My beautiful girl

My beautiful girl, my firstborn child, my Punkin turned 8 years old today.

She is a fascinating, wonderful, challenging person. She's so much like me that it's painful sometimes.

She loves to read. She's very emotional. She relates better to people who aren't her age than to her peers.

She loves her brother and he drives her nuts. She is precocious and precious and I can't believe how grown up she already is.

Happy Birthday my beautiful girl.

Conversations with my daughter

My parents are visiting for a while and have rented a minivan for the duration. Yesterday afternoon all of us (the Italian, Buddy, Punkin, Grandma, Grandpa and I) were driving somewhere in the minivan. I was driving, Punkin was in the way back with the Italian.

Punkin was telling us about a book she had read recently that had something to do with dragons, I don't remember what. The book was one of the volumes of the Magic Treehouse series, a name which any of you with young children will recognize and the rest of you won't. She started telling him about how great the series was in general. The next thing I hear from her was this:

Punkin: It's a really nice series. Each book is about one half expository text and one half fiction.

The Italian: Hmmm? Really.

Me: [stifled snort as I try not to drive off the road while I laugh and marvel at my 7 year old daughter].

In other news there is little other news. My parental visit is consuming most of my energy and leaving me drained. It is great to see them and it wears me out. More on that some other time.

Knitting on Friday was great, I enjoy very much the friendships I have made through knitting and it's nice to know that others feel the same. I wish I had more time to knit, my sanity could use it these days. Plus my mother brought along two socks with holes in them, so it looks like between her and the Italian I'll be darning socks for a while!

Why it's my least favorite LYS

I have a very strange work schedule, as some of you who have tried to keep track of it can attest (thank the gods for iCal, it's saved my bacon many times). Every third week I have Tuesday off because I work on Saturday. Because I "usually" work on Tuesdays the children go to day care/after school anyway and once every three weeks I get an afternoon to myself. Don't get too excited, I usually try to organize my desk, or clean, or cook. I can't think of the last time I just goofed off.

Anyway, this week is one of those weeks. On Tuesday as I was tidying I came across the pair of socks the Italian has worn a hole through, and the other pair of socks that is only one wearing away from wearing a hole through. Both pairs were made from Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, a 100% merino sock yarn that I particularly enjoy. Much as I love knitting socks, and as thrilled as I am that he wears them enough to wear them out, these socks are not more than six months old and I'd like them to last a little bit longer than that. I decided to do a little research into reinforcing yarn, the kind you knit along with in high wear areas.

Unfortunately, Tuesday is the day that my two favorite local yarn shops are closed (Purlescence Yarns and Full Thread Ahead, in case you were wondering). I tried calling another shop that isn't quite so close, only to discover that it had closed in December of 2008. (Yarn shops are dropping like flies these days - ArtFibers, Creative Hands, CommuKnity, Knitters Studio, Knitting Arts all have closed in the past 8 months!)

So I called my least favorite LYS, the one that's been in business for years, the one I've shopped in for at least the past 12 years, the one where they have never, not once been friendly to me). I wasn't planning on buying anything there, I just wanted some information. And this is the conversation I had:

Her: Hello, [name of Local Yarn Shop}, may I help you?

Me: Yes, I'm calling to find out if you carry reinforcing socks yarn, the kind that you knit in to reinforce high wear areas like heels and toes?

Her: (in a whiny voice) No, you know, most sock yarns these days are part polyester and don't need that. If you really want to, you can use polyester thread.

Me: you mean sewing thread?

Her: Yes, regular sewing thread.

Me: Okay, thank you.

Now I've heard pros and cons about using sewing thread as sock reinforcing yarn, so I'm not going to slam her for that. But come on, "most sock yarns have polyester now"? First of all, it's not polyester, it's usually nylon, which is not the same. Second of all, I think most of the yarn companies and indie dyers who make gorgeous 100% merino sock yarn would dispute the notion that "most" sock yarns are blends. And third, this is the same yarn shop that prides itself on carrying Koigu KPPPM! Not a bit of "polyester" in that yarn, which is frequently used for knitting socks.

Plus, her whole tone and attitude was so dismissive, so condescending, like every other time I've encountered employees of this shop. Maybe that kind of approach works for some people, but it doesn't work for me. I may not be spending much money at any yarn stores these days, but what little I'm spending I will spend somewhere else.

Humph.