May 18, 2007

Response to Hysteria

This is my new green sweater in progress and I would like to say a few things about it.

Greensweaterwhole1805

1. Yes. I do think it's green. It's Dream In Colour yarn "strange harvest" and I believe it has a lime green "root" colour, though I do agree that the green has rusted quite a bit...still, I maintain that this is a green sweater, no matter how many times someone looks at me funny when I say it. Green. A very rusty, orangey, mustard green. That's what it is. Try squinting. Maybe it's your monitor.

2. Yes. I just started.

Greensweaterdet1805

3. Yes. I have lots done. This is only possible because I am channelling all the household hysteria into this sweater as two of my three girls manage (or don't manage) the pressures of end of year high school. Amanda is graduating, Meg is finishing grade 10. Every time I want to say "You have known for a month this essay worth 40% of your mark was due this week", I knit.
Every time I wonder if having an SAT system is harder or easier than this....I knit.
Every time I want to phone the school and ask them if it's really necessary to imply to a 15 year old that any academic error she makes this year could RUIN HER WHOLE LIFE, I knit.
Every time a graduating teenager flips out because, she's right, unlike her sister, the next four years of her life will be decided by something she does (or doesn't do) in the next 10 minutes, I knit.
Every time I wonder why Ontario has a requirement that all kids must complete 40 hours of "community service" to graduate high school....I knit. The pressure on them is incredible, especially so since my kids (especially Amanda) are part of a "contracted curriculum". The province increased the requirements to graduate from high school at the same time as they changed the curriculum and shortened the number of years for High School (four instead of five, for University bound kids) which is going to be fine for kids like my youngest, who have had time to be prepared for the new system, but really hellish for kids like Amanda who are living through it. Every time I wonder if giving this much pressure to people this young is really smart... Knit, knit, knit.

Yarngreensweater1805

(See? Green sweater. Totally green.)

The more hysterical everybody gets, the more I sit beside them while they write essays and study and the more sweater I get done. (If the hysteria doesn't end soon I am going to need to start a garter stitch blanket.) I usually have mixed feelings about the summer (and all those teenagers in my home office while I'm working) but this year I think it's going to be such a relief for all of us.
Knit, knit, knit.

In other news:

Rachel H and I are still getting it together for the Canadian Launch of the book next Friday at Indigo here in Toronto, (The event is up on their web page, so I guess they are really going to go through with it) and we're planning like mad. We were wondering if there would be any interest in a Toronto Yarn Crawl the next day (Saturday), how many of you would be interested in the afterparty (after the event on Friday night, heaven knows Rachel H and I will be needing a pint or two) and lastly...how many of you are planning on coming to Indigo? (We're still trying to shock them with our sheer numbers...but not so much that any store managers have strokes.)
Can you give us a shout out in the comments so we can plan chairs, beers and yarn shops if you're planning on needing any of those?

Knit, knit, knit.

Posted by Stephanie at May 18, 2007 8:36 AM