Friday, February 06, 2004

Snow, Possibles and a Small Rant

It’s snowing like hell here today.  It had just begun around 6:30 AM or so and we seem to have been acquiring an inch per hour since then - the heaviest snow we’ve had so far this season.

This fellow is gnawing at the suet sitting in a little grate on the side of the feeder.  While the suet is primarily there for the birds (particularly the woodpeckers, since they love it) I haven’t the heart to chase him away.  It’s too nasty a day; let the little bugger have whatever he can get.

I’m declaring another vacation day from the two big projects. I’ve been following Lisa’s glove-fest over at blogdogblog and admiring her beautiful work.  As I’m still in the negotiation stage with DPNs (especially the minute sizes) I’m not likely to undertake this kind of meticulous work just yet.  Someday maybe...but in the interim, there are these:

The Sideways Gloves look like a fun project.  They’re all garter stitch - though I imagine that can be played with - and I think they’d work up reasonably quickly.  I don’t think I’d make them in brown though :( Maybe red, or turquoise or violent violet :)

Those would be for outdoors wear.  But my hands get awfully cold indoors as well and keeping them wrapped around a mug of hot tea or coffee doesn’t let me get much knitting or blogging done :) So the other possibility is this:

This pair of Fingerless Gloves looks like it might fit the bill admirably.  I might not make them quite as long as the pattern does and likely I’ll mess with the cable as well (what’s life, if you can’t mess with cables?) but they also look like a fun and reasonably quick project.  Since the DPNs used for these are large enough to be seen with the naked eye, I should be able to manage them!

::rant mode::

I was leafing through the winter “Knitter’s” last night and noticed one of the little girl models (3 or 4 years old) had pierced ears.  About a year ago, Myria and I were walking past the jewelry area of a local department store when, suddenly there was an ear-piercing shriek followed by heart-rending sobbing.  Both of us about jumped out of our skin.  Looking around, we saw the jewelry clerk with her “gun” to the head of a 2 year old, about to pierce the other ear.

I’m not against pierced ears - I’ve got several holes in my own lobes.  But I was old enough, when the procedure was performed, to know what I was doing and that it was going to hurt.  For a young child, this can’t come as anything but a frightening and very unpleasant surprise.

Why not wait until the kids are old enough to make an informed decision of their own?

::rant mode off::

Anyway, this is shaping up to be a stay-indoors-and-relax kind of day and I’m going to take advantage of it.  Put on the kettle, dig out another pair of needles and play!

Stay warm everyone and have a wonderful weekend!

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1. Anyone piercing the ears of a small child ought to be prosecuted for child abuse!!!!  Great ideas for gloves though, especially the cabled ones.  Would it need some ribbing though, to stop it being a bit loose?

   Posted by Pamela  on  02/07  at  12:56 PM
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2. Pam - There is ribbing both around the “arm” end and around the “hand” end.  I’ve got a pattern for a cable/bobble combo - kinda heart-like - that I think I’d substitute for the one in the picture which is functional, but unexciting to my eye :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  02/07  at  01:39 PM
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3. When I was a kid during soviet time I remember seeing pierced ears on very young girls in our neighbourhood. When I wanted to have my ears pierced (because I thought it looked cool) mom explained that it was a Russian custom to pierce girls’ ears at very young age and I wasn’t allowed to, because I was 6 or 7 at that time. She didn’t relent until I was 14. :)

   I don’t know when the customary procedure was carried out, but it was before school. I also don’t know how common it is in Russian community today.

   Posted by Vaire  on  02/08  at  06:08 AM
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4. Vaire - That’s interesting, I wasn’t aware of that.  Thanks for contributing!  A friend did mine (the first set of holes, anyway) for me when I was 18 and my mother *still* had a hissy fit :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  02/08  at  11:22 AM
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5. My daughter actually started asking for pierced ears at TWO.  I told her she could only have it done by her doctor, hoping to stall her until she changed her mind.  She never changed her mind, and had her ears pierced at four, at the pediatrician’s office, after we all explained that it would hurt and was she sure she really wanted it? She was sure.  The doctor had big banana fingers and messed up one of the holes and the nurse had to redo it, so she actually got pierced three times in short order.  She didn’t flinch or shed a tear, she wanted earrings THAT much, and took good care of them.  I totally agree that sneaking up on a child and inflicting pain on her against her will is a horrible thing, but a few kids really do want to do it.  I’m not against pierced ears on a child in principle, but it has to be the child’s idea, with full disclosure that it’s going to hurt.  (I didn’t get mine pierced until I was 14.)

   Posted by Catherine  on  02/08  at  04:50 PM
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6. Hi Catherine :)

   Of course if the child knows what they want and understands what’s involved, that’s another story.  Thanks for the comment!

   Posted by Robbyn  on  02/08  at  09:42 PM
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7. ooer, I do like that fingerless glove pattern. I might have to give it a spin, maybe I can use my blue yarn for that, hmm?

   Posted by Monica  on  02/09  at  02:58 PM
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8. Monica - Now that *would* be spectacular!  What about stitching some beads here and there?  It would make the miits look even more rich!

   Posted by Robbyn  on  02/09  at  06:27 PM
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