knitting vs. texting

Tonight I took my knitting to a hockey clinic that my son was in.  A clinic mind you, not a game.  I pulled my knitting out and was happily knitting away on a mindless piece - not lace!  The woman beside me spent the first 20 minutes of the clinic texting away on her phone, while I happily knit along.  She put her phone away and looked at me and said, in a smarmy kind of way, "I don't know how you can knit and watch your son play.  I would think that knitting would be too distracting.  I would miss too much."  Really?!  Really?!   More distracting than having your face glued to your phone while you're texting away?  Really?!  Do you think that texting requires LESS attention than knitting in a garter stitch for endless rows?  Do you really think while you've been reading your text messages and giggling to yourself I've missed more of my future NHLer's (LOL) performance than you have of yours?  This was of course not my response to her.  After all, I'd been happily knitting and relaxing.  So I simply smiled at her and said, "No it's fine.  I walk and chew gum all the time."

Patience is a virtue

What's the definition of frustrating?  Knitting lace only to lay it out and discover that there's a mistake somewhere and it's gone all wonky.  So you rip back 30 rows, knit another ten and lay it out again only to discover that you haven't ripped back far enough!  Not that I'm saying that's what I did or anything.  But wouldn't that make you want to lay your knitting down and have an    f-fest over it?  Not that I'm saying that's what I did or anything.

By the way, the Heartland shawl is coming along nicely although I've hit a bit of a bump in the road.  I'll pick it up again soon.

I have just spent the past week in quarantine with a sick child (H1N1).  He's finally feeling better but what a long road!  So far no one else in the house is showing any symptoms, thankfully.  It's his first day out of my bedroom in a week.  I tried to keep him sequestered away from the rest of the family to keep contact down to a minimum.  Thank goodness for DVDs and Playstation and lace knitting. 

I managed to finish a sock, start and finish Pretty Thing (which by the way is a beautiful thing, especially when done in cashmere), and I've started the Heartland shawl.  Here's what Connor managed to accomplish in a week:  He beat the H1N1 virus, played every single game we own for PS2, and watched every single DVD we own (which is a lot) and he learned everything there is to know about dragonflies.  He also learned how to push my buttons.  

By day four Connor's fever was down and he spent the day complaining, talking my ear off and being demanding.  Monday I was Florence Nightingale and by Friday I was Nurse Ratchett.  It's over - yea!  And I feel like I've just completed the Amazing Race.  My partner and I had some tense moments together but we managed to finish the race and we're still on speaking terms.

I really hope my other two don't get sick because I'm afraid all they'll get is Nurse Ratchett.