Reading and a story

When my two were little, I read to them every night. My daughter's favorite childhood memory is of the family on a camping trip, roughing it with tent and campfire and of me reading by the light of the campfire from the Redwall series by Brian Jacques I'd purchased at a yard sale. My darling daughter never lost her love of books and reads voraciously. With my son, being disabled, his reading level is of a first grader although he still loves looking at books especially National Geographic.

As my daughter got older, she took over the responsibility of reading to her baby brother. Many an evening I sat on the edge of the bed listening to her reading to her brother. What made it that much more special is that she was reading from a book I owned since I was 5, the book given to me by my grandmother to read through the summer as she had already noticed my love of books.  I still have this book and cherish it.

I happened upon this article published in the NY Times about a father reading to his daughters and the impact it had on his youngest daughter. It reminded me of how reading to my children left it's mark on them. They are both free thinkers, and extremely imaginative and I attribute that to developing an early love of books and reading.

And as my daughter pointed out in the comments... I used the wrong cover picture! See! she remembers! LOL The cover to the right is the correct one.

The Weekender

Let's see, how about I do some updates before moving on to new stuff.

1. job interview: As I thought... didn't get it. Doesn't surprise me, they may have had poker faces, but their body language spoke volumes. I guess they didn't want a bbw around their office filled with dainty, latest fashion clad admins. Their loss!

2. I forgot to mention my darling daughter also brought me some lovely gifts. 2 books, Picture Knits & I Love Knitting. There is new knowledge to be gleaned from both. I especially like the first one, lots of lovely charts for children's clothing plus a how to read a chart tutorial. I can definitely use that part as well. Knitting left handed creates some interesting problems when reading a chart. I have to keep reminding myself that the row going in one direction goes in the other direction on my knitting. Confusing? heck yeah but I'll learn!

3. She also brought me more Neopets to add to my growing collection. Yes, I'm addicted to these cute little plush animals. They are sooo cute!

4. And last but not least, a package of tape measures! I'm forever misplacing my one and only cloth tape measure. My favorite from the 4 she gave me is this nice small red one that when you press the button zips right back inside with a very satisfying "snick!" I love that!

5. Finished the fingerless mitts for the co-workers friend. I hope he appreciates the work that went into them. I used a generic wristwarmer generator, made some adaptations and went at them. I just have to weave in the ends and hand them to her.

Now for new stuff

1. I cast on another cloth in basketweave, I'm aiming for a hand towel with this design. Pictures to come as it grows.

2. Need to buy US8 circular needles for the gilet Twirl found in Minnowknits, Too by Jil Eaton. I have 2 nieces and a sister in law who would love this feminine gilet complete with fancy wrists and collar. I will change one thing on it though and that is what I'm going to use to knit the wrists and collar. I am going to use furry novelty yarn to give the impression of real fur. All 3 will appreciate it I'm quite certain.

3. I cast on and finished a Calorimetry hat for myself. Put it to the test yesterday in -20C weather and it was perfect. Having long hair makes tuques impossible to wear or give you hat hair which I hate. This hat is like a hairband but has a button in the back so no slipping over the head dragging your hair down with it. I love how it covers my ears and doesn't slip and slide around. Only took me 3 hours to knit from CO to sewing on the button. I also added a smaller button on the inside to anchor the main button better so the buttonhole won't slip off. I didn't cast on the 120 stitches since my knitting seems to be a tad more relaxed. I cast on 115 and it fits perfectly! I also love the shape when it's laying flat. Reminds me of a leaf.

That's it for now. More to come in the next few days.