My first post

I've started this blog and decided that, along with random thoughts and rants, it will be a place to share my knitting experiences. The only finished project I have in the house at the moment is a very basic garter stitch scarf. I don't know what this yarn is, It was given to me by my sister. She bought it some time ago with the plans to make a scarf, which she never got around to making. I decided to make a scarf and give it back to her. It is obviously an acrylic of some kind, it is chenille-ish but not exactly. It is about 6" wide and 65" long, it is very fluffy and very, very soft. The color reminds me of the salt and pepper suit that Barney Fife always wore when he got dressed up for a special occasion on the Andy Griffith Show.:) It will look nice with a black coat, I hope my sister likes it.

The reason that I only have one project to show right now is because I have been too busy to knit this last week. I watch my 5-year-old nephew and 2-year-old niece while their mother works. We had an ice storm of epic proportions last weekend and in an effort to keep them (and me) off the icy roads, I packed the kids up and brought them home with me to stay until the roads melted a little. After a couple of days we all had cabin fever and I was struggling with a bout of self-pity. I asked myself how I had managed to get myself trapped inside the house with someone else's children...was I NUTS? Then it occurred to me that two friends of mine are currently raising children that are not theirs. Janet is raising her two grandchildren and Karen who is raising her niece since her sister passed away last March from breast cancer. Then I really felt selfish and petty. I had the responsibility of watching my sister's children for about 72 hours and these two women do it day in and day out. I think that they are incredible women for doing so and I am going to make sure that I tell them that, just in case they don't know.