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.

315 thoughts on “Response to Hysteria

  1. I really like the color of your new sweater! Green is my fave. At least the hysteria is good for something. 🙂

  2. it’s green. it’s definitely green. AND when people ask you how you do “it” — you tell them you are able to do “it” because you knit to maintain your sanity. green. definitely green.

  3. Oh man, Amanda’s graduating? So am I! Wish her luck on everything for me!
    And I love the color of the sweater (which is most definitely green).

  4. Just be thankful you aren’t living through the old grade 13 departmentals. You would have a cozy for city hall done by now.

  5. Yes, of course it’s a green sweater. Thanks for making my 3rd grader’s last of school seem relatively quiet. Knit on.

  6. I think it might be wise to have paramedics on hand for the store managers, just in case. I mean, you saw what happened in New York, right? Or has it faded in your mind already, driven out by all the educational chaos?
    Alas, I will not be there. I am here. But I was counted in NY! And I have a feeling I won’t be missed.
    (No matter how many times I ask your blog to remember my personal info, the next time I comment, it treats me like a stranger … sniff …)

  7. Hang in there, Steph. This too will pass. And tell Amanda the same thing (along with Congratulations!) I’m also knitting something in Dream in Color and am in love with that yarn. I’m using Happy Forest which is EXTREMELY green (and I’m all about the green…in many ways). Way to crank out the knitting!

  8. I will so be there! And I’ll try to overcome my innate Canadian shyness and bring my book for you to sign. (If that’s okay with you.)

  9. I’m going to come, and i’m bringing a friend! I’m off work at 6 at the Naked Sheep all the way in the Beaches, and will probably be running in at 6:55. This is where the friend comes in, she’ll be saving me a seat! Would defenitely be interested in drinking afterward, the spotted dick is pretty accepting of large amounts of knitters, and it pretty close (yonge and bloor)
    and it’s a beautiful green sweater!

  10. Yes to Indigo. Yes to the afterparty. And while I would truly love to go on a yarn crawl the following day, I must, alas, return to my very own yarn shop in Port Perry. (hint, hint)
    I must comment, as well, on the pressure that the schools pour onto the kids. I can even go one up one ya. My daughter has had her drama final presentation moved up by two weeks because one member of the group is having thoracic surgery on June 13. So now in addition to the stress having to put ohn a big play, she gets to stress over the outcome of the friend’s surgery.
    Great. Just great. (I foresee lots of stress-reducing knitting in my future.)

  11. I will be there for the event for sure, and likely for the beer. I would also be in for the crawl the next day, depending on what time of day it is

  12. I simply cannot wait to Represent in my (our) hometown! Count me in for a chair and I am absolutely in for a bevvie or two at the afterparty. Is there anything I can do to help you or the lovely Rachel H during the planning/setting up days?
    Cheryl

  13. I can explain everything. Indigo is looming so large that you see everything through an indigo scrim — which accounts for the gold sweater looking green to you.
    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — your child’s birth certificate is actually a license for you to worry the rest of your life. Try not to ignite the needles. And it’s after 5 — a wee drinkie would be therapeutic. Here, I’ll help.

  14. Count two more chairs for my friend Gail, and me. I have my own teenager graduating from grade 12 with not all of his 40 hours of community work done yet. Knit, knit, knit…

  15. I am so NOT looking forward to having a highschooler. My little girl is just finishing up 6th grade, and boy, you’ld think their finals are as hard as a college exam, the way she complains about it. ::roll eyes::
    Anyway, I meant to say, the yarn looks green to me. Especially if I unfocus my eyes a little, so it gets a little bit blurry…

  16. I’m green with envy that you’ve gotten so much done. I’ve spent the day cleaning & doing a bit of laundry (ugh). Yeah, I think I’ll knit now… it is time to sew up my green sweater. And have a glass of wine. Too bad I can’t join you in Toronto. Have fun!

  17. High school is something endured and then left far, far behind. Don’t worry, Amanda, you’ll get there! You too, Meg!

  18. I’ll take my son getting stitches (the non-knitting kind) any day over the kind of mental trauma you’ve got.
    And I second Rams — gin & tonic, anyone?

  19. Looks green to me! I am working toward coming to Represent @ Indigo and am hoping to bring a friend or two. That’s 3 of us if I can pull this off. Not sure about drinkies, but it could happen. Saturday yarn crawl would be wonderful, but just not manageable. We’re going to try and come early on Friday as I’d like to at least see Lettuce Knit and smell the wool fumes for a few minutes. Are there any others in the Brantford/Simcoe area who are planning this trip??? Maybe we could car-pool? E-mail with phone numbers and I’ll be in touch.
    End of school will be managed, just as everything else is – with some blood, sweat and tears – and lots of knitting. I’m with Rams – I wee drinkie would be therapeutic (for you, not the girls).
    Chris

  20. I also have one graduating this year – he and I are not seeing “eye to eye” at the moment…I’d love to see him stroll across the stage to receive his diploma, while he believes that evening would be best spent racing his stock car on a local track.
    Atleast I can knit at the track, right?

  21. Ahhhh…. Dream in Color. That yarn is da bomb! And I personally love Strange Harvest although I find calling Strange Harvest…um….”green”…. a bit creative. But I guess you could call it a brownish sageish darkish lightish green.

  22. ACK…. I hit submit before I was done!!!
    The sweater is beautiful. I love the color…. regardless of what you call it. Totally beautiful.

  23. Love you dearly, but green is green and mustard is mustard and your mustard sweater is…well…mustard.

  24. It’s what happens to green in autumn. “Nature’s first green is gold…” (I’m pretty sure that’s Frost, but for me, it was watching The Outsiders way too many times as a teen.)

  25. Green is a state of mind. Nice green sweater you got there. Sorry I won’t be in Toronto. Sounds fun. Will there be yarn crawling and drinking and knitting in Petaluma? I’m taking 1/2 a vacation day to make sure I get there in time to fit into the building. Oh, and I wish someone would have told me that the trauma of educating kids was so good for getting knitting done before I was too old to have any!

  26. Ahem, I am graduating with my MBA soon . . . actually graduation was last Saturday but my course work isn’t over until June 30. I have an, ummmm, paper due tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.
    For the record, I do not plan on knitting tonight. Well, maybe I’ll keep a sock or something by the computer for when I need a break.
    My youngest daughter starts high school in the Fall. My oldest daughter is just finishing her 3rd year of a two year college program . . . college is a beautiful thing because not only do they not finish stuff in a timely manner but they can CHANGE THEIR MAJOR. My youngest is finishing first grade . . . yes, their ages are 21/13/6 . . . since we are always in an academic crisis, they will all have knitted stuff to last their great grandchildren.
    NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO TELL MY KIDS THAT I HAVEN’T STARTED MY PAPER YET.

  27. The sweater appears to have greenish tendencies, and might even be said to aspire to green, but I don’t think it’s quite there yet. 😉
    I’ll be at Indigo for sure, and I’ll show up at whatever post-event festivities might be taking place. I’m feeling kind of 50/50 on a next-day yarn crawl, though; thanks to Lettuce Knit’s recent arrivals (Dream In Color, Oceanwind Knits, etc.) my wallet is starting to attract moths. I just hope they stay away from all my lovely new wool long enough for me to get it knitted up.

  28. Green yarn in a store. I’m all over it. I’m definitely a green gal, who loves related colors like GOLD and BROWN, so yeah, it’s totally green.
    Wish I could knit so much. My son just turned 13 with all that goes with that. (o:
    I going to try to get to Toronto from Ohio somehow, someway.

  29. I can see the green. I don’t know if I’d call it a green sweater if I was the one knitting on it, but I’m not. ;o)
    As for the high school? The administration is nuts. (Maybe not certifiable, but their priorities are very clearly completely out of whack.) In the US, they’re putting the same kind of pressure on kids as early as 5th or 6th grade (10-11 years old). They talk about how they’re being prepared for high school, and how hard high school will be, and how they’ve got to work like mindless fiends NOW if they want to go to college. Otherwise a lifetime of flipping burgers or dumpster living awaits.
    Assimilate, regurgitate. Conform. Assimilate, regurgitate. Conform. Over and over and over.
    My kids are learning at home. We don’t do “school at home” like many homeschoolers do–they learn here in ways that suit each of them. Maybe the next time someone asks me why we stay home, I’ll just send them a link to this post. ;o)
    Good luck with the girls, Stephanie. I think that they’ll pull it off, and the sweater will pull you through. And, at the end, you’ll have a great sweater to show for it.

  30. This is my first time commenting but I wanted to let you know that I will definitely be there next week. I stumpled upon your blog 8 month agos and you’ve inspired me to learn how to knit. Now I obsessivly hoard yarns, started a blog and never looked back! Thanks for the inspiration!

  31. No way is that sweater green. It’s beautiful, true, but definitely not green. You’re wacked.

  32. “Strange Harvest” (great name) is far, far greener in your blog pics than on the Dream in colour website. There it’s bright orange.
    I do my stress knitting at breakfast. I have a 7yo diagnosed with mild OCD, and the breakfast rituals are something we simply don’t have time for. But he can’t manage without them, so I clench my teeth and knit.
    Word of advice: Jaywalkers should not be knit on while you’re tense. I just had to frog 20cm of leg because I couldn’t get it over my foot.
    Now close your eyes and imagine a little blue fish, singing “Just keep knitting, knitting, knitting. Just keep knitting, knit, knit, knit”.

  33. I’m with you…(knit knit knit)…
    I have to sign what? Again? HOw much homework do you have to do? YOu’re in the seventh grade! (knit knit knit) It’s 10:00 and you’re still up? Go to bed! I don’t care about your homework! Because I like the person you are when you go to bed before 10:00 and if you stay up ONE SECOND LONGER you will wake up as somebody else, that’s why! (knit knit knit) Besides, I need to talk to your father without you around. Of course it’s about you. If it’s not about you then it’s about sex and you can’t be there for that either. Yes I’m being sarcastic. Go to bed, do your work before we get home…(knit knit knit) Good night. Yeah, I know you’re not going to bed. I’m going to bed. I’ll talk to your father when you move out. But first, one more stitch…

  34. I WILL be at Indigo! (But alas, not at any of the related outings). I’m so thrilled that you’re doing a Toronto event!

  35. I think the color is like green peppercorns – those even breath of that washed rust color. I like it very much…wheeooo smokin’ needles.
    Nope, won’t be in Toronto – what a great city though. I’ve been there two times and LOVE the underground. It all seemed so very clean. And I liked the Chinatowns a lot too. Have a top-notch time.

  36. So the only thing you could add to that would be multiple visits from “Aunt Flo”… Keep knitting.

  37. OK, it’s been a long time since I was in high school and I have no kids who are in high school (thank goodness cats don’t go to school!) but after reading that post, I want to help you knit to relieve the hysteria!!
    and I do see the green in the sweater! very pretty I might add…

  38. You harvest plants, right? And plants are (usually) green. Therefore a yarn called “something harvest” counts as green. (Even if the “strange” part means that it could be a non-green plant that is being harvested from. We’ll ignore that part, since it doesn’t go with the “yarn is green” theory.)
    Good luck getting through the end of the school year!

  39. It is definitely a green.
    I will be most impressed if you knitters can out-attend the Colin and Justin signing the day before. I would love to attend, but it’s kind of hard, what with being 3000 km away

  40. Looks green to me! A very earthy, antidote to neon, spring afternoon sort of green.
    I will most definitely be at Indigo next week and would love to go out for drinks later. The yarn crawl is a fantastic idea as well, I’ll see if I can drag myself up from the suburbs two days in a row.

  41. I was going to add some advice for your girls:
    It’s not the end of the world, and High School will be left behind. My husband left high school, and went to college right away only to meet with disaster. 4 years (and 1 kid) later, he returned to university to find he was a much more motivated and attentive student. He graduated with a 4.2 GPA (GPAs are weird here, a perfect GPA is 4.50

  42. When I heard Ontario requires community service hours to graduate high school, I was appalled. What does community service have to do with academics? And I’m not sure that putting extreme amounts of academic pressure on high schoolers really helps much with preparing them for university. It might be more helpful to give them $50 to live on for the month and see how they handle it, but I suppose some people might object to that.

  43. Yes to Indigo for myself and my daughter; no to the other events. Can’t wait!!!

  44. Aw man. I wish someone was knitting nearby me in those times when I am feeling overwhelmed with me last few weeks before graduating high school… It would be much more comforting than thinking that no one even knows that I’m going through tons of stress and I still have to take care of my family…
    Your daughters are lucky to have such a visual indication that you are worried about them. =)

  45. I’m making a pair of socks out of the same colorway. My LYS owner just started carrying it, and I was enchanted by this color as soon as I laid eyes on it, which is so odd because it’s so different than the blues and greys that I’m usually drawn to. I also really like the yarn itself. It’s very springy and a joy to knit with–and holds up to repeated frogging. 🙂

  46. Oooh good luck to Meg and Amanda. Education is so stressful. One day in the not so distant future they will be in my position. One more exam to go till I finish my degree and it’s on a Saturday of all days! Take care, EtSu.

  47. Count me in for next friday. I’m up for a after party and might be up for a yarn crawl on Saturday.

  48. Hmm… I started a plain jane sock today to knit through the hysteria of sick baby/toddler… It’s too close to summer for a blanket. Start another sock. 😉

  49. As a high school guidance counselor at a college prep school with only 3 weeks left, I FEEL YOUR PAIN! But from the other end of the spectrum. They’ve known for 4 years that they needed to save 4 years of their work for their senior portfolio. And yet, many of them didn’t. They’ve known for 37 academic weeks that they had it due TODAY. I cannot wait for June 11!
    And unfortunately, I can’t knit… So I eat! ;o)

  50. Indigo yes, after party definitely yes, and yarn crawl yes *g*
    Need help setting up chairs, etc. or is the store taking care of all that?

  51. Stress? What stress? I am only sitting here reading your post about being surrounded by stressed out teenagers while my husband has an over the phone interview for a job that he applied for on Wednesday. He applied for it argueable to light a fire under the seats of the deciding people of a job he had a 4 day interview for a month ago… Shall we live in Texas or Georgia? No, no stress here… Hopefully, it will end for all of soon. (Not that there is any stress at all involved in interstate moving.)

  52. Coming to Indigo – Yes
    Interested in after party – yes
    Interested in yarn crawl – my credit card hasn’t stopped crying since the Frolic, so probably not.

  53. Green. Er…umm…sure, why not. Besides, anything called ‘strange harvest’ gets my vote.
    Too far south (as in, Maryland…) to contemplate Toronto, but we did make special plans to visit family up north so I could see you in Northampton, Mass. That’s about a 7+ hour car ride. Can you feel the love? 🙂

  54. There, there it WILL be better soon. Number one is now TEACHING in a province where she says the curriculum is not insane. She may be fine because she was at the tail end of the old Ontario system. I’d tell you which province but it would be a long bus ride for Meg and Sam. Number two SHOULD be graduating from university this month: she was in the pilot year of the new curriculum which was implemented two (edited for profanity) years before many of the text books were written. Then again, she will be graduating in September after finishing off an honours thesis funded by the feds. Grudgingly, she’s fine too. Number three finished high school two years ago and hers was the first class WITH text books ready for their courses. Unless you were doing any French Immersion courses. Did I mention they are all bilingual? Home after a very successful second year at an out of province school where she practices much French, she is at this very moment in the kitchen preparing soup for dinner. Vichychoise she says: I think she’ll be fine and so, eventually, will the Harlot.
    PS I’ll let you know if and when the (maternal) eye twitches disappear.

  55. We didn’t have community service requirements when I was in school; I think our kids are fortunate to have that requirement now, it raises their awareness of need and opportunity at an early age. My kids’ requirement is 160 hours over four years. It seems daunting at first, but most kids approach it with enthusiasm and have rewarding experiences. Hopefully, a seed is planted in the minds of these young people that will grow throughout their lives, they will recognize opportunities to contribute and will choose to do so.

  56. There, there it WILL be better soon. Number one is now TEACHING in a province where she says the curriculum is not insane. She may be fine because she was at the tail end of the old Ontario system. I’d tell you which province but it would be a long bus ride for Meg and Sam. Number two SHOULD be graduating from university this month: she was in the pilot year of the new curriculum which was implemented two (edited for profanity) years before many of the text books were written. Then again, she will be graduating in September after finishing off an honours thesis funded by the feds. Grudgingly, she’s fine too. Number three finished high school two years ago and hers was the first class WITH text books ready for their courses. Unless you were doing any French Immersion courses. Did I mention they are all bilingual? Home after a very successful second year at an out of province school where she practices much French, she is at this very moment in the kitchen preparing soup for dinner. Vichychoise she says: I think she’ll be fine and so, eventually, will the Harlot.
    PS I’ll let you know if and when the (maternal) eye twitches disappear.

  57. Dude…that is the orangest green I’ve ever seen.
    The greatest thing that I learned during the whole graduating high school/going to college experience is that I can live through situations I was certain would kill me. (I may be a little melodramatic.) I realize that this sounds like pretty grim comfort, but it is one of the most important, empowering and precious things I’ve ever learned. Even the worst, scariest, most painful experiences aren’t as bad as I thought they would be. I went to school, I graduated, I even had some fun, and I lived to tell the tale. It’s enough.

  58. From a high school teacher’s perspective 19 days before the end of the year:
    Everytime a student asks for make-up work – I want to knit
    Everytime a student says “Why is my grade so low” – I want to knit
    Everytime an administrator says “His mother is accusing you of discriminating against Mexicans” after I send a student out of class for ignoring a direct instuction then saying “Ms. W is talking Sh$t” -I want to knit a gag for said student and send a videotape to said mother (if only I could legally have one!).
    At least it is Friday, and I can go home and knit… After I finish grading tests.

  59. I’ll be at the Indigo!
    A friend WORKS at that Indigo, so I have given her the scoop. 😀

  60. Count three more in for Indigo, for me, my mother and sister. I’m really looking forward to coming and seeing you and all the other knittings there!
    As a PhD student I teach a lot of undergrads. I look at them and wonder how THEY get through it all. The world keeps getting harder.

  61. Yup, I thought it was “Strange Fruit,” too, which is too grisly to contemplate. Let’s just put that thought from our wee minds.

  62. It’s green, mustard, brown, orange—depending on which way I squint at the monitor. And probably looks even different in person. Maybe a better name than Strange Harvest would be Autumn Leaves?
    Regardless, the sweater looks great.
    Am thinking of ways that I can drive 10 hours next Thursday to be at Indigo, but can’t imagine it at this point in time. Thus, no pub or yarn crawl either. BooHoo!!! Poor pitiful me!!!
    I will knit as fast as I can to help your daughter meet graduation requirements. Knitters Rule!!!

  63. Like everyone else, I read your comments on your daughters and their high school curriculum with great interest.
    One of the things I think we’re failing on, in schools and at home, is communicating to children that the world needs them. We send them to all types of sports and extracurricular activities, we dress them in clothes and electronics, but what do we tell them of the world and their value as individuals that can contribute? Existential angst is part of a teenage experience, eh? But community service is something that could counterbalance at least a little of it (I hope).
    A teacher in Arizona, enjoying your blog for years, thanks for it,
    🙂 Lauren

  64. I actually quite enjoyed the community service we were required to complete to get credit for history. Changing graduation requirements, however, is only fun if they reduce the amount of stuff you have to do–I was lucky and graduated right before my high school started requiring another 4 credits, and then double-majored right before they stopped letting people count an entire neuro major toward bio.
    That sweater doesn’t really look green to me in most of those pictures, but I like all of the colors it looks like. That’s an excellent response to stress.

  65. Isn’t that yarn just amazing? I just got some of it in this gorgeous deep red shade and i’m trying to figure out what to make. I love that shade of green…ummmm, brownish-greenish green.

  66. Hi Steph – count me and at least one of my daughters in for Indigo on Friday night (you met her in Montreal at the McGill Book signing – she was the young lady from your old high school). Patricia is coming home for the weekend so the plan is to meet her train, have dinner and head out to Indigo.
    As for the high school stuff, you will survive!Patricia and her twin were the younger year of the double cohort – so not only did they have to adjust to the new curriculum there was twice the competition to get into university! Take care!

  67. I will definitely be there, whit a few friends, at Indigo, and would be happy to attend an afterparty! As for the yarn crawl, while I’d love to go, my pocketbook probably wouldn’t be so pleased *sigh*. But most certainly “yes” to Friday, and I’ll be bringing others along too!

  68. It is a beautiful Green! Yes it is too much pressure. Keep knitting to calm your nerves and I wish the girls all the strength they need to get through and all the best after that!

  69. It is a beautiful Green! Yes it is too much pressure. Keep knitting to calm your nerves and I wish the girls all the strength they need to get through and all the best after that!

  70. It’s your blog and if you want that sweater to be green ~ it’s green. (even if it looks more rust/gold to me) 😉
    Are you going to share the pattern with us?
    I AM knitting a stockinette stitch blanket out of yarn I spun from my sheep!!! It’s my “therapy”…

  71. I’ll be there for the event and will definitely be up for drinks afterwards. Saturday must be dedicated to Home Improvement (Personal home stuff not the sitcom from the 90’s. That would be weird.)
    If I can get my act together to round up a posse I’ll repost with numbers.

  72. Just for the fun of it, I asked my 4 year old son sitting on my lap what color the sweater was and he laughed and said, “Green, your know that.”
    I didn’t really think it was but now I am sure of it.

  73. I can’t yarn crawl on Saturday, but I might just be able to after-party somewhere, and I’ll try to actually be at the indigo event. I have 2 kids who are not yet in high school, so the issues are different, but the hysteria remains constant, I think…
    I saw that yarn in Lettuce today and it was lovely, but I’m knitting from stash this year so I only bought on sale sock yarn, which can’t really count, can it?

  74. If it makes your girls feel any better I scored like a 750 on my sats, and somehow, by the grace of god, I am still regularly breathing.

  75. Of course it’s green. Also red and blue. This is what comes of staring at color palettes for too long.
    If it’s any comfort, and I know it is not, having to take the SATs would not get your children out of anything, you would just have had another freak-out several months ago. Yeah, it does seem like an awful lot of stress to put them through. My daughter is only in 5th grade. (We will not speak of the ludicrousness of high-stakes testing for the severely mentally disabled.)

  76. I can certainly identify with knitting while stressed–my husband had spinal surgery yesterday, and you wouldn’t *believe* how much knitting I got done while we were waiting! Not only that–he came home this afternoon, so I guess I’ll get a lot more knitting in before the weekend’s over. That is, if he’s not too demanding…. (That’s a joke, folks!)
    Abby

  77. I am planning to come to Indigo with two non-blogging buddies. We are thinking we’ll go wild and have a drink at the afterparty before making our way back to Milton.
    As great as a yarn crawl sounds, I think I’ll pass. I’m going to have so save my money for spinning supplies since Rachel H has been enabling all over the place (she learned from you, you know).

  78. I graduated last year; I sympathize.
    As for SAT, well they are nice because they are over with in Fall if you’re smart and take them early, but I did International Baccelaureate, so our exams were in the last month of school and determined college credit. They required 250 service hours, but spread through the four years.

  79. As I rushed around the house cleaning madly the night before my mother came to visit (yes, I knew she was coming, I know I spent the entire week knitting and thinking about cleaning) I wondered if my daughter gets her procrastination from me? She’s finishing 8th grade and without us “helping” to remind her of the deadlines, would not be able to meet them.
    And they start the community service in 7th grade in our town. Many of the local organizations (the animal shelter, the library, etc) have opportunities for the kids to earn their hours. Even a walk to the beach counts if they bring a garbage bag to pick up litter – a note from a parent to substantiate is needed. But I don’t know if you can do all that the last month of school! I feel for you, keep on knitting!

  80. I see green. A lovely soft green. With a few other colors. The colors of maintaining sanity and an unbitten tongue.

  81. I’ll be at Indigo on Friday and I’m looking forward to it. 10yo Kate is too. I dreamed about it last night. Very strange. I should probably get out more.
    Anyway, a Saturday yarn crawl is out for me/us as I have to scoot back to Rochester in the a.m. to get Kate to a piano studio thing by 2. Wish me luck there with the border crossing and all.
    A Friday night afters thing I might tag along for if it’s kosher to have 10yo where you all are going and if it’s not too late and she hasn’t just driven me up the wall already because it’s all about knitting, mom, and why can’t we do something fun for me. I suspect you’ve been there and done that.
    See you all soon!

  82. It is green. It is not DMC 699 or the color of a crayola from an 8 pack. It is a lovely spring green, which by definition brings other colors along with it. And it’s a great pattern. I hope you let us know where we can get it. A sweater is a much healthier response to stress than an ulcer.

  83. Dude. I love you. You know that. But your sweater wasn’t green on Wednesday, and it’s not green now.

  84. We’ll be there with stitchmarkers on!! Chairs-2.5 please; beers-of course; yarn crawl-that’s up to Jamie and the baby!!

  85. After reading all that, I agree, the sweater is green. Anything else that you want to be green is green too. Feel for you!

  86. Khaki. To the mom whose kid wants to be at the track on graduation. Nope, graduations are for parents. He needs to walk that stage.
    It is a lot of pressure. We just tried not to add more. I don’t know what they are doing instead of SAT’s, and SAT’s favor some and not others. One kid had not so good SAT’s and better grades. And the other had much better SAT’s (as long as no one looked at the math one) and not such great grades. The first graduated from college last Monday and just got a job offer. And it isn’t here so he won’t be back home (huzzah!). The grades and the SAT’s don’t much matter in the end. Many people told us our older kid is a “rock solid” young man. That’s what you want in the end. But in the meantime, you’ll get lots of knitting done.

  87. I’ll be at Indigo! I called them to see if I needed to register. The nice man said, “Nahhh…” so if we all show up, he’ll be shocked! I’ll be there as soon as my dil and grandkidlets take me on the transit and tell me where to get off the bus/subway/whatever. I’m agonizing over what knitting to bring… See ya there! Can’t wait!!! samm near Niagara

  88. I can definitely see the lime green although I don’t think I would call it a green sweater – it is, no matter what you call it, a lovely, lovely color. And I definitely do NOT think it is good to put so much pressure on teenagers. The NY Times recently had a story (I did not read it SO told me about it) about how many very bright American high schoolers are not even bothering to apply to the top tier schools (Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc) because they just do not want to deal with the pressure to get in. I guess my younger daughter was ahead of the curve on this. Despite great credentials (top 5% of her class from a very competitive public HS, had a combined 1470 SAT (790 in math – old SAT), & chemical engineering major) she decided against applying to top tier schools. She ended up going to University of Illinois & entered as a 2nd semester sophomore (AP classes) which allowed her the leisure of taking liberal arts courses. She has never been sorry.

  89. Has she done her community service yet? I swear, babysitting my boys (ages 10 and 7) would be quite a service. The community would benefit by my not screaming at them for the 40 hours I would leave them in her care. If they are still alive when I return, I’ll take over again.

  90. I don’t know whether I’d call it green or not, but it has all of my absolute faorite colors in it. I think I’ll just call it “love at first sight.” *g*

  91. Um, maybe it’s just my monitor (and eyes, and the atmospheric conditions here and whatever else) but the sweater, as lovely as it appears to be, looks quite non-green overall. I can see the green in the yarn and it’s oh-so-scrumptious, but it truly looks other than greeen. I think you need to do a book signing in the Houston/Galveston area of Texas and bring it, just to prove it! 🙂

  92. If it speaks green to you… then,by G*d it’s green! Knit on!!
    Congrats to the Graduate to be!

  93. Okay, I’ll give you green. But on their color page? On my monitor? BRIGHT ORANGE.
    Go figure.

  94. I will be at Indigo and maybe for a beer, if not too far from Indigo but not the Yarn Crawl.

  95. It may be catching, the hysteria. Even though nothing at all is going on for me. Still, I read ‘afterparty’ as ‘afterplay’, and for a minute there I was thinking this was gonna be a really … *exceptional* … launch party. [g]
    And yep, it’s green. Scroll to the close-up. Back *away* from the monitor. (No, not with your hands up, people! Just get some distance! Yeesh…) Now squint. See? Green. Plus, if you’ll note, you can tell from the last pic with a bit of it lit by the sun, it’s sitting in the shade, thus the true greenness of it all isn’t showing up properly. I rest my case.
    Good luck to you all, but especially Meg and Amanda!

  96. I’m in for Indigo and pub if it starts early enough. I’m making a day trip to Toronto from London for this and I need to be on the last train home, which leaves around 10 pm (way too early in my opinion.)
    I’m so glad I highschool is behind me and I can enjoy the relaxed pace that is grad school.

  97. It’s funny I found the Yarnharlot book on a trip to the states (loved it) and was so excited to find out you are from Toronto. I’ve been stalking the blog for months now and find you a real knitting inspiration.
    Three of us will be coming to Indigo!! I’d love to go to the after party but won’t be able to. I’m hoping to do a bit of a yarn crawl on the Friday. I’m so glad your doing the Indigo thing 3 cheers for Rachel H.

  98. your system can’t possibly be more screwed up than “no child left behind”
    yup, let’s try to teach algebra to kids for whom learning to make change for a dollar is an impossible dream. then let’s penalize the `’failing`’ schools that can’t make this happen and, oh, by the way, can’t make kids who’ve spent their lives speaking spanish suddenly write essays in english.
    and i assume you have a national — or at least provincial — curriculum. here in the states, each state sets some kind of (different) standard and/or has a different graduation qualifying exam (and god help you if you’re dyslexic). but that’s not bad enough. each school district chooses its texts from a state-approved list (usually 4 or 5 per grade, per subject).
    so if a child moves from district a to district b within a school year, she may have totally different textbooks.
    one good thing about the sats: they may be taken repeatedly. it’s expensive, but if you have an off day, you’re not doomed.
    and while the pressures and the stakes keep getting higher, the teachers have to keep teaching to the test, trying to get the bottom 25% though the hoops, while boring the bejabbers out of the rest of the kids.
    the community service thing is done by some private schools here, but not by any public ones that i know of. for one thing, it would interfere with the paid jobs some of the kids need to help support their families.
    with all the stress all this generates, there really should be a surplus of knitted goods around here!

  99. your system can’t possibly be more screwed up than “no child left behind”
    yup, let’s try to teach algebra to kids for whom learning to make change for a dollar is an impossible dream. then let’s penalize the `’failing`’ schools that can’t make this happen and, oh, by the way, can’t make kids who’ve spent their lives speaking spanish suddenly write essays in english.
    and i assume you have a national — or at least provincial — curriculum. here in the states, each state sets some kind of (different) standard and/or has a different graduation qualifying exam (and god help you if you’re dyslexic). but that’s not bad enough. each school district chooses its texts from a state-approved list (usually 4 or 5 per grade, per subject).
    so if a child moves from district a to district b within a school year, she may have totally different textbooks.
    one good thing about the sats: they may be taken repeatedly. it’s expensive, but if you have an off day, you’re not doomed.
    and while the pressures and the stakes keep getting higher, the teachers have to keep teaching to the test, trying to get the bottom 25% though the hoops, while boring the bejabbers out of the rest of the kids.
    the community service thing is done by some private schools here, but not by any public ones that i know of. for one thing, it would interfere with the paid jobs some of the kids need to help support their families.
    with all the stress all this generates, there really should be a surplus of knitted goods around here!

  100. Go, Harlotgirls, go! It takes a lot more than just brains to be a smart (and delightful) woman in this world and while they’ve got a great headstart through their mom, that pressure can be incredible at times. All the best to them, and to their parents!
    (I’m in Ohio, so I won’t be at the book launch. Thanks for the invite!) That “green” is my favorite kind of color, the one that changes each time it gets examined and reexamined. I would vote for green cast.

  101. Oh, I can totally see the green.
    I am going to be at Indigo- absolutely no doubt. I will probably stick around for the afterparty too, and I am definitely up for a yarn crawl on Saturday.
    I’m coming alone most likely, so I’d better make friends fast 😀

  102. I hope Amanda enjoys her service project, even though it comes at such a stressful time. My high school required 120 hours of community service to graduate, but they let us out of school 3 weeks early to do it. Some worked with children or disabled or elderly – we could do whatever we wanted. I tutored former prostitutes for their GED. That experience really did have a huge impact on my life. At 17, having gone to private school, I had been rather sheltered. In those weeks I discovered what B.O. was. I tried to help a woman, maybe 30, who had five children in the other room, learn what 4 times 6 was. I went to court with a client – another first. I helped pick up a load of food from a food bank – and saw how sparse the shelves were. I typed reports for counselors and learned much more about drugs and what people will do for them that I ever got from a public service announcement. I think learning so young what it really meant to be desperate prepared me to face many challenges in my life. I wouldn’t give up that experience for anything.

  103. I will definitely be at Indigo, and I will be up for an after party – if the muggle I’m dragging along with me isn’t all yarned out by then.
    A yarn crawl on Saturday sounds yummy – and terribly, terribly dangerous. I could be up for it.
    Love all the colours in the ‘green’ sweater. 🙂

  104. Okay, the sweater is gorgeous. Congrats to Amanda and woes to you. Had 4 kids with the youngest in the 10th grade. They have changed the curriculum here twice, imposed more testing and added more requirements to graduate. Oh don’t forget the community service hours. This is good for those students who will be much better prepared but it is a nightmare for those caught in the middle of the transition. I’m lucky, my daughter is a straight A student but my other daughter suffered. When the going gets tough, I knit.
    p.s. The house cozy is coming along nicely….LOL

  105. I’m at university–having just gone through the high school pressures and now going through the university pressures gives some insight. Wish them all the best from me. Tell them to take deep breaths. Yoga helps. Knitting helps (for a different reason).

  106. About the green issue, um, well, when you wrote that you had bought some green yarn from Dream in Color, I expected it to be the lovely “Spring Tickle”. Clearly, it was not. But that would have qualified as green without question. Still a lovely sweater – and the kids will survive, so will you, eventually.

  107. I’m intending on being at the launch and hopefully following for the afterplay. However I doubt I’ll get to the yarn crawl (as much as I’d love to).

  108. Kids are resilient. Even teens dealing with changes in the high school system. I had to deal with some myself, though not as extreme. They just completely changed the math streams from 30 or 33 to Pure and Applied.. and I did a silly thing lik not pass math the first time around, so I had to deal with a NEW math. A harder math. A math that I had no idea how to deal with or had seen before (you might say this is impossible, math is math, it builds on the old.. I say lies.)
    I hate math.
    Which can be the only explanation for me majoring in accounting right?
    They’ll be fine.
    That’s a lovely green sweater.

  109. I will SO be at Indigo with my muggle friend. Alas, no to the drinks and no to the crawl.. have to make it back to the ‘burbs before we turn into pumpkins.
    Can’t wait!

  110. I agree – it’s green. We once had a genuine artist working where I work – he swore that what I called gray-green was in reality ochre. He doesn’t work here any more. Some people just can’t see green when it’s staring them in the face, can they?
    Re: graduating high school. My niece graduates this year. A couple of years ago they introduced “Portfolio” which involves not only community service but also holding down a regular job as a requirement for graduating. Which leaves the kids as sitting ducks for unscrupulous businesses to exploit. Don’t get me started on what I think of that! Plus, as I told my niece, the only person who should be able to make you do community service is the judge.
    Never mind. Your kids are great and they will succeed, no matter what they do in the next 10 days. Honestly. I have seven years of post-secondary education and I’m happy at my job for the first time in my life – now that I’ve become a bookbinder.
    Knit. And chill. It will be all right in the end.

  111. I agree – it’s green. We once had a genuine artist working where I work – he swore that what I called gray-green was in reality ochre. He doesn’t work here any more. Some people just can’t see green when it’s staring them in the face, can they?
    Re: graduating high school. My niece graduates this year. A couple of years ago they introduced “Portfolio” which involves not only community service but also holding down a regular job as a requirement for graduating. Which leaves the kids as sitting ducks for unscrupulous businesses to exploit. Don’t get me started on what I think of that! Plus, as I told my niece, the only person who should be able to make you do community service is the judge.
    Never mind. Your kids are great and they will succeed, no matter what they do in the next 10 days. Honestly. I have seven years of post-secondary education and I’m happy at my job for the first time in my life – now that I’ve become a bookbinder.
    Knit. And chill. It will be all right in the end.

  112. Count 2 chairs for me and my DH/chauffeur. He has heard and been read to about you he wants to meet you too. He coming to see you and isn’t going to his model sailboat meeting…..WOW Count another chair for a gal from Princess Margaret Hospital I told her about you and we are both new knitters and she wants to hear you too.
    If you say it’s green it’s green….with 3 girls of High School age at the end of the year don’t want to give you any grief about a colour. By the way I love the sweater.
    We would like to go to the party afterwards dunno about the yarn crawl on Saturday
    Good luck and all the best for your three lovely girls for coming tests, essays and graduating. etc.
    You all rock

  113. sure looks green to me!! Two high school daughters – can’t imagine three, hang in there and keep knitting! OTOH – Seattle area yarn tour today – I have gone to four stores and it is wonderful (thought you’d be interested!)

  114. Shouting out! There ONLY IN SPIRIT!
    and wow you knit fast ^_^ but you have good reasons!

  115. Ah, maybe this explains why I’ve not been knitting as much as I usually do. My 17 yr old son and 9 yr old daughter learn at home. We’re unschoolers, so there’s no pressure, no SAT, no homework or tests or grades. Instead, they’re drawing almost constantly. I think it’s spring that does it. It was the same last year at this time. It’s impossible to knit and race from art project to art project, praising and critiquing. This winter though, when they get tired of art and start reading again, that’s when I’ll knit some wicked cool socks and maybe a sweater. Your sweater has green running all through the background. It’s green like the forest is green, in spite of the brown trunks and branches of the trees.
    Lill

  116. thank God for green sweaters and knitting whilst raising teenage girls.
    may the end of the school year be blissfully SOON>

  117. I send all the best wishes and good vibes to The Graduating One. I went though that last year (not in Ontario, so a different system, but still, I feel it’s valid), and I have had an absolute blast in University compared to high school. Just remind her to breathe every now and then (I may have forgotten that, but my knitting got me through it).

  118. Oh no! I’m having the same problems as you…this is the end of freshman year for me. I have about as much of an excuse to write this aand take away from study time as your girls do to read it, so please tell them good luck on exams!!

  119. Yes, your sweater is as green as it needs to be. No, it’s not a good idea to put so much pressure on kids in their early-mid teens. I’ll send you good thoughts.
    Enjoy your launch party. I won’t be there, since I live in LA.

  120. I’ve never commented before, but I just wanted to say this to Amanda: my little sister was also the “guinea pig” class for California’s new graduation requirements as well as the new SAT system a few years ago. Boy, was she stressed! But DO NOT FEAR! IT CAN BE DONE! You will survive and things will work out. My sister survived and is now doing fabulously at U.C. Berkeley, which is where she wanted to go but was convinced that because of the new system she would never get into. I am sure you will survive and do well too, never fear. Good Luck, and Congratulations!
    Also, the sweater is green like the hills of California which is where I am, so tragically I will not be at the Indigo, :(.

  121. 2 more for Indigo and drinks, wich we could make the yarn crawl but don’t think so. Looking forward to showing TO how many knitters can possibly converge on Bloor and Yonge.

  122. I’m sure your calm knitting presence is a great comfort to your girls as they push through this difficult time. Sounds like childbirth, doesn’t it?

  123. Please save me a chair, order me a pint, and look out yarn! I’ll be to all 3! I have decided to postpone my departure for the States until Saturday evening, but can stay no longer; my brother is graduating from high school the next day!
    Congrats to your Amanda; I’m certain that you are beyond proud of her.
    And thanks so much for the helpful transit advice! See you on Friday!!
    Joey

  124. Breathe in….Knit out…. Breathe in…. Knit out.
    This too shall pass.
    Breathe in… Knit out… Breathe in…

  125. I’m trying to come down to Toronto with a friend. Haven’t been in ages. However, my cousin Jenn (jeloca.com) who made the “bowling” socks for her husband (Montreal Event November, 2006), just had her baby yesterday, and the bris (circumcision) is Friday morning May 25th, so I’m trying to see if there is enough time to make it! I’d be up for a yarn crawl on Saturday!

  126. I’m not sure that it’s green, but I’m absolutely positive that it doesn’t look a thing like the color for that name on the “Dream in Color” site. (On my monitor, their picture looks orange!) I like your color though, and if I look away and then look back at the picture, it registers “green” in my mind. When I look at it more, it’s more of a mustardy brown.
    Best of luck to your daughters. It’s an exciting and nervous time for them. It’s great that you have something to help you maintain your sanity. I’m sure you’ll be needing it frequently over the next few weeks!

  127. I can totally see the green! Well, I couldn’t in the first picture, but in the following 2 I totally could.
    I went to a private catholic high school which required a mandatory 100 hours of community service to graduate. It was hell trying to accomplish that, especially if you try cramming it all in the last year of HS like I did. *facepalm*

  128. I’m GREEN with envy.(i see green in you sweater)
    wouldn’t you know it the one chance i get to go to Vancouver your in NYC. oh well. maybe your make it to florida one day soon

  129. I’m looking forward to the Indigo event – but probalby won’t do the other stuff.

  130. Good luck to all the girls, Congratulations to Amanda!
    I do see some green although it doesn’t look mustardy…the colours look lovely, soft, and I love them all….

  131. It’s green. What pattern is it, or are you not using one?
    Sending good vibes to your daughters! Does this mean that once they’re finished they’ll be around the house a lot more… should I just shut up now?

  132. Oh my goodness – judging by the extent of your progress–you have had some hysteria this week.
    This change to the school system sounds dreadful – I too think kids have too much pressure at school. And if you think back to your girl’s Kindergarten year and were to compare it with what is expected of children who are 4 and 5 today – you would probably be able to finish that sweater tonight.
    Here’s to 6 weeks til summer!

  133. That yarn is just gorgeous and the sweater is looking great. What’s the pattern?
    In general, my suggestion to the Canadian academic system is, “Any time you’re tempted to do something like the US, don’t.” We’re raising a generation of stressed-out folks.

  134. Rae and I are totally coming from Michigan. She made a reservation for a hotel so it’s official. (Priceline totally rocks, for the record.)
    We’re on for everything… afterparty, book signing, yarn crawl. Sign us up! (Please, that is.)

  135. garter. stitch. blanket.
    Do you know, I have two of them planned as gifts this year? One for a wedding in July, another for Christmas. Not, obviously, baby blankets. Two adult-sized, 60″x60″ (please don’t make me convert that, I’m a rather stupid American) garter stitch log cabin blankets.
    All I can think is Uh-oh.

  136. Knit on – you can do it! I just graduated, and have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Y’all will get through it though, I know!
    As for colors being off, whatever. I’m sure it will look lovely on its intended recipient, regardless of what color it actually is. And if not, maybe it needs a new recipient. 🙂

  137. If you had a bit of mustard, and you sprinkled jimmies in it but only stirred them around a little tiny bit, then you spread that mustard thinly on a lime, yes. This yarn is the physical approximation of that hypothetical grossness. Except without looking so gross.
    And bless you for knitting through the girls’ stress like you are. If there’s anything at all that I could go back and tell my high school self, it would be to relax. And also to kick that bully in the nuts when I had the chance. Also, to go to college, dangit – except that would probably mean I’d never have met my husband.

  138. Hm….. medieval painting exam: a book on my knees whole working on the mostly silk sweater in copper. Idiotic knitting in the rouund. good.
    Wool-cotton blend summer dress in cream white with flame red patterning somewhere around the waist for mz mother when she loses those ten kilos – need to redye the yarn which came candy pin. Lots of idiotic knitting on 3mm needles… while reading some weirdo stuff in Swedish or Italian for my thesis.
    Ph.D. interview: Does not have any specific project yet.
    The world is globalized, apparently.

  139. If you really do knit as much as you do to maintain your sanity, well that must mean that you have lots of it. Uh, sanity, I mean. And yes, it is Green.

  140. I have an ongoing argument about the color of yarn with my cousin. She calls it blue and I call it grey, It is Flint by Knitpicks. I see grey, she sees blue.
    I see brownish orange with tinges of lime scattered through it. I am thinking that calling that green is quite a stretch.
    I still want to know why they call American Cheese yellow, when it is really orange.

  141. Well, I don’t normally comment, but I’m 100% showing up next Friday, and I’m totally interested in an after-party (although the yarn crawl the next day might be a bit much for my wallet.. lol…)
    One of my best friends is quite disappointed that she’s already paid for concert tickets to one of her favorite bands for the evening…

  142. When dealing with stress in school, I used to repeat this mantra – Will I remember this test, essay, etc. in 10 years? If not, relax and just do the best I can. It helped.
    Your sweater is green, and the stitches look awesome.
    Good luck!

  143. Yes to Indigo….probably 2-3 of us. Yes to a pint or two. But no to the yarn crawl. I already have my own planned. I’m working Saturday….but in a yarn store 😀 Hope to see ya’ll at Romni!

  144. There is a couch in our household. It was my greatgrandmothers so it’s at least 60 years old. I have always called it the green couch, my mother insists that it’s brown. I really do think we must all see color differently.

  145. I feel for your girls! And good job not bugging them, and knitting instead (love the color)

  146. Yep. Same here. Our school district also requires community service AND a senior “project”. This, to an 18 yo who is already working way too many hours and is just trying to PASS her law class, was about the last blow to her (and needless to say, my) sanity. She graduates June 6…and what a relief it will be for all of us. Knit on, steph, knit on.

  147. Yes to the after-party, a reluctant no to the yarn crawl. It is ‘Doors Open’ in Toronto that weekend, and I am determined to see some buildings. See you on Friday!

  148. Apparently, my response to this year’s daughter(x3)-induced hysteria — similar (because they’re daughters) yet different (because two of them are older… they’re still mine and yet they’re not… a shift has been made) has been to abandon knitting in ANY color (real or imagined) and freakin’ CROCHET.
    And soon there will be sewing (rare in these parts).
    It can’t be coincidence that at the same time things have begun to settle down, I’ve ripped out one section made by hook and picked up the required stitches with a 29″ 8US circular needle.

  149. YES to Indigo (and hubby is coming as well … he seems to enjoy knitting culture) and most likely a yes to the afterparty. Sadly we must decline on the yarn crawl as we already have plans. Looking forward to it!

  150. Ummm – 40 hours of community service in 4 years. One long day at the food bank once a year. I’m a little surprised that all your good hearted knitters that are so awesome at all the terrific projects you support wouldn’t have your kidlets into all sorts of great things. Small son graduated with literally hundreds of hours.
    Oh well, come see me at the Y. Volunteer at March Break Camp – 40 hours – you’re done!

  151. Yes to Inidgo but unfortunately no to the pub and yarn crawl. I am one of the volunteers for the Doors Open in Toronto on Saturday at the City of Toronto Archives so come and check us out!

  152. 1. I love the sweater. It’s gorgeous.
    2. We have a 40 hr. community service requirement for graduation here in Pennsylvania. I actually think it’s a good thing, for young people here just don’t seem to “get” giving back to the community. It is supposed to make them realize that “it’s not about you…it’s about all of us.” (At least that’s my take on it).
    3. Congratulations to Amanda, as she moves forward to University! And she should remember she has a whack of knitters behind her, cheering her on as she trudges through this difficult time in her young life.
    4. Congratulations to you and Joe, for raising such great kids.
    5. Keep on knitting!! We need you sane. Or as sane as you can possibly be with 3 teenage daughters.

  153. Most likely yes to chapters, beer, and yarn crawl. Still don’t know to many knitters here in TO 🙂

  154. Hi!
    I know Lynn commented a day or two ago about the two of us possibly coming from Lansing,MI. I booked us a hotel room so we have to make the drive now!
    This will be my first ‘real’ Toronto experience (I was there once before & we left early because we were bored and didn’t know what else to do so I don’t think that trip counts… well except for standing 4 feet from Robert Smith for 2 hours, that part counts).
    I know I’m interested in making the most of it, so I’d love to go to any afterparty and yarn crawl that’s being planned.

  155. I’ll be at Indigo for sure! Beer after sounds like fun, but I’m not 100% sure on that yet.

  156. The sweater has green in it…
    Does anyone know what pattern the sweater is from? I have been looking for a wrap sweater pattern and this one looks lovely.

  157. I will be coming to Indigo with 2 others, and the pub afterwards is a definite possibility. Thanks.

  158. Hmmm, Alberta – Toronto…sorry can’t do it. Would love to do it, but just can’t make it. Sorry, have fun anyway. And that sweater would look green to my two boys…who are colour blind. Colour blindness is not common in females, but maybe you should get tested? Course, colour can be different things to different people and if green makes it for you, stick with green. Love the blog and the books and that you give Canadians something to be proud of! Knit on, dude.

  159. I do see green in the sweater, even if I wouldn’t name it the dominant color. It must be my monitor. 🙂 I drooled all over the DiC yarn the last time I was in Maine, and your sweater is making me think I need to buy some, already!
    Good luck with the girls–they’ll all be fine, I’m sure!

  160. I will be there! At Indigo that is.
    Amanda will be fine once it’s all said and done. When I started high school there were still OAC kids kicking around, though they didn’t last long. I’m now second year and I survived. What killed me more was that after four (or more) years of hanging out with the same people, I wanted nothing to do with any of them for a very very very long time. Too bad I still have to hang out with them, *grumblegrumblegrumble*.

  161. its a beautiful green. i have a fine cotton sweater in similar green. (it’s machine made) i love how it goes with everything, and changes from green, to brown, to gold, depending on what i wear with it.
    green isn’t a just the color of a green crayon!

  162. its a beautiful green. i have a fine cotton sweater in similar green. (it’s machine made) i love how it goes with everything, and changes from green, to brown, to gold, depending on what i wear with it.
    green isn’t a just the color of a green crayon!

  163. I will need a chair for myself, a lap for the baby, and one for a girlfriend!
    We are totally up for pints afterward, although mine will have to be non-alcoholic, and we’re working on being around for the yarn crawl!
    Am I a dork for being mega excited???

  164. The sweater is turning out nicely. I like the subtle shade of green. What pattern is the sweater? I love the shape. Reading about your high school woes gives me the shivers. I am very glad my girls are out of high school.

  165. Your sweater is EXACTLY the color of our California hills in May. We still call them green because they are not yet taken over by the gold color of dry grass (but you know it is on the way).

  166. I have to wonder how much art is produced out of the need to retain sanity/not scare the children/keep a civil tongue in one’s head. I came back to knitting while having a bathroom remodeled because the small, $30 alpaca scarf I had complete control over and knew I could finish was MUCH less frightening than the multi-thousand-dollar, men-in-my-house-early-in-the-morning-banging-and-crushing-things, things-going-wrong-all-the-time, hundreds-of-decisions crazymaking bathroom.

  167. And the sweater? Green — with lots of peach chucked it, sort of like a peach that has a totally unripened side. Undeniably green.

  168. oh it is SO green. green like corn.
    the kids will probably be fine, and knitting instead of joining in the hysteria? probably really smart, which is why they’ll be fine.

  169. I read your post and had to laugh. I just got off the phone with my sister, who is also suffering from end of the school year stress — she had to tell me about all the places she has to be at once, all the tests the kids have to take, all the concerts we have to go to, how she wants summer to start now. Then she walked into the kitchen, and, without warning, screamed in my ear: “THE CAT WALKED ON THE CAKE I BAKED FOR THE SCHOOL FAIR TODAY!!! WHAT WILL I TAKE TO THE CAKE WALK???” I wish I could say that I offered sisterly moral support, but all I could do was crack up.
    I say good luck to all Moms out there — nobody thinks about all this when they have babies!

  170. I have 4 boys – the 14 year old just took his SATs (super smart kid, matching his super smart mouth!), a 12 year old that will either be a mad scientist or a very good politician (he lies very well, must run in his dad’s family), a 7 year old Asperger’s who will likely cure cancer (already teaching 5 year olds to read) and the baby, age 4, who is severely Autistic and may never talk (visit MerrillsFund.com for details on that joy ride)
    Still, I thank whatever Cosmic Joker Up There that I have 4 boys.
    Because I’ve seen what 12 year old girls wear.
    You brave, brave woman. Knitknitknit.

  171. I am planning on going to Indigo, and I think Joyce and Jean-Anne are going too. And I definitely want to go for a pint (Ok, a pitcher). Around there I know the Bedford Academy and Hemingway’s, though Hemingway’s may be super busy on a Friday night. Do you guys know where we may be heading. Oh, and yarn crawl doesn’t hurt, hahaha.
    I just saw an ad of the event in the Toronto Star, page 4 of the GTA section. So exciting!

  172. me and friend A to indigo friday night. me and friend B to the pub afterwards. none to the yarn crawl saturday because of the ttc-knit-a-long on june 9th which if you have the day free you should totally come join. don’t you worry i see the green sweater.

  173. Green? Definitely. Beers and pops? Yup. Chairs? 5.(So far – I’ll know the rest after Tuesday SnB) Yarncrawl? Sadly, no. We’ll have to head back to the ‘Loo Friday night.
    And dealing with young adult girls? Get yerself a dental appliance that keeps you from grinding your teeth. Totally worth it.

  174. I really, really hope to be there next week, and for the after-party too!

  175. I’ll be at the signing. I’d love to do a yarn crawl, as long as I don’t miss my flight at 2:15. Hmmm… I wonder what I’d do with my luggage if I went yarn crawling? I also have no idea how full my professor is trying to book my time in Toronto. I *will* be at the signing, and I also hope to make SNB at Lettuce Knit… I hope visitors are welcome? I think I can do an after-party, depending on what public transportation back to York U looks like.

  176. I’ll be there, and may be bringing a friend or three. No pub crawl after for me, though — being seven months pregnant has put a damper on both my drinking and my staying up late! See you Friday!

  177. It’s so green that the green hasn’t fully ripened yet. That’s why some people can’t see it. It’s the green that is so new that it is a future green.

  178. I would love to need a chair, and I always need a beer but my impromptu trip to Ontarion from Florida happened 2 weeks ago.
    BTW, a 20 hr drive with 3 hrs prep time and 2 children ages 3 and 10 months can be trying. I really could have used this 2 weeks ago.

  179. I would call the colour of that sweater-in-progress ‘moss’.
    Moss is usually thought of as green, but it can be other colours too. If you consider lichen a moss, it can be any colour of the rainbow.
    But honestly, I can see the green. Very pretty btw.

  180. Yes to Indigo and the afterbeers. Probably to the yarn crawl, need more info (where/when)…

  181. I have a 15 year old that just took a college final – in 10th grade. Yes, college. At 15. She is in AP (Advanced Placement) Social Studies. She came out of the test completely drained. Next year it will be 2 college courses, 2 college finals. I too wonder what lasting impact (read srew-up effect) this will have on her. I knit for this reason, and others, too.

  182. State of Maryland students need 75 hours from start of middle to graduate from high school (7 years). It is not the hours that are difficult, it is getting my darling boys to fill out the “reflection form” that is necessary for each and every hour. My four sons have all done three to four times the hours they have gotten credit for because they refuse to fill out the forms and turn them in!

  183. Considering all the pressure building up in your household right now, I’d call the sweater red, if you wanted me to!

  184. Definite YES to Indigo (perhaps with a few friends in tow), probably no to afterbeers as I have a young babysitter, definite yes to yarn crawl as I’ve never been on one and I don’t have my kids that weekend!!!

  185. On my monitor, it’s green the way a nice geverztraminer is green — with straw-colour overtones.
    Indigo? You betcha! Can’t make the afterparty. Can’t make the yarn crawl. But I’ll be there in spirit — knitting my way to Ottawa on an organized trip. (That’ll give me an opportunity to keep at least 20 muggles peering nervously over my shoulder!8-D)

  186. Definitely green. That pale, yellowy-brown shade of green that straw gets before it really starts drying. A nice growing things kind of color.
    Wishing you some sanity over there, amidst the medicinal knitting.

  187. Final year of high school is so stressful. And even now that she’s in college and 1000 miles away, my daughter still calls me on the phone to try to angst and cry about looming and impossible to meet deadlines. It never ends. Keep knitting.

  188. Every Canadian school reference you make takes me back *sigh* When all is smiles and light and relief again at your house, that GREEN(ish) sweater will be a great commemorative object of this time!

  189. May I be the first to say…
    “It’s not that easy being green
    Having to spend each day the color of the leaves
    When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold
    Or something much more colorful like that….”
    Obviously, the sweater decided to be “something much more colorful” while STILL being green. 🙂

  190. Lovely sweater. It is green in exactly the same way that my home-cooked green pea soup is green. I use green split peas, yellow split peas, carrots, yellow onions, sage, soy-bacon bits and parsley. It looks EXACTLY like my soup.
    Actually, it is the precise shade of green you would get if you made soup with ’70s appliances.
    But it is not Just Plain Green.
    I don’t think you can get that at the paint sotre, either.

  191. … and thinking of it, there´s a place called Indigo next to my faculty here out in the wild in the middle of Europe. Since it´s almost next door from the school and it´s one of the last affordable places in the Disneyland I live in, it´s my usual appointment place and I did a lot of knitting there.
    And, speaking of deadlines, I´m at parents´ and I have to give in some twenty more pages of the crap of a thesis I´m writing on next Wednesday.
    Le sigh.

  192. When my son was in 9th and 10th grade, we spent from 3 to 5 plus hours a night on homework. Yes you read that right, 3 to 5 or more hours of homework. Three hours was a light night! It was crazy. He has a non-verbal learning disability, so he needed some help with his homework, like someone reading his assignments to him. It was awful! Occasionally despite our best efforts, he would get so far behind that it was impossible for him to catch up no matter how hard he tried. There simply werent enough hours in the day to make it possible. When that happened, I would keep him home a day to catch up. It just sucked. I kept telling him that if he could just hang on and make it out of high school, he would love college. He is in college now and loves it. Thank God! Hang in there Harlot and family. It will get better. My son also had the 40 hours community service too, what a pain! Great sweater!

  193. 2 from Scarborough (where men are men and so are the women) will be there.

  194. Shoot me, but that’s not green. It’s… those colors I don’t wear, so I don’t know names for them. But not green.
    In other news, I can’t wait to see you in Northampton. I think I need some Harlot cheerleading. I went to the Webs tent sale yesterday and bought nothing but a little roving from an outside vendor. Nothing on sale at Webs appealed to me (OK, maybe I already had a bag or much of it, but still). And no, I don’t have a fever.

  195. Count me in on Friday for Indigo, with at least one (very well trained) muggle in tow. We’ll be bringing hats.

  196. I am SOOOOOO there for the Friday night book launch and for an after party should one arise! I am thrilled you are doing an event here! I don’t think I can make the yarn crawl…something silly about my partner’s birthday…but I will be with you in spirit and if you post the crawl locations I will crawl them another Saturday in (ha ha) penance (hahahaha)!

  197. The only way my son and I got through this year with was LOTS OF PRAYERS. At 18, smart, but not willing to do any work outside of school, he barely eeked out passing grades. I’d love it if the school required community service. The public schools can’t do that here. We opt for a manual labor job.
    Knees to the floor, girl, and be grateful for what you have.

  198. Beautiful sweater! What pattern is it? Sending peaceful thoughts to the Harlot home.

  199. I’ve been lurking and reading for a couple of months now, but had to comment on this one! I went to school here in the UK as the entire national curriculum was being written. My year group got new systems 4 years running. Your girls have my heartfelt sympathy, as do you.
    Tell Amanda she should take up knitting – it’s what I did as a senior and I’ve ended up with a (relatively) normal life after all the upheaval!
    (And it’s green. Definitely geen. )

  200. Count three more chairs for Indigo, my girlfriends and I wouldnt miss it for the world.

  201. My heart goes out to Amanda. Even though I don’t graduate for two more years, I’ve been going through administrative hell over at my arts magnet charter school (stupid budget cuts. Stupid teacher accredidation.) End of the year stress sucks. I knit to keep myself sane, too. Good luck with everything!
    And yes, the sweater is green. Something must be wrong with my moniter. 🙂

  202. “this year I think it’s going to be such a relief for all of us”
    At the end of the summer, we’ll remind you that you said that….

  203. I see the green. Very soft. I especially like the lavender bits.
    Knit. Knit. Knit.

  204. Thank God my school doesn’t require community service, but you need it if you want to go to college. And ours has always been 4 years of high school. Always.
    But tell your daughter Amanda that I feel her pain. It’s crunch time and whatever happens, it’ll be okay. If you end up in a college you don’t like, transfer. If you end up NOT going to college, get in next year. I feel your pain, and although we are nearly a continent away from each other, we suffer like you on this side of North America; you are not alone.

  205. Yes to Indigo, maybe to beer. No to yarn crawl.
    If anyone’s teenager wants community service, my company is holding a warehouse sale for United Way on Saturday the 26th, and we could use a few more volunteers (must be 14 or over). Email me at suemolen at hotmail . com if interested.

  206. trust me about the high school thing, the pressures are the same in the US. my son is about to embark on his high school career this fall, and has possibly failed 8th grade. we can’t seem to impress on him the need to get his head out of his posterior, and get it together. maybe he thinks he’ll be a trombonist?
    It’s green to me.
    wish i could be in toronto!

  207. That would be HAZEL GREEN in my book. I’m with Juti with respect to lavender bits. Yum!
    I think it’s lovely that you take the time to channel all that “wild womb” energy (I understand that to be the root meaning of “hysteria” – too right, that!) into a visual manifestation of empathy for your girls.
    Nice work, mom.
    As I’m currently living south of the 45th parallel, the Indigo/post party/yarn crawl (MAN, I love the sound of that!) will be sans this girl. I’ll be there in spirit – look for me in the darker, frothy pints.

  208. My sister-in-law and I will be there at Indigo on Friday. Probably yes to the after-party as well.
    Looking forward to it.
    Your sweater looks lovely.

  209. Oh man. A yarn crawl??? I am so lime green with envy. The idea gives me goosebumps! And good grief I am such a dork.
    I’m glad to hear you’re one of the mothers who keeps the ‘weight of your future’ hysteria in check. So much healthier for your girls than adding to it like a lot of high-strung moms do. Best of luck to the family.

  210. Posting late – nothing like the long weekend to get me away from the computer, but having gone through the teenage daughter (and survived!), I thought I’d add my encouragement. Hang in there. They grow up and they get it done, or maybe not done, but how will they grow if they don’t fail on their own? Because if you don’t let them fail on their own, you don’t let them succeed on their own – and that’s as bad. Keep those needles going, girl – the Mad Australian Shepherd and I are rooting for you!! Happy Victoria Day.

  211. Okay I can see the green in the last picture, the first two I did think you were a bit crazy.
    Poor girls. High school seemed so stressful when I was going through it, mostly because I had no perspective on how stressful “real life” could be. They are your daughters, they’ll come through with flying colors. 🙂

  212. Yes to Indigo and I’m hoping my daughter will come with me. After that big ad in the Saturday Star I expect all of Toronto will be there.

  213. They did something like that around here too, but it was a graduate exam. They gave it to the teachers before they gave it to the students, and most of them didn’t pass it the first time they took it (just for experience). There was uproar. Furor. Much denigration of the education system.
    However, your children are brilliant and resourceful and even if there are mistakes made now, they will (well, I was going to say learn from them, but they are teenagers, after all) come out on top and you will have a beautiful sweater when it’s all done.

  214. I need to take a page from your book (oh figurative) and practice some knit therapy while interacting with the teenager. He is starting high school this fall. Ugh. A week ago I got a full blast of the nothing-I-ever-do-is-good-enough. eep. The other day it was the you-don’t-like-my-the-way-I-dress-or-my-music. When did we subscribe to the stereotypical adolescent persona mix? Give me those sticks and string.

  215. I’ve been lurking around and just had to post to say, “WHAT A FABULOUS MOM YOU ARE!” It’s so fabulous that you have a place to post all your anxiety-producing thoughts and that you’re letting the kids deal with their troubles their own way, while you just sit by, encouraging, and … knitting! My one and only child is three and I hope, when he gets to the stage where life causes him anxiety I can remember to keep my controlling little fingers out of it and just say, “you’re great, you can do it,” while knitting, knitting, knitting. Good job you!

  216. Oh a GREEN sweater, I see.
    I so understand the need to knit when the anxiety level increases. It helps me too.
    I am sure Friday will be a great success – wish I could be there too.

  217. I totally RELATE. My only child is graduating, and this entire year is a blur. Through it all, I have knit. I have knit great quantities of knitted items. Though I am totally stressed out most of the time(forms, deadlines,grad parties to plan, CHECKS to be written!!!!)and I tell my friends and family I have no time to catch up on ironing, cleaning, and cooking meals, somehow I continue to churn out completed knitted items.
    May we both live through this, and continue to bask in the warmth of wool.

  218. I totally RELATE. My only child is graduating, and this entire year is a blur. Through it all, I have knit. I have knit great quantities of knitted items. Though I am totally stressed out most of the time(forms, deadlines,grad parties to plan, CHECKS to be written!!!!)and I tell my friends and family I have no time to catch up on ironing, cleaning, and cooking meals, somehow I continue to churn out completed knitted items.
    May we both live through this, and continue to bask in the warmth of wool.

  219. I totally RELATE. My only child is graduating, and this entire year is a blur. Through it all, I have knit. I have knit great quantities of knitted items. Though I am totally stressed out most of the time(forms, deadlines,grad parties to plan, CHECKS to be written!!!!)and I tell my friends and family I have no time to catch up on ironing, cleaning, and cooking meals, somehow I continue to churn out completed knitted items.
    May we both live through this, and continue to bask in the warmth of wool.

  220. The stress knitting impulse is the best thing going. How else could we keep up with the Casting-On impulse?
    Green or not, the yarn is lovely.

  221. The lovely ‘strange harvest’ coloured sweater …. looks like pumpkin & lime to me….
    but then, my dad always described mauve or lavender as pink, & the darker purples as brown,
    so my colour sense maybe confused. 🙂
    Loved your pretty spinning, too.
    Enjoy the Toronto launch!
    Good luck to your girls !!
    Knit away, and enjoy the yarn therapy.
    ~ Jay

  222. Green? Of course it is honey, you just keep knitting, everything else shall pass and you will have that lovely sweater. Which, by the way would look great with my new skirt …

  223. I’m a stress knitter too – ever since I quit smoking (and I don’t drink either). It’s the only I cope these days.

  224. Amanda’s graduating? And under a switch of curriculum? I so sympathize. My junior year in college, PSU announced that next year, instead of trimesters, we’d have semesters. Which was fine, except for those of us who needed to take 6 courses, one after the other, and only had 5 periods to do so. Summer at the University was beautiful, though . . .
    For the record? I think it’s green. It looks like the early stage of a wheat field, green with yellow & tan. I have yarn from the wheat field at harvest, deep golden with green and darker brown . . .which will be a shawl, as soon as I can find a wheatfield motif . . .any suggestions on that one, anyone? It’ll be my first shawl . . .

  225. yes…it’s a green sweater
    and yes….I’ll be at Indigo this friday too!

  226. Congrats to Amanda, my Amanda (niece) is graduating too. Seems like just yesterday I was letting her mother break my fingers while she was being born 🙂
    I’m not sure what colo(u)r the sweater is, green seems to be as good a definition as any.
    I won’t be at the launch, pub, or crawl… more’s the pity.
    I’m teaching a sock class in 2 weeks. I stopped by my LYS last night to see if I could borrow some different needles and yarn to use for examples. Not only did I leave with a huge basket of yarn, needles, patterns, books, which will be returned after the class…. I left with $59.50 in new yarn for myself. Gods! That place is addictive!

  227. Ok, yes, it is green. It’s hay-that-has-been-cut-and-is-still-laying-in-the-field green. Yup…green.

  228. It looks green to me. But then most things do, if you ask my family. Irish through & through.
    It’s funny about how you really can let go of some things, like being immersed in your kids problems. Of course you have to be there in ‘mom’ capacity, but in the end you can pull back, and in your case, ‘mind your knitting. I’m told it gets easier the more you do it . . .
    Butt out, that is.

  229. Of COURSE it’s green. Kind of “dry September on the prairies” green… but still green.
    Best wishes for your daughters. This too shall pass!

  230. I’m definitely planning to be at Indigo. Probably won’t be able to stay for the after-party though.
    Good luck to your daughters. I would have loved it if my mom had been able to sit around knitting instead of repeating the school’s mantra of how much my life depended on the decisions I was making in the next 10 minutes.

  231. I thought of “Strange Fruit” too. “Strange Harvest” is an unfortunate name. Made me picture cutting down the “Strange Fruit” from the Poplar trees–a sad and grisly image.
    Perhaps they should just call it “Green.”

  232. I’m with you on the hysteria – I’ve got a graduating senior also – the pressure is huge on them – she is waiting to hear on scholarships, finishing her academic work, writing her valdictorian speech, working, having a birthday, being a teenager and like you – I knit! As I say – Knit Peace

  233. The sweater is really green, I can see it.
    Speaking from experience, graduation puts too much stress on kids…(and parents)! I quilted and knit through both to relieve stress…..

  234. Green it is but why? Has no one else noticed that Strange Harvest is really very orangey yellowy?
    How did it become green? Strange Harvest indeed.
    Frankly I like the green better than the orangey/yellowy so keep it a secret.

  235. Count 2 more in for the reading and the afterparty. Especially looking forward to freaking out the muggles at the bar…

  236. Definitely a meadow green. For Friday, we have a contingent of about 6, for drinks afterwards as well. If I’m able to call in some more troops, I’ll let you know. Best wishes for your daughters on their exams.

  237. The sitter is booked for daughter and pets, bed is reserved @ friend’s in T.O., will pick up bagels and cheese curds on my way out of town(Montreal)…yup, I think I’ve got it covered!! Count in two more for the talk, the pub and the crawl! Can’t wait!! Cheers!!!

  238. Hey Steph,
    Nope I’m sorry it still doesn’t look any greener from all the way over here in Shanghai!!
    Enjoy Fri…..I am still bummed to be missing it. BTW Rebecca’s husband Daryl might come as my special envoy…be gentle with him, it’s only his second ever knitting event.

  239. Oh, do I sympathise with your daughters. My younger brother barely squeaked out of a full school system change that moved from a progression of:
    kindergarten -> primary (1-5) -> junior high (6-9) ->high school (10-12)
    to:
    kindergarten -> primary -> “sixth grade school” (all district sixth graders separate in one place) -> middle school (6-8) -> high school (9-12)
    And I myself was socked with a complete course numbering system change *and* a brand new registration process in my last year of grad school. I ended up receiving my diploma a year late, even though I graduated on time, because the system “lost” a registration number. Bureaucratic nightmare.
    We go on. And we knit. knit knit knit.

  240. One can never have too much green in their life. Green is my favorite color and my wardrobe is built around it. I LOVE the color of the rusty green yarn in the sweater and when you are done with it let me know and I will send you my address since it would go perfect with my deep hazel green eyes!
    ROFLOL! ;0)

  241. Yes, it’s green.
    Graduating under the super corporate microscope of the Ontario Government? Bad. I think I can guide my son through empathy better than the Ontario Government. At least I don’t go around “empathetically” closing schools, cutting funding to health-care while cutting funding to education. I want my son to volunteer, but I don’t want it regulated so that he ends up hating it and never doing it again. Oops! I forgot, this is a knitting blog… knit, knit, knit… Yes, I do knit – alot. It keeps me from wanting to knit a noose for…. never mind… knit, knit, knit, purl, purl, knit….

  242. Stephanie:
    As the mother of two daughters now in college, I feel your pain(s) literally. It does get better. They are in the live and learn stage, and someday when they say, “…remember when you said x, y, and z? We’ll you were right.”, you will just sit there with your mouth open and ask the aliens to return them to you.
    And as for the yarn, it looks greenish to me too! Must be the monitors that everyone else has….

  243. A sweater that’s what I should have been channeling my household hysteria to instead I’ve been knitting socks. I so understand what your going through.I have five kids(so plenty of socks to knit for) and went through what your going through last year with my two oldest daughters. This year its the SAT and ACT and college applications all over again with my second oldest daughter, plus a husband retiring from the military after twenty three years.Yes definitely need to knit a sweater. Congratulations on your daughter graduation, because I think parents need to be congratulated as much as the graduate.

  244. Can’t wait until Friday – I’m bringing 3 friends so add four extra chairs please 🙂

  245. Can’t wait until Friday – I’m bringing 3 friends so add four extra chairs please 🙂

  246. My in-laws are in town on the 25th, but I’m going to try to get to Indigo anyway. I’m really looking forward to it! But, there’s no way I could make it to a yarn crawl.

  247. Sounds like crazyness for sure! Love the yarn… Sign me up under “come-hell-or-high-water” for Indigo. Sadly, already have plans for yarn crawl Saturday. And (of course) they are of the unbreakable kind. Bugger.

  248. I will definately be at Indigo…..ummmm so what if it is my 5th wedding anniversary…we wouldn’t have stayed together this long if he didn’t understand me so well and I think my husband is made of tough-enough-stuff to even do a drink afterwards with all these knitters. He is a champion wool winder helper!

  249. Congratulations to Amanda (and her mum and dad) for navigating the school years.
    Harlot: Yes, there IS life after children. and you’re so close. Just think of it as an empty nest to be filled with your Harloty passion – YARN!

  250. My mother would call that sweater “murky green” and would love the colour.
    Katherine

  251. Okay, I know I am going to be like three-hundred and one here, but I am just reading through these comments and have to say something about our educational system. (u.s. or canadian) i worked as a teaching assistant at a university this year (i’m in grad school) teaching an art history class. the kids, all freshmen, were so focused on their grades that they didn’t learn anything. we would spend hours trying to teach concepts, the how and why of artistic styles, what motivated the artists to change and experiment, what they were trying to say with their work, and the students just couldn’t get it. they couldn’t get ‘out of the box’ – all they cared about was, what will the tests be like? how do we study? but this isn’t what we were taught in high school! etc. etc. it was a real challange, all year (not just one semester, but all year!) to try to get these kids to THINK. to take a pile of information and do something with it – not just re-write what they read in the book, but to take it further…argh! so frustrating! none of them can write a paper, either. no complete sentences, mixed tenses, used words that didn’t mean what they thought they meant, etc. what a mess. I have a son in college so have been through this with him, as well. So frustrating, and it just keeps getting worse! My blood pressure is going up, better go get me knitting…!

  252. Congratulations to Amanda!
    I really like the color of the sweater… but it is not green. 😛

  253. I totally do see the green after looking at the series of pictures. And I’m curious about what pattern that is! I saw that yarn and managed to show restraint in not buying any yet…
    Am really looking forward to Friday – my sis RSVP’d above for 3 but actually we will be 4. The whole fam is coming. Dad will be educated about knitting culture I am sure.
    Lots of sympathy for your daughters – I remember feeling stressed out in high school and that was before the contracted curriculum and community service requirements!

  254. Green. Okay. You and my husband must have the same genetic makeup in the vision department. We had a great time with a shirt of his that he wore for St. Patrick’s Day. I said Tan. He said Green. His Green shirt would look nice with that Green sweater of yours. That is a nice sweater by the way.

  255. thus far, I’ve counted 139 for Indigo. And that’s just within the comments. I think you’ll have a fair turnout 🙂
    lovely sweater. possibly green.

  256. i knit, knit, knit the stress of work. and selfish friends. and only being able to get to my work after everyone else goes home. knit, knit, knit. and it’s a satisfying stress relief because without even really paying attention, sooner or later you look up to see that you’ve created a beautiful object, like your wonderful green sweater. you’re a wonderful mom to be so concerned over your kids!

  257. I’ll come friday night with a friend – can’t make the yarn crawl this time.

  258. I swear to GOD, if you people on these blogs do NOT stop showing yarn that m akes me want to cry (can you say baby tulip sweater, cuz I can’t I’m busy hyperventilating) and makes my credit card leap out of my wallet, I’m just going to have to UNHOOK the internet!!! waaaa!

  259. I’ll be there, and Craig is coming too.
    Is that sweater the same colour as my shrug (see blog?). Because if it is your camera is doing something funny to it–no matter how much I squint, it isn’t green.

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