best. Guillermo del Toro is truly a gifted filmmaker, but if you don’t know anything about him, I can understand why you walk out of the film thinking, “That was a little violent.” He is a horror film director, folks. The fact that he could turn out something relatively sedate for him speaks volumes. And, truthfully, the original Grimm’s fairy tales weren’t happy-go-lucky . . . we have Disney to thank for that.



Grace is progressing nicely. I finished the other front and have begun the back. Unfortunately, it is a pattern that requires some attention, so I am only working on it when I don’t have something else to pay attention to. There are several things going on in the photo: Grace (fronts complete), the doctor’s bag from Knit 2 Together, my hat from the Fair Isle class, and the beginning of the EZ Fair Isle sweater (now about 12 inches in).

Thank you all for the kind words on the post about Clark. This might have been the first year that I really didn’t have a total break down probably because it was the first year that I confessed the willingness to trade away parts of my life just for a cup of coffee. On other brother news, our bro who is 25 has finally set a graduation date of June. Lola wasn’t too happy with the June decision because it conflicts with a family wedding. Truthfully, I would rather be at the wedding, but I am really looking forward to holding up signs spelling out “FINALLY” for the family Christmas card picture.

Ava

PS – Go Bears!