My one and only

This

Ototo

is exactly how long the train ride from Ottawa to Toronto is. One half sock. It struck me, as I rode the train the 400km through the Ontario countryside, that as a knitter, I measure distance and time in knitting. The subway station is four rounds on a sock away. “As it Happens” is two inches on a sweater long, my doctor is a fast one, and usually only makes me wait three rows on a cardie front. I wonder sometimes, as I think about measuring this way…if I keep knitting this much, will I eventually give directions like this?

“Knit four, purl 2 cable 3 left, turn right. Drive for 3 inches on a sock then turn right and work a short row.”

The ride back was (despite pondering the mysteries of knitting and trying to figure out how I could standardize this system to allow for the varying speeds and gauges of knitters and yarn) a lovely quiet thing. This was the first train ride of my life (I am a woman of little experience) and I am in love with the train. The whistle, the rocking…the knitting time. It’s a romantic way to travel and beats the pants off a plane.

Have you been on a train?

Safely home, I wondered what awaited me in the house. There had only been one panicked phone call to an Ottawa hotel (concerning whether or not a certain teen daughter should be allowed to attend a certain party and how to deal with the fact that Joe’s (appropriate) refusal to allow the aforementioned teen daughter to do this had exacted a rather inappropriate noise level and heated statements about Joe’s commitment to “her life” and his attempts to ruin same). Overall, one phone call for 54 hours of absence seemed like a pretty good record, so I wondered if there was something I wasn’t being told.

Joe and the ladies met me at the train station and all of them were wearing clothes. (So far, so good). We drove home and I opened the door with trepidation. I was shocked. Shocked off my feet. I sat in stunned silence in the living room and surveyed it with alarm and horror.

It was great. It was tidy. When I could stand, I ran to the kitchen. More of the same. Clean counters, food in the fridge, leftovers that spoke to a minimum level of nutrition being met. The girls told me stories of going for walks in the park, there was no sign of a housefire that had been extinguished by the fire department moments before our home was consumed. No-one had sold all my yarn to bail anyone out of jail, the cat, hamster and new fish (Wanda) were all alive and there were no notices from the sheriff on the front door. I went upstairs and the girls had (be still my beating heart) cleaned their rooms. In short….

they do not need me.

As I sat quietly pondering this, and other matters of astonishment, and feeling decidedly romantic feelings about my charming husband (who seems to have finally taken the old adage “No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes” to heart…) Joe approached me with a cold beer extended.

“How did I do?” he asked, beaming with pride.

“Joe…good job dude. Seriously good job. I’m impressed.” I took a swig of the icy beer (Joe knows I like ’em real cold) and said nothing about this trip being two days and the next one being the real test of his fortitude. I picked up my sock and worked a round while Joe puffed out his chest and surveyed his mighty domain before he sat down beside me.

“Steph?”

“Yeah Joe?”

“You’re going to tell the blog about this right? That I did ok?”

Who knew. Reporting to you is a behavioural tool. Who knew?

I, Stephanie, do solumnly swear that Joe is to be congratulated, and that I have nothing about his homemaking performance to complain about. He is a god, walking the earth disguised as man and I am lucky, even honoured to be knitting him socks.

Although… checked the laundry pile…and Mr. Washie and I do still have a completely monogamous relationship.

You can’t have it all.

125 thoughts on “My one and only

  1. Hurrah for Joe and the lovely daughters. They obviously know how to treat you right.
    Congrats on making it through your TV appearance as well. I assume it went OK since you didn’t blog about it.
    Yor karma seems to be very good right now.
    -leslie

  2. Way to go Joe! Can I borrow him for a week?
    Isn’t riding the train the best. I rode our MetroLink to and from LA for a month and I looked forward to it everyday.
    Welcome home!
    Peace

  3. I’m swooning. I read today’s blog, pretended I was you and substituted my husband’s name for Joe’s. You are a lucky, lucky woman and I’m sure that Joe will get his reward tonight. Is this post really the first chapter of the new romance novel you’re working on?
    p.s. Have you checked the cupboard for glass and mug orientation? (Sorry Joe!)

  4. I hate to say it, but perhaps they’ve gotten canny and disposed of the ice cream evidence in the *neighbours* recycling this time!
    Congrats on the first leg of the book tour, when are you coming to Kingston?! Are you going to make me come all the way to TO on a TRAIN to get my bookbookbook copy signed?

  5. You’re wrong, dear Steph. They DO need you. Without the imminent return from a trip, it wouldn’t have got done. You were the inspiration and driving force!
    By the way, I stopped by Weaving Works in Seattle to pick up my shawl (which won the people’s choice award, hee hee), and I saw the bookbookbook! I wanted to buy a copy with part of my gift certificate prize, BUT, I’ve been hinting around to Nate about it and wanted to give him ample opportunity :-). He likes to buy me gifts, and this one is a no-brainer.
    Welcome home!

  6. Joe did good. I wish I could say the same about my husband when I go away for two days. And I agree on the icecream comment. And there isn’t any evidence of Twinkies? If they can’t survive for two days without you, something is wrong, though I am a bit worried about the Mr Washie situation.
    Trains are good, though I’ve only been on country hauls a handful of times. All you have to do is sit and watch the country go past (or the odd light if it is night). Even the suburban services are good cos then you get to sit and knit or read the paper or a book.

  7. Great job Joe and kids. Thanks for sharing Stephanie with the world and allowing us into your lives.

  8. Your husband is a dear, dear man. I think you should keep him! 🙂 I agree that they do need you to be the motivating factor and the one they desire to impress. I wish we had a train because I’m quite sure I would absolutely love to ride it and knit the time away. Welcome home and congrats on the first leg well done.

  9. Please be sure to tell Joe that his wonderful performance has been duly noted…. Bet he doesn’t yet realize the standards he has now set himself up for….
    At least Mr. Washie is faithful?

  10. Well, of course Joe’s not going anywhere near the washing machine — you humiliated him by telling the world on Page (mumble-mumble,..can’t remember the page, damnit!) of bookbookbook that he shrunk a really wonderful sweater. I don’t blame him.
    But Joe: damn good, Man! Damn good!

  11. Does your wonderful Joe have a brother? Or a clone? We single girls want to know!

  12. I never doubted Joe’s ability to walk for 54 hours in your socks. He’s used to dealing with celebrities…

  13. The driving directions were too hysterical. Had tears rolling down my face.
    WTG Joe!! Between this and the stories in the bookbookbook, you are now every knitting woman’s fantasy man. Straight or otherwise for all I know. Interested in a job as a cabana boy? hehe
    Steph, you are one lucky Harlot.

  14. Wow! Nothing quite gets to a mommy’s heart than walking into a clean house after a few days away. Way to go Joe! I picked up my copy of the bookbookbook this weekend at my lys and am conspiring where to hide so that i can read it sans interuptions. Ha. I can dream can’t I?

  15. ok, so both of our husbands are studio men… tell me again how he held down the fort while you were away? Can my husband meet yours for some lessons on keeping your wife sane?
    Joe – you totally rock. How can I put this? Coming home to a tidy house is like having an entire studio filled with musicians and yet, somehow, getting the perfect sound on the first take. Same kinda feeling. It’s a mix (pardon the pun) of pride and love!

  16. Go, JOE! Huzzah! I am so impressed, can’t wait to see what magic you work on Stephanie’s Big Trip away.

  17. Trains are wonderful things. I discovered the wonder of a 24 hour train ride when I moved to Upstate NY to help with my dad, but had a house and friends still in Orlando. The train is so much nicer than a plane and btw the trip from Potsdam, NY to Orlando, FL is a pair of socks (time taken out for napping and the Washington D.C. stop/margarita party) *grin*

  18. You don’t suspect, even a little that your Mom could have come over and did a quick clean up? 😉
    And if there was muttering about ruined lives after Joe refused her the party, then he is doing his job right.
    ~nod

  19. Joe, the Blogoids say “Well done!”
    I agree about the train. Best is Via first class: decent food, good seat space, great service, free booze.
    To answer those who asked about the TV shows, La Harlot did very well. She was composed and funny, sock knitting in hand all the while.

  20. Joe surely deserves the “wonderful partner” medal, or WPM. My personal epiphany came when I left my house for four days, and came home to a much nicer house than I’d left. It appears, ahem, mumble, that I’M the one who makes the messes at our house…which means, not only does my husband get the WPM for cleaning up the house, but for putting up with me MESSING up the house. sigh. I just keep getting further behind!

  21. So impressed by Joe and the kids!! They just don’t want you to worry about them while you’re away… a real testament to how much they love you. About Mr. Washie…I think if you had been gone long enough for laundry to reach critical mass (aka the great underwear shortage), they would’ve run a couple loads.

  22. No! Not a fish called Wanda!?
    Some guys are worth their weight in gold…mine does the dishes. Good for Joe, good for the grrls, good for YOU!!

  23. No! Not a fish called Wanda!?
    Some guys are worth their weight in gold…mine does the dishes. Good for Joe, good for the grrls, good for YOU!!

  24. Hooray for Joe! We’re all terribly proud and very impressed!
    As for measuring by knitting, I used to have to measure for the kids by length of TV show, half an hour is as long as one Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, one hour is a long as one Sesame Stret, 2 hours is as long as Willy Wonka and so on. Of course, they are both great grown boys now of 13 and 18 and would be mortified if they knew I’d told. 😉

  25. Yay Joe! Way to make the rest of our husbands look like a buncha schmucks! Wooo!
    I think this blogging thing could be an entirely new way to get what we want out of the ones we love. Who has time for mind control anymore? And those pesky brain implants are such a hassle. Now they know if they screw up, they’ll get a blogging (much worse than a flogging, some would say).
    Just as you measure time in knitting, my dad measures cooking on the grill in beers. To get a perfectly medium rare steak = the time it takes to drink one beer. Chicken is at least two beers. And so on. I know he fantasizes about tossing an entire wooly mammoth on the grill and settling in with a six-pack, but alas, he’s not retired yet. And all the wooly mammoths are hiding.

  26. way to go, Joe!
    If only the train were a more convenient mode of transportain. I would much prefer it.
    Is that going to be a new threat in the household? “If you do that, I’m telling of of blogland!”

  27. What a fabulous guy! My DH is pretty much like that, although we have only furryfooted kids. Makes you feel *really* lucky, doesn’t it??
    I hope you’re planning on coming to the LA area on your book tour??

  28. Your book just came to me (in West Tisbury, MA) from Amazon! It is splendid and I puzzled the chickens I was grazing by laughing so hard. And my chickens are used to me making wierd noises (I’m teaching myself Greek so they are used to me talking and cussing to myself). DH, who grew up with a mother who knit her own dresses, giggled along with me when I came inside and started reading it out loud to him.

  29. yay Joe! Congratulations! And your distance measuring reminds me of George Hayduke , from “The Monkeywrench Gang” who measured distance in six-packs, and who’s example I am horrified to admit I followed at one time in my rather wayward youth. Knitting is a much saner way to measure, and the train, oh the train is indeed a lovely way to travel!!

  30. They do need you, and they always will. The way of the need changes over time, but it always exists. A daughter will always need her mother, although I am sorry to tell you that the hell years are in front of you. After those, you will develop a relationship with your daughters that you could not imagine.
    I am enjoy the bookbookbook. Congrats again!

  31. They do need you – who else can they puff out chests in pride to? Congratulations on a successful first book tour. May the rest be even better!

  32. A Fish called Wanda! I love it!
    Anyway, I’d love to see how much you can knit if you come up to the North for a signing (Thunder Bay). I’m originally from Dryden, a small town halfway between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay. And I can vouch for the fact that Edmonton, AB is closer than Toronto, ON if one drives. It’s 18 hours to Edmonton, about 22 to Toronto.
    You could finish a whole sweater!

  33. YEAH, JOE!!!!!!!!!!!!! You give us all hope that the men-in-out-lives can do the same! Keep up the good work. Mary in Seattle

  34. YEAH, JOE!!!!!!!!!!!!! You give us all hope that the men-in-out-lives can do the same! Keep up the good work. Mary in Seattle

  35. Yay for Joe, good man! I hope I’ll be able to see you when you’re on the West coast, we’ll be in Nuremberg in mid-June (no, please don’t plan L.A. then!!!).

  36. it doesn’t mean they don’t need you – it means they love and respect you SOOOO much that they wanted everything to be perfect for you
    and tell Joe – really excellent job!!! you probably taught him well tho – 🙂

  37. Yeah, don’t you just love that monogamous relationship. I am on a business trip right now and know without a doubt in my head that the same folded and unfolded, clean and dirty laundry will be right where I left it! At least some things in life are certain. hee hee. Hey, by the way, I finished the same amount of sock on a flight for Portland, OR, to San Jose, CA (including a short delay). Yay socks!

  38. Gold star for Joe! How sweet of him to honor you that way.
    I like your timing concept. You have the most interesting way of thinking about knitting.
    The train ride through the Rockies, across the Great Salt Lake, and through the Sierra Range out to the West Coast is so beautiful it will make you knit even faster than usual.

  39. At least if no washing gets done, nothing is shrunken or dyed an, um, interesting color when you return. My husband is red/green colorblind and, after “helping” me do laundry, did not bother to really sort the laundry and was unable to tell that he had dyed all the whites a lovely pale pink. The plus side – he didn’t realize that all his undershirts were still a bit on the pink side after I bleached them.

  40. I think the comments have the key – see, if you come all the way to the west coast on a train, you could maybe even finish the gansey that Joe so obviously deserves….hey, no pressure.

  41. Woot Woot to Joe!
    And to Steph – you again amaze me with your hysterical writing – I have a link on my blog to “Blog Entries That Make Me LOL…I think I could just post your link there.
    On another note, I stopped by an out of the way LYS, Knit Happens in VA, and they had a stack! of your book. I’m just sorry I won’t be there at the same time that you will!

  42. Ahh, three of my favourite things – the Ottawa-Toronto train ride, knitting, and a very cold beer.
    Were the cups right side up in the cabinets?

  43. Wow sounds impressive! They always suprise you dont’ they? Glad to hear everything is going well, and don’t worry, they still need you!

  44. Way to go, Joe! And good job, Stephanie, for snagging, bagging, [I’ll stop this rhyme right here) and keeping him!
    I have a couple of questions… …the cups: were they right side up?
    And the fish: is it Wanda *Gershovitz*, like the one from the film? (This matters… …’cause it was my maiden name…)

  45. Great job Joe! Congratulations. Stephanie, you’re a lucky woman to have a man like that around.
    I can hardly believe you’ve never been on a train before. My first DH was so in love with trains that we took a vacation every year to Chatanooga, TN to take a steam train ride up to the top of a mountain and back. It was called the Autumn Leaf Special and it was great! People hanging out of every window and door that would open. Cinders in your undies when you got back to where you were staying.
    They actually have a special car hooked up behind the engine, coal car and water car that is the “recording car”. Maybe Joe knows about it. They use the recordings they make when doing movies with steam trains in them. Diesels don’t sound the same, but DH#1 also took me on Amtrak and as far as I’m concerned, the train is the ONLY way to go! The sleeper cars are awesome and the employees of the railroad treat everyone so nice. Too bad they don’t serve Screech in the bar car……..
    Please consider coming closer to NC than Alexandria, VA – or I’m planning a Labor Day trip to the west coast. Maybe you could coincide your visit to the Sacramento, CA area for the first part of September???

  46. Loving the bookbookbook – reading parts of it out loud to my DH. I don’t usually come home to a house that’s cleaner than when I left it (or if I do, it’s because there’s a closet that you shouldn’t open for fear of avalanche), but he does do the dishes and other noble tasks. And he’s listening to the bookbookbook passages and even laughing at the funny bits. Could be the quality of the material, could be he’s humoring me. Hard to say.
    And I think my sock knitting is in some sort of black hole vortex, because I didn’t accomplish nearly that much on my cross-country plane flights. Boo.

  47. this further confirms my theory that kids are much better behaved for people other than their mom. Even Dad’s seem to get a better deal. The teenage thing about the party doesn’t count because they are horrible with everyone (including each other).
    Glad you had a relaxing trip home to a clean house. There are worse things than laundry. At least you can knit while Mr. Washie is doing his thing.

  48. We took the train roundtrip from Wisconsin to Oregon once with 6- and 4-year-olds and a 2-month-old. It was fab. I’d love to do it again. I think I’d like sailing across the pond, too.
    Joe — what a hoot!

  49. Wow, Joe, you have done extremely well. All of Stephanie’s (non)imaginary friends are proud of you.
    Hope you will handle the next stretch without Stephanie with as much success.

  50. JOE! You rock! I think we need a beefcake shot of you with some of those stylin’ yellow rubber dishgloves on! ;D

  51. Ah, train rides. When I lived in Paris 10 years ago, I took the train almost everywhere. I loved it and wish the U.S. of A. had better train service, especially locally. And it sounds like Joe did a fantastic job! What a nice welcome home present.

  52. YAY JOE!! WOO HOO!
    Wow, Steph… what a great month: fame, a train ride (lovelovelove knitting on the train, wish I could take it everywhere… does the train go from DC to Toronto?), a clean house.
    Please be sure to continue offering up whatever you have been (to Whomever you have been) ’cause I am having way too much vicarious fun with your good karma!
    I hope to see you at Knit Happens, but if not then Sheep & Wool for sure!

  53. Joe just screwed up royally – now that we ALL know he CAN we will expect more of him. No really – he sounds like a great guy – I too know the joys of a man who understands that the way to my heart often takes the shape of a clean house and warm food (cold beer doesn’t hurt either). Congrats.

  54. Way to go Joe – I love being gone for a weekend and coming home to a clean house. My dh is definately the cleaner-uper in our family. Sadly, he is just too busy so it has fallen to me. Hence the normal state of chaos in our home. So when does Joe get his gansey? Inquiring minds want to know.
    Seriously – Wanda? I had to laugh!

  55. Stephanie. Stephanie Stephanie, Stephanie. You are the luckiest woman in Canada, nay, the whole world. What an absolutely wonderful, marvelous smart, and incredibly thoughtful husband you have! Seriously girl, he’s a treat! You done good Joe! 😀
    Wow, I am surprised that that was your first train ride. My first was when I was 8 yrs old. I loved it, and have had a few since. Our trip was from Marathon, Ontario to North Sydney, Nova Scotia (something like… 36 hrs?) well, maybe not that long, but it was quite the adventure for me. If I could afford it I would travel by train more often. Now you’re hooked! 😀

  56. Way to go Joe!!!!!
    I love going away and coming home, as my dear husband does it all. He even visits with Mr. Washie. Course, I hide all my dirty laundry before I leave.
    Wanda

  57. Yay for Joe and the kids! It’s great that they’re stepping up so you don’t need to worry. Because–don’t worry about this: they definitely still need you! You don’t think they could manage this all the time, do you?? Just be grateful you can get the occasional reprieve!
    And yes, aren’t train rides the best?

  58. Doesn’t Wanda the Fish get swallowed alive? Hmm… Kudos to Joe and the girls – maybe you should go away more often!

  59. It’s funny, the bf and I were just talking about riding on trains. Neither of us have since we were little. Aparently they’re thinking of closing the passenger trains around here.
    Good for Joe! Maybe this was good training for the next trip. Remember-it’s good if they don’t need you. Can’t believe the good blog exposure was reinforcing…Hey, whatever works 🙂

  60. Way to go Joe!
    I note that your relationship with Mr. Washie is much like mine with the Maytag downstairs. I taunt you with this: my almost 10 year old is saying that she wants to take on laundry as her next chore.
    I think this is because she’s noticed it’s not as daily as the dishes…..

  61. Congrats’ on the spiffy house! Also, just wanted to let you know I bought the bookbookbook a few days ago in a down-town Chicago bookstore. It was snuggled next to two other copies. Loved it, devoured it in one night. It’d be great if you swung by Chicago… 😉

  62. Awww, Joe’s so CUTE! Glad you got home safely; so when ya comin’ to Chicago?

  63. Good job Joe!! Blogworld applauds you! I just returned from the family spring break trip. It was 6 of us in the extended cab of a pickup, with the 2 year old throwing up from FL to MI. I practically kissed the counter when I got home. Your train ride sounds positively exotic.

  64. I’ll keep it short. I l-o-v-e riding the train and having two kids who are now in their thirties, it’s a parent’s job to ruin their kids lives. It’s in the job description.
    Brenda

  65. honey, you are still needed, even without mister washie. you are mom, and cannot be replaced. trust me, i’ve been there. my youngest son hasn’t lived with me full time for 3 1/2 years, and i’m not only still mom, he desperately wants to come home (cross your fingers for me on the 21st). no fair making me cry! joe is wonderful

  66. I have a short bus ride to school… only two sock rows. I get considerably more done while waiting for the bus, however.
    If someone’s giving a practice talk, I’ll let them know how many rows they took. 😉

  67. Am I the only one who is quite sick of taking the train? Here in Denmark, if you are young and need to go somewhere, you take the train! The train goes everywhere and alsmot to every small city, at least every 2 hours, but soon every hour or even more often. I like sitting in the train if it is not crammed, or I have to sit in the smoker’s cabin (ewwww the smell), but the train stations when you have to get onto another train, YUCK! No place to stand inside mostly, cold, rainy, weird people all around (A few weeks ago I met “Ahmet”, turkish, 60, and could not let off from petting me on my head, cheeks, breasts(?) and belly (where the kids come from) and had to kiss me on my cheeks more than once. Dangerously close to my mouth. EWWWW). I would much rather prefer driving in a car to meet all those weird strangers running wild on the train stations.
    But hey, the ride I take two times every 2.nd week is half a sock long, too 🙂 Or a baby bootie, or 2 repeats on a “Frivol hat”. (150 km, 2 hours)
    Tell Joe he’s a good man, and only blog good about him in the future to thank him for this. He will thank you 🙂

  68. Stephanie! Take The Canadian out to the rockies! It’s full of happy european tourists, stops in cool places like Souix Lookout and you can knit or write like a fiend. I write all day, drinking tea and slowly eating Doritos and then splurge on the dining car every night. The dining car! Oh good golly how do human beings create such beauty in such a teeny, tiny kitchen. The train is all about meeting people, talking, relaxing and eating. You get addicted to it and never want to travel any other way.

  69. Reading the comments showed me I’m not the only one old enough to think, Oh a fish called Wanda! Nice to be met by a house still there, aren’t it!

  70. Go Joe and the girls! And of course they need you. 🙂
    I got bookbookbook yesterday, and overslept today as I stayed up way too late reading. My friends thought me nuts as I recited the best passages to them online. Of course, many of my friends don’t knit.

  71. I’ve only been on a train once or twice and I didn’t knit at the time … I wish I lived somewhere that I HAD to take the subway to work, so I could have the knitting time.
    Hooray for Joe! The blog is proud.

  72. Isn’t the train wonderful for knitting? The best vacation I have ever had with my husband involved a long train ride (my first) with scenery and knitting.
    You are not the first person to measure time or give directions by the amount of knitting done. I think it was in “No Idle Hands” that I learned that Irish and/or Engish ferrymen, navigating in thick fog, relied upon the amount of knitting accomplished by the sock-knitters on board (when sock knitting was a home industry) to gauge how close they were to their destination.
    And once, when my dad had kidney surgery and his doctor was delayed in his post-op checkup by an emergency, the doctor rushed into the room, apologized for the delay, and asked, “how long have you been waiting?”
    I held up most of a cabled sock, grinned, and said, “oh, about three-quarters of this.”
    Great blog you have here!
    Dez, who hopes to take a long Amtrack trip one day, just to knit and enjoy scenery.

  73. Isn’t the train wonderful for knitting? The best vacation I have ever had with my husband involved a long train ride (my first) with scenery and knitting.
    You are not the first person to measure time or give directions by the amount of knitting done. I think it was in “No Idle Hands” that I learned that Irish and/or Engish ferrymen, navigating in thick fog, relied upon the amount of knitting accomplished by the sock-knitters on board (when sock knitting was a home industry) to gauge how close they were to their destination.
    And once, when my dad had kidney surgery and his doctor was delayed in his post-op checkup by an emergency, the doctor rushed into the room, apologized for the delay, and asked, “how long have you been waiting?”
    I held up most of a cabled sock, grinned, and said, “oh, about three-quarters of this.”
    Great blog you have here!
    Dez, who hopes to take a long Amtrack trip one day, just to knit and enjoy scenery.

  74. Trains are great-I have taken a few to various places and always enjoyed the ride (way more than a plane). Glad to hear that all is well at home. It reminded me of an episode of “Andy Griffith” when Aunt Bea returns after being away a few days, and finds that Andy and Opie got along just fine without her. It breaks her heart, so Andy and Opie quick make a mess just so she can clean it up and feel “useful”. Perhaps that is why Mr. Washie was waiting for you, and only you. Your family still needs you Steph…and they still need clean underwear.
    Seriously though, good job Joe. The blog is indeed proud-you done real good. And welcome home Steph!

  75. There is a review of bookbookbook in my KnitPicks newsletter I got this morning. It is a great review.
    Way to go Steph!

  76. In the winters when I travelled for work, I used to take the train from Rochester NY to Albany, once a month. It took exactly four hours, which is what it would have taken me had I driven in good weather, but winter Thru-way driving is HID.E.OUS so I opted for the train. I used to read back then…you know, in 10 BK (10yrs before knitting). **sigh** I do miss books sometimes…but think of what I could have accomplished had I KNIT on those journeys?
    Train ride in Austria and Switzerland was one of the best memories of my life.
    I measure the kids’ alotted homework “time” in rows, length of roving spindle-spun (not counting breaks–as in when I spin it too thin and the yarn gives way), as well as judge their PlayStation time by how successful I am at that new stitch.
    Had an early morning quickie with my W&D this am. GAWD! It was great. 😉 “Only youuuuu…”
    PS. Leanne, I’m from Potsdam!
    PSS. Joe. DAMN. Outstanding, sir!

  77. Way to go, Joe!! Now how about a bookbookbook on “husbanding” by Joe? There are millions of men out there who need it!
    And the whole life-ruining thing? Yeah, that’s a parent’s job. And like MY kids say, “You don’t have to enjoy it so much, Mom!”

  78. Hey, Stephanie,
    Yeah, trains are wonderful. Much better than flying, and way better than buses for distance travel. Of course, I love my daily bus commute, too. It is 8-12 sock rounds long, depending on gauge, and I always know when I sit down exactly how many rounds it is going to take. On nasty winter evenings when the windows are caked with mud and I’m jammed in the middle of the bus with no way to see out, I simply knit the requisite number of rounds and then get off at the next stop. Works like a charm.

  79. Congratulations on a successful beginning to your book tour. Too bad you won’t be in Windsor, ON.
    Joe has every right to be proud and puffed. He hit the teenage thing right on the head, cleaned, probably cooked and was wise enough to leave the laundry alone.
    I will confess to owning a “Joe” of my own. He sticks to what he knows (fabulous cooking, great parenting and beautiful gardening) and leaves what he doesn’t alone.
    You could even come to the Detroit area, Harlot. I’d cross a river to meet you.

  80. Sounds like a great trip home (all around). I just wanted to leave a quick note and say how sorry I was that I missed you in Ottawa last week. I had hoped to get out to Yarn Forward but work got in the way of that. Hope you enjoyed it here – congrats on a successful trip!

  81. Have to add my kudos for Joe and the girls AWESOME. Absolutely incredible how they rise to the occasion. Mine always fuss when I have a departure planned, but I come home to major developmental strides and independance for all three. Maybe maternal excursions are an important developmental tool. Enjoy your train rides knowing that your absence is actually GOOD for your famiy. Daryl

  82. I think this is way more than “blog as behavioral tool…” I think that just perhaps, Joe and the girls are so proud of you that they wanted you to be proud of them, too. Hooray for the whole Harlot family!
    I am well into the bookbookbook, and loving every page. You are an inspiration.
    Do you think that it means anything that you and I are knitting our husbands the exact same sock?
    Congrats on a great trip. Where can we find you at Md Sheep and Wool?

  83. Wow! Way to go, Joe! Does he give lessons? And an icy cold beer too??? Be still my heart. What a guy. Sigh.
    …can’t wait to get a copy of your bookbookbook! 🙂

  84. What a great man and kids – yay to the family!
    My hub and I finally took a train this past winter (from TX to OH), and we loved it! What a way to travel; it’s relaxing and fun – completely stress free. No more planes for us (if we can help it).

  85. Stephanie — Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the bookbookbook! As did my non-knitting mother, who was sitting next to me as I read it in one gulp during a Michigan-California plane ride. (Not nearly as cool as a train ride, my preferred way of getting to/from Chicago, but it sufficed.) Thanks for sharing your perspective with us all 🙂

  86. I am very proud of Joe too,but I want to know more about this knitting by the map. There’s some serious potential. I wrote the script for a driving tour of Flagstaff, Arizona ten years ago for a company that sold self-touring tapes that people put in their car players and followed the directions and could see all the sights. I recognize here real potential for getting about the country, or for making a TransCanada sock: cast on, P1K1 rib from Halifax to Bathurst, change needles and knit stockinette to Montreal, turn heel to Toronto, gusset to Sioux Lookout, foot knit until Edmonton, and toe by Vancouver. Yeah, that would be one big sock.

  87. Glad to hear Ottawa went well.
    (And here’s a little secret… the girls still need you, they’re just at that age when they don’t want to admit it.)

  88. Joe, You’ve reached a new height of reverence for all of us. We already knew you were great because of your yarn tolerance and all, but keeping 3 girls (including a teenager) by yourself for over 2 days, PLUS keeping them fed, and inspiring them to clean house!!! Well, gosh, I’m dumbfounded!
    (not that we didn’t believe you were capable and all that…but still…way to go!)

  89. You’re in good company, Steph. Gandhi used to spin on a spindle as he walked and would describe the distances between towns in terms of how many full spindles he could produce.

  90. This was a fantastic blog entry! Of course, they all are, but this one really knocked my (sadly, not hand-knit) socks off. And, please tell Joe that even here in Israel we have heard of his fortitude, bravery, and all-around fabulous-ness. Wow, you have a book published *and* Joe – can I be you if/when I grow up?

  91. hahaha!
    Maybe next week they’ll make friends with Mr. Washie. ’cause you’ll be gone longer. Hopefully your travelling-around thing will teach them new things and appreciations. Hopefully, because the alternative ain’t pretty.
    I cannot believe you’ve never been on a train though. I may have hogged all *your* train time. Sorry.

  92. I’m creeping out of perpetual lurkdom to ask about the yarn you are using for these socks. If you catch this little comment and have time, would you mind letting me know what it is?
    I hope your world tour makes it down to my neck of the woods. I’m eagerly awaiting the West Coast schedule!

  93. Way to go Joe!
    Hmm…now that this behavioral tool works, I think I should be trying it on my hubby sometime soon 😛

  94. Stephanie, I LOVE YOUR BOOK! I’ve been reading the blog since November and knitting since January, and my wonderful mom slipped it under my pillow this morning!

  95. Joe rules! And it has nothing to do with the fact that we share a birthday. You are a lucky, lucky woman. Or an excellent trainer. Either way, Joe rules!

  96. Two quick things …
    Joe, great job!! Think you could teach my husband that doing dishes won’t get him killed? *lol*
    Steph, they do so need you, just not for cleaning and other trivial things …

  97. Men never cease to surprise us. Joe, you’re a good man. But you don’t need all of us telling you so. And my husband, well, for all those times I tried to relate something hilarious that the Harlot wrote about and he ignored me and said “yeah whatever”, he sure asked me ALOT if I told the HARLOT yet about my newly acquired sheep. As if you couldn’t go on without knowing that I am the very proud owner of 3 ewes and a lamb. And a brand spankin’ new Turkish spindle. So when will you be touring Nova Scotia?

  98. Hi Stephanie!
    I’ve never posted before but have been reading your blog for some time.
    I have to tell you that just yesterday my husband commented on something nice I said about him in my blog and I started cracking up. This was not, apparently, the desired response to his statement.
    Rather than trying to explain your recent post about Joe’s performance while you were out of town, I took Dale by the hand and sat him down in front of the computer and made him read “My One and Only.” He laughed and completely understood Joe’s need for approval from the blog. And then sat there and read your blog for a while!
    You’re writing is wonderful and I want to say thanks for all the laughs and inspiration!

  99. not fair! I was gone for two WEEKS, and my husband didn’t touch a thing! Even the dirty dishes that were in the sink when I left were Still There!

Comments are closed.