A Little Extra You Say......

When W was a few years old we got a Peter Alsop cassette from the library [ no colorful dinosaur songs for my kid, I'd decided]. He loved the songs and so did I. They were funny but some were also poignant to me. This is one of the funny ones that always stuck in my head and I would find myself humming. After our recent exposure to T.V [ that I have already ranted about here ] I was reminded of this song. Unfortunately the library no longer has it but I have requested that they purchase the CD so we will wait and see if they get it. Hopefully you will get a chuckle out of the lyrics to his song below. If you are interested in his other songs check out his website.

YOU GET A LITTLE EXTRA WHEN YOU WATCH T.V.

You get a little extra when you watch T.V.
Ain't that ducky!
Well you're lucky if you see that
You get a little extra when you watch T.V.!

You sit too close and you get a big surprise
Lots of radiation in your body and your eyes
Your eardrums hum when someone turns it up too high,
When you watch T.V.!

We learn lots about our bodies and our aches and pains,
Headaches, hemorrhoids, heartburn, diarrhea, denture stains
Gotta buy more drugs t'stop your stresses and your strains
When you watch T.V. !

Chorus

When someone in an advertisement tells me lies
I jump up and switch the channels, and I get some exercise
So my body's getting healthy and my mind is getting wise
When I watch T.V.!

Daddies only love the Mommies when the dirt's all gone
From their shirts and shiny floors, the coffee has t'be right on,
I'm so glad my Dad's not fussy, cause he'd leave my Mom,
If he watched T.V.!

Chorus

In real life it never works when people go
And hit and kick and punch and smash each other's heads and toes
But it always solves the problems on the cartoon shows
When you watch T.V.!

Last night on the highway when our car got stalled
We saw a bloody accident with bodies that were mauled
Though my folks got sick, it didn't bother me at all.
Cause I watch T.V.!

Chorus

If you think that I am lazy, don't you call me names
I have learned important skills from playing video games
If a spaceship should attack me I could shoot 'em down in flames,
Cause I watch T.V.!

And a big T.V. can really give you quite a rest
If you get one near your bed, you've got no reason to get dressed
You never have to talk to anyone, your life is a success
When you watch T.V.!


Written by Peter Alsop, ©1983, Moose School Music (BMI)

Felted Knitting Project Bag

These are photos showing before and after felting. It started out looking so huge, but did felt down into a manageable size for a shoulder sized tote. I lined the inside with 100% cotton print fabric and added a special buckle to the strap. The buckle belonged to my paternal great grandmother and the woman I credit with planting and nurturing the seeds of creativity in me from a very early age. I'm happy with the results of my first large felting project and just couldn't help sharing.

Not Bleah, Mmmm!

So, W has succumbed to the cold he was fighting. I guess the 3 flights [with germ laden air] to get home, the lack of sleep and the change in climate were just a little too much for his immune system - possibly the sugar in his little brother's birthday cake didn't help either. He is down for the count on the couch and I have been topping him up with garlic tea to help with his throat - "garlic tea, bleah," you say but don't knock it 'til you try it, it is actually quite delicious.

Good and Good For You Garlic Tea

Cut 1 good sized clove of garlic into pieces and put into tea cup
Pour boiling water over and steep at least 5 minutes (I cover mine with a plate to keep in all the good stuff)
Add a dollop of honey ( or maple syrup for vegans)
Add juice from half a lemon or a few spoonfuls of bottled lemon juice

Drink up - you could choose to eat the garlic too if you are really keen otherwise just leave it at the bottom of the mug and enjoy the tea

At any rate, not a lot going on around here today for any organized learning type activity so I am using the time to get to some looong put off jobs. I actually have been putting all the scraps of recipes, culled from magazines, newspapers and various other sources, into my "recipe" binder. This is a binder that has sat around for, oooh, maybe 8 years now with a lovely cover titled Heather's Recipes [made by my S-I-L] but filled only with poor, sad blank pages with no recipes inside - O.K, actually not true, it was filled with great wads of torn pages waiting to be nicely cut to size and glued to paper. So with a little help from the boys and their gluesticks I did some cutty, cutty, paste, paste [why did we used to call it that?] and there you have it, a freshly organized binder. I think it took all of 20 minutes while listening to Jim Weiss tell the tale of Theseus - can anyone listen to the ending of this and not want to cry?. A good start all in all, now I just need to find the other binder full of recipes that I moved when we remodelled the kitchen and get it done once and for all. Maybe if I can find the knitting binder I just started I can get that caught up too, seems like a good time of year for a bit of organizing.

Pointy hats!

Once my Elizabeth Zimmermann books arrived, I was itching to knit something. I chose the Ganomy (gnome) Hat from Knitter’s Almanac and cast on in the afternoon and knitted until I just had to get up from the couch to make dinner. I continued in the evening and finished it before bed! I didn’t match Elizabeth’s gauge - she tells you to get 4 stitches to the inch, I had 5, but as I wasn’t knitting it for anyone in particular I didn’t mind. I used a ball of dark blue Bernat Satin and US#8/5mm needles.

It’s a cute hat - probably best made for a younger child - I put it on my 8 year old and he called it an elf hat. It was a little tight on him so I shall have to find a small friend to give it to. It comes to a point at the top - Elizabeth suggests putting a ping pong ball in the top and winding yarn around underneath so your hat will float if it falls in water, but I just used a little ball of yarn.

The clever shaping with increases and decreases creates a hat that comes down lower over the ears to keep them warm - typical Elizabeth inventiveness!

Yesterday, somewhat bored with the endless rounds of my sweater, I dug out some black Lion Brand Homespun and grey Bernat Softee Chunky, and used them together to make a Maltese Fisherman’s hat. I used 6mm needles, as those were the largest dpns I had, but it would have been easier on the hands to use 8mm. Again, this hat came out about a 4 - 6 year old size.

This would be a very warm hat (it covers the ears and neck beautifully) and it is tempting to make a bigger one for myself, though I think it might cause a few smirks! ;o)
Here, my goofy kids model the hats!

$25.75


That's how much all this yarn cost me. 4 skeins of rowan wool, 12 balls of beautiful silk/wool yarn that I will use for making an Einstein coat, 4 balls of a lovely shade of blue wool for felting, I ball of a lavender color mohair, and 8 balls of soft cottons for baby hats. That is why I love thrift stores, at a regular store I would only be able to get 4 or 5 balls of wool for that and I got 29 balls altogether. That's some bang for your knitting buck. Sooo, now I am thinking that I need to get going on some of this as I got it in December and haven't had time to knit much since(other than holiday gifts). I started an Einstein coat from this wonderful book that Nicola lent to me. It is a nice pattern that I can do while I chat, perfect for knitting nights and play days. I have had my eye on this pattern for a year or maybe two but thought I would never spend what it takes to get enough wool to make one. Well now I have no excuse. Here is how it look so far.

I also need to do some knitting for 5 babies that will be arriving soon - just found out from my M-I-L that 2 of my husband's cousins are having babies, one of them any day now and I had no idea - aargh why do men never remember to tell you the important stuff - babies to knit for, for pity sake- that is important.

This is a hat from some sock yarn that I had. I think newborn hats are supposed to be grapefruit size but since we haven't done a big grocery shop yet I am modelling it on an onion - my youngest son's idea.



So since gardening days are on the horizon my knitting days are likely drawing to a close and it is time to get a move on. Guess we need to have more knitting get-togethers for motivation ladies. How does Friday sound?

Ta-dah!!!

My first finished object of the year! I've started my second sock and it is coming along pretty quickly (thanks to our Wednesday knit and gab and play day!) It feels very nice on although I think I could have made it a wee bit longer in the foot. I could make the second one a tiny bit longer or I could do it the same length and pass it onto someone with a slightly smaller foot then me. Either way, I'm very pleased to have finished my first sock!

Can't help it...must rant about T.V.

So it probably isn't a great idea to make my first post a rant but there you have it, I can't help myself. I promise my next one will be about something nice, like our recent trip to Maui or knitting, I'll even include some pics of sea turtles or the little baby hat I knit.


Just back from a holiday where we had access to the telly. Having disconnected our cable over 11 years ago, when we had our first son, my contact with cable has been limited to occasional visits to my folks ( and even then we usually only watch the travel channel - because I do enjoy Pilot Guides). Well, I already believe that most television is, quite frankly, Crap - with a capital C but even I was stunned by the stupidity of what is now on cable. Heck, even my husband (who would probably actually not mind having cable sometimes) thought it was incredible how lousy the stuff is that is on the tube.

Most of what was on seemed to be some sort of reality T.V., filled with wanna-be actors disclosing all the details of their lives - I can't think of a suitable adjective for details so I'll leave that to you to fill in as you will, actually, nauseating would work now that I think of it. A ton of it seemed to be make-over shows, either of the body, house or wardrobe, with a good portion of plastic surgery shows thrown in. There was actually a soap opera channel - all soaps, all the time. There was a show about living in the playboy mansion, this was on during a time when many kids would still be awake. I shudder to think about the message this gives young minds. There were loads of shopping channels, there was even a game show channel. How many games shows can a person stand? Apparently quite a few. And to top it all off, everything on the air seemed to have women in barely-there clothing. What gives?

My son wanted to watch a show called Overhaulin' that he has seen before at my folks but it seems now to consist mostly of commercials, the "hosts" acting like idiots and a lot of repetition of the ploy that they used to get the car. He just wanted to see them work on the car, not all the other nonsense. And what is with the constant repetition - did they think we forgot how they stole the car during the incessant commercial breaks. He couldn't be bothered to watch it again. He also was watching a show about tsunamis on the discovery channel and a break came on where they showed what was "coming up soon" - a show about what "really goes on in women's prisons." Do you know what? He doesn't need to know, I don't want him to know, I don't even want to know. Why would that be shown during a time that many children would be watching? We just kept wondering who watches all this stuff....and why?

I actually find it, not only very disheartening, but truly scary. If this is what this generation is being brought up with what will become of them? I know, I know, it sounds like an overreaction from a crazy woman but I don't think so. I think it is one of those things like the frog in the boiling water. If you have been consistently exposed to the general worsening of T.V. you might not think it so bad, you have slowly grown accustomed to the nonsense, but I have been out of it for long enough that when I see it now it really is like being thrown into boiling water and it just kills me to see how bad it is and to know that so many people are spending their time, their lives really, watching such trash. For example, what will a young girl who grows up watching shows where all the women have "man-made" bodies think? I suppose she will just assume it is the done thing to be made-over. What will she think when she sees all these "beautiful " girls living in Hugh Heffner's mansion and the fuss being made over their lifestyles. Is this the kind of lifestyle that should have a show made about it, that should be applauded? What will she think when she watches families spewing their problems out to any willing member of the television audience instead of working together to solve things? What will she think if her nose, breasts, stomach or what have you aren't the "right" size? That she should have surgery to "fix" it? What will she think? What will she think?

I won't even start on all the commercials for every kind of drug to fix every kind of problem. Maybe there are some good shows, maybe even some good channels but we could not find them. It just left me feeling very sad, really. I don't know the solution for something that most people would not even see as a problem but I do believe, with all my heart, that it is a very serious problem indeed. For our family the solution will continue to be no cable and minimum access to the television other than DVD's that we have chosen to watch. We have had many, many discussions with the boys about commercials and the effect they have on people, about how we choose to spend our limited time on this earth and if we want it to be spent on television viewing and about the many consequences of T.V watching. I believe that this will be something that will stay with them forever and that they will never want to waste much of their time on this habit. I hope I am right.