There is lace!

After several false starts, I am happy to report that I have an actual, almost finished lace scarf! Of course, I have no pics because I still can't find the cord thingy.

Which leads me to one of my pet rants. Finding things. Things get lost in our house. Finding anything pretty much takes 15-20 minutes. If it's something you REALLY need it's guaranteed to take longer. Much longer. Now, I know that nothing is ever lost in your houses because you are all very neat, well organized people who always put everything back where it belongs. In MY household, however, there are three disorganized slobs. Actually, the Man-Child is the most organized and well-kept of us all. His room is usually the cleanest and the most orderly. I can't say as much for the rest of the house. I would like to say that this is actually a very clever attempt on my part to be sure that he is neat child, because growing up in a messy house has, of course, made him want to be neat above all else. After all, it worked for me -- my mom made housecleaning an art form and look how I turned out.

You might guess from this that there is almost ANYTHING that I would rather do than housework. The spouse and I have different ways of viewing housework. I hate clutter, she hates dirt. I don't mind dust if it's on empty surfaces, she doesn't mind clutter as long as it's clean clutter. Clutter is insidious. I can clear it away, turn my back for fifteen minutes and it will reappear. It has a life and will of it's own.

The spring concert season is well underway. In the last month I have been to one band concert, a theatre awards night, and six choir performances (or choir related events). There is still one more to go, the last spring concert for boychoir. This will be their first ever performance at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. Actually, they've performed there with the Minnesota Orchestra many times, but this is the first time they're the whole show! Pretty exciting stuff, at least to the parents. The boys are pretty blase about the whole thing. Just another night on stage at a world class venue...yawn. A few days after that the choir leaves for the Australia tour, minus the Man-Child who is not much of a traveler and opted out. I still don't understand how I, someone who will go anywhere at the drop of a hat, could have produced such a homebody. Ah well, he's young, he'll grow out of it.

Speaking of which, the Man-Child turned 14 over Memorial Day weekend. Somehow, 14 seems much older than 13. He is becoming more and more independent, something that, as a parent, we try to nurture and yet want to discourage at the same time. Suddenly he's getting invitations to parties (boy/girl parties!) and riding to the mall on his bike all by himself. Ok, so I did follow him in car the first two times he went, just to be sure he could get there without becoming a hood ornament. Stephanie's May 30 post, "Dear Amanda," speaks to this very thing, most eloquently as usual. She gets it absolutely right. Go read it, but make sure you have a kleenex.

Ok, back to the knitting. Yes, there is lace! In the category of "Duh, can you read a knitting pattern?," I finally realized that the reason I was continually screwing up all lace patterns was because I was including a knit stitch for every yarn over. So, if the pattern said, K2, YO, Knit 2, I would K2, YO K1, K2. So, of course, nothing ever came out right. I'm not sure when the light bulb finally went on, but there was an "aha" moment in there somewhere. And, how long have I been knitting? And how long have I been avoiding lace?

Also in the category of "finished objects" is a baby sweater, knitted in anticipation of a neighbor's baby shower in a few weeks. It turned out really cute, and if I ever find the *%^&#$ cord thingy I'll show you. Now I'm knitting a smaller, newborn size of the same sweater. It's a great pattern -- Cabin Fever Buttons Cardigan. Very easy, I made the first one in two days. Of course it helps that it's teeny. The "Perfect Sweater" mentioned in the last entry is finished, except for the blocking and seaming. I'm afraid I'm going to completely screw it up, so it sits. Someone told me that "you can always rip it out," which is true, probably even destined, but as long as it sits in pieces I can imagine it finished, perfectly, sometime in the future...