Tricotomania and more

Have I said that the weather has been weird this winter? Probably. If I haven’t complained here, I’ve complained plenty elsewhere. We normally get winter. Proper. Canadian. Winter. November and December can be a bit messy with snow followed by above freezing temperatures followed by freezing. But by January it usually settles down to being cold and staying that way until about March. This means that once the roads and sidewalks have been plowed and salted, they stay dry and clear. When it is really cold, it is sunny with bright blue sky. The canal freezes and you can skate on it (if you wrap up warm). You remember why you read those labels on the boots that say what temperature they were warm to and why you chose the ‘warm to -40C’ over the ‘warm to -10C’. You have ridiculous conversations with Americans (and anyone else who will listen) about how -40C and -40F are exactly the same temperature (damn cold, in case you were wondering).

Not this year. This year we are getting someone else’s winter. It is warmer than usual. This is not a good thing. It means more snow for one thing. And it means that the snow melts and then it gets cold again. But because of those burms (snow piled up by the snowplow, really that is what they are called though they might be spelled berms) along the side of the road, the water just sits there on the sidewalk. And then it gets cold and freezes. Making the sidewalk a bit hazardous to say the least.
And we get freezing rain which is hands-down the most evil weather on earth. And you haven’t got a clue how cold it is on any given day and never get used to it and…

Okay, so you get the picture but what does this have to do with glaciers, you say. Well, the other day I was thinking that glaciers must have layers of snow and ice and whatnot created by snowfall, melt, refreeze, and pressure. And I figure that maybe the snow in my yard exhibits similar characteristics. How hard can it be to take a core sample and have a look at that?

I mentioned it last week and the kid has been using her best ‘isn’t my mom nuts’ voice to repeat that suggestion to lots of people. However, the other day she asked if she could go down the basement and look for something suitable for taking core samples. She came back up with a piece of shower rod.

I have been looking around for resources to help in this not-very-well-thought-out endeavor. I’m not getting much. This site looks like it has some promising information at about the right level. And this one explains a few things for me. The only thing I could find on core samples doesn’t deal with ice and says it is for grades 7 & 8 but it might be helpful.

I e-mailed a friend who is a physical geographer and she gave me some tips. One was that a tube that is split and then held back together is good because you can take the sample (push into the snow, cover the end with your hand to seal, pull out with your hand over and the snow should stay in) and then slice it down the middle to get a good look at it. She also mentioned that layers are probably visible if you cut a slice with a spade or something to give a flat ‘face’ to the snow. You might even be able to feel the difference in density with your hand.

If anyone has done something like this (and I realize that geographical location is going to be an important limiting factor) and has some tips let me know. I’ll update once we actually get out there and do it. If I had a digital camera (which I don’t) or a film in the old-fashioned camera (also, no) I’d post photos. It’s on the list.

And I have a vague plan to actually record the weather in some future year and then check the snow to see how the layers match up with the weather patterns…

I am often surprised when I read somewhere that many people follow knitting patterns exactly as written right down to the colour of yarn suggested. I’m one of those people who fiddles with patterns. Sometimes it is just the minor fiddling of changing the yarn. (I can’t even imagine why someone would think they had to use the same colour unless it was a complicated fairisle pattern or something.) Other times it is the fiddling we all should do but often don’t to make the pattern fit me rather than some standardized size. Sometimes I go further and change the neckline or sleeve length or something.

But I sometimes take the shape of a garment from one pattern and the stitch pattern from another, as I did with this sweater:

The shape of this sweater is taken from the Shapely Tank designed by Joan McGowan Mitchell at White Lies Designs. I added sleeves using information Jenna Wilson provided in Knitty. Both the background pattern and the cable come from the Tara sweater in The Celtic Collection by Alice Starmore. There are beautiful designs in there and I wouldn’t want to not knit them because that 1980s boxy style of sweater doesn’t suit my body shape.

When I knit an aran sweater for my daughter I leafed through books and magazines with her and we chose a central panel we both liked and a neckline she liked. I thought the panel to background ratio on the sweater it came from wasn’t right so added some extra relatively plain cables next to it. I used one of the smaller cables down the centre of the sleeve deciding to make a saddle shoulder while I knit it. I made a modified drop shoulder instead of the original drop shoulder to eliminate some of the bulk. (See Jenna’s earlier article for information on drop and modified drop shoulders.) I don’t seem to have a photo of this but it turned out well and she likes it (partly because she helped design it).

So the problem that I often have is being confident about saying that I can design knitwear. I have trouble imagining following a pattern right down to the colour of the yarn specified. So I am often surprised at the variations on the top-down raglan (or even the bottom-up raglan) that are out there. This is not a criticism of the folks who submit these designs or offer them for sale on their websites. It is a common problem that I (and I assume others) have — recognition that my skills are not ‘normal’. My ability to take the shape of one pattern, change the yarn, put new sleeves on it and knit it in a different pattern stitch doesn’t feel very special. But clearly this isn’t something that everyone can or will do. There are people out there with other talents that would prefer to knit straight from the pattern. And those of us with the desire and ability to write those patterns should be confident in our ability and put them out there.

I had a similar crisis about the work I do as a self-employed consultant. It seems crazy to charge what I do to do what I do. The type of thinking that enables me to give the advice I give seems perfectly normal and natural to me. I sometimes wonder why other people don’t see these “obvious” things. But they aren’t “obvious”. These conceptual skills are special. And I have them. And they are worth money. I’m over it now (mostly).

Designing knitwear, it turns out, is much like anything else. It requires the confidence to try things. And the confidence to put things out there once you’ve done them. I’m never going to be a famous knitwear designer. I don’t have enough knowledge of the relevant design principles nor the fashion trends necessary to do that. Nor do I have enough interest in gaining that knowledge. But I can and do design nice things sometimes. And I might just start putting them out there a bit.

I don’t know about you but I have issues with money. I wouldn’t describe myself as ‘good’ with money. I’m not that bad, either, and have never had unmanageable debt or anything (though for tips on that, see Crazy Aunt Purl has some good advice, delivered in an entertaining way) but sometimes things go a bit haywire. At various points my partner and I have sat down to try to ’sort out’ our finances. Sometimes this is just about getting debt under control. More recently it has been about making sure we are saving enough.

Looking back on my childhood, I note that while my parents talked about the value of knowing how much things cost, other values got in the way of the message. In particular, my dad’s desire/need to be seen as providing well for his family undermined some of the lessons. For example, I never knew that the signing of NAFTA had had such a big (negative) impact on his business until very recently (I’m over 40). And while I worked growing up, first as a paper carrier and later in a grocery store, and contributed to family holidays, it seems that that experience perversely taught me that I could have nice holidays for relatively little money. I’m not saying my parents did the wrong thing. They, like most parents, were making what they thought were the best choices.

Now that I am a parent I have started thinking about both my own track record and my own upbringing more critically with a view to deciding how to instill what I think are good money values in my daughter. This involves both explaining things and developing practices that work. In this, I have found some resources that are very useful and I’d like to share them with you.

The first is a book: Joline Godfrey’s Raising Financially Fit Kids. Godfrey’s approach is values based but she doesn’t decide on your values. There are 2 main ideas in this book. The first is that you should allocate some of your money for spending, some for saving, and some for sharing/giving. The second is that the goal of teaching your children about money is to give them the skills and knowledge necessary to live independently. What you allow our children to spend on, how much you think they should save, and how you choose who to give to is up to you.

There are exercises for working through your own money values (with your partner, which is vital) so that you can ensure that what you actually do meets those values. The book also looks at families across the financial spectrum and the challenges faced in different income brackets. More importantly, she breaks down her ideas for activities that help teach kids about money by age group/developmental stage. Thus the main ideas are fleshed out with appropriate suggestions for kids of different ages.

I sent this book to a friend recently because I knew that she was thinking about similar issues (though her own way of dealing with money is very different from my own). She then sent my daughter a little gift that complemented the ethos of the book: a Moonjar moneybox. This is a 3 part money box that enables your kids to separate out their allowance, earnings and gifts as they receive them. My daughter was thrilled.

Of course, I am also learning more about money. I notice that Godfrey has written books for grown-ups, too. I have also recently read a very good book for Canadian women: Balancing Act by Joanne Thomas Yaccato. Because the tax implications of investments and the different options for pensions, you would need something looking at your own country but I have found reading one of these books to be very valuable in thinking about how we allocate our money.

Some of you may recall my surprise last September when my 8 year old turned out to be a historian. That revelation involved a trip to a museum in which the kid displayed remarkable concentration and interest not only compared to other kids but compared to most adults. The museum trip was followed by a trip to the library to get out books on the Acadians. We later moved on to New France. [At this point the homeschoolers are shaking their heads at how long it took me to realize that homeschooling might be a good option for her.]

You may also know that she knows how to knit. She has a bunch of projects on the go. She even completed a knitted Koigu headband for her best friend rather quickly when that best friend had to move out of her house temporarily due to a serious fire next door. There were plans for the new baby (no, not me, very close friends; it’s a girl called Grace) that never quite got off the ground. There is a hat started. She never really had the motivation or inclination to stick with it and do very much at one sitting.

Well, the other day she wandered off to get something off her craft shelves. I think she started with weaving (I made her a basic loom with a picture frame years ago that languishes in a box) and did a bit of that. And then she got some needlepoint out. There is a package of 3″ square plastic canvas and a bag of leftover tapestry wool and various other suitable scraps of wool. I think that all started when she received a kids’ kit a while ago.

Anyway, there has been quite a lot of needlepoint going on. She’s designing herself. The first couple were geometric blocks. Then yesterday she found some cotton and lycra sock yarn that I’d bought from Elann and is now doing a series with that. These incorporate initials but are still in the style of random blocks of colour. Pretty cool. She sits and does it for hours. We even looked at books in the library yesterday (including Ehrman, and Kaffe Fasset) and got one out with a bunch of little projects. It’s designed for adults but that means that they are nice designs rather than twee ‘for kids’ designs with little detail. She is planning on trying at least one of the projects (a bookmark and eyeglass case with a pattern based on the endpapers in antique books). [Ron is now shaking his head and saying “I told you so”.]

She has even explained to me that she has found her craft and that she likes this the way that I like knitting. Also that we both do “woolwork”, meant, I think, to make me feel like she is not abandoning me but is joining me. All quite fun.

She’s still interested in weaving but thinks that she’ll do more at my mother’s house because she has a proper loom and, according to her, it’s easier when you don’t have to lift up the threads as you go through. She’s also been talking about how she’s heard that you can get mini-looms that will fit on the table. I can see where this might go but am ignoring all talk of looms for the moment. One of my new homeschooling buddies has one so maybe she can talk to her about weaving.

What is kind of interesting to me is how she is more interested in crafts that her grandmothers do. My mother weaves (she also knits but not so often these days) and her other grandmother does needlepoint. But that just brings one more thing to her relationships with them (which are quite independent of me).

The 8th Carnival of Homeschooling is up. My teaching and learning post is in it. I kind of like the idea of a carnival. It brings together some interesting stuff and lets you see what other blogs might be of interest.

The character of this blog has been changing since that momentous decision a few weeks ago (I’ve lost track, I tell you.). But some of the new people I am meeting turn out to also knit.

So today, I am posting a short note to suggest to the knitters who drop by here that they at least check out this post from Mother Crone. I promise that you will like it.

A week or so ago (I have completely lost track of time here folks), I left a comment on the Homeschool Math Blog that I have been thinking about expanding on here. Mother Crone’s aside about high school geometry reminded me. This is in no way a criticism of Mother Crone as I think what she has said is very common, as reflected in the Homeschool Math Blog entry on the question Can I teach my child Algebra?.

There are various ways of thinking about teaching. It seems that the most powerful one of these is to think of it as an expert imparting knowledge to a novice. The flow of knowledge is one-way: from the teacher to the student. In general, when we think of teaching in this way we also have high expectations of the teacher in terms of knowledge. It is not good enough to know just more than the student; we expect the teacher to be an expert in the subject or at least know substantially more than the student. In this mode, the teacher ought to be able to answer any question the student might have. The level of expertise which we seem to expect of teachers rises with the age and level of the students. Thus Mother Crone does not worry about her ability to teach her son now but rather at some future point when, presumably, his level will more closely approach her own level of knowledge.

This way of thinking about the role of the teacher and the relationship between teacher and student is widely contested and criticized. However, the frequency with which we challenge the quality of teachers, the ways in which we challenge them, and the frequency with which we feel we need to explicitly argue against this model of the teacher is indicative of the powerful place this model has in our culture. Our anxiety about our abilities, as parents or in other aspects of our lives, to ‘teach’ our children (or our colleagues, or whoever) something also speaks to the power of this model.

As a (new) homeschooler I find that much of the advice is based around the “inevitable” questions of one’s ability to teach one’s children. These questions are rooted in the model of teaching outlined above. I wish to challenge the terms of the questions. What happens if we think of homeschooling not as being “teacher-parents” but as learning together with our children? How does this help us, as parents, to feel more confident in our ability to “teach” those subjects we feel weakest in (like geometry)? If not “expertise” or greater knowledge, what do we bring to this learning experience that is of value to our students?

We have much more experience of learning things than our children do. We have a range of strategies to draw on for learning and we have the time and inclination to go and read books about learning and education to discover new ones. Perhaps more importantly, we have knowledge of our child’s preferred learning styles. We are able to assess what kinds of approaches and resources will work for this particular learner. And we are able to adapt the approach or resources to take into account the way this child responds to them. This seems to me to be one of the major advantages of homeschooling as even excellent teachers are not able to be this flexible when they are dealing with larger numbers of students.

Also, we have more developed skills of finding resources, even if we haven’t used these (much) for the subject at hand. And we have a broader range of knowledge that can contribute to our learning of this particular topic and help us evaluate the resources we find. We are able to situate this topic in relation to others. We may understand some of the “big ideas” even if we struggle with the details. Never underestimate the value of your ability to identify other people who have useful knowledge and skills to contribute, whether these be friends or professionals.

Considering these different views of teaching and learning highlights the importance of self-confidence for creating effective learning environments. If you lack confidence, your performance will suffer. Recognize your own strengths and weaknesses. Find resources (people or books or whatever) to complement your strengths by making up for your weaknesses. And go forth confidently in your role as partner in the learning experience. When not feeling confident, it is useful to remember that sometimes pretending we know what we are doing is good enough to get the ball rolling. Once you are into it, you will realize that you really can help your child learn anything. And you will learn a lot along the way.

edited to add a link to Etienne Wenger who M-H mentioned in the comments. My friend Peter is really into this stuff so it is nice to be reminded of it in my current context.

I’m not good at spontaneity. I am pretty good at change and have made some big changes in my life, including moving across the Atlantic twice. But my partner will tell you that if you spring change on me, I can get pretty grumpy. Even about really minor stuff like what we’re eating for dinner.

Lately, I’ve been working on that a bit, though more by luck than judgement. Both the dyeing/knitting things and the homeschooling have involved a bit of spontaneity. And I’m learning how to relax into it and enjoy the process. This is harder than you’d think.

I want to plan. Even though in practice, I make decisions before I have even thought of all the details and appear to others to be making rash decisions (like moving from the UK to Canada without a job).

I worry about the ‘right’ way even though I am not a big believer in the idea of one right way nor someone who is very good at following instructions exactly even when given them.

But then I remind myself of the likely consequences of just going ahead. What is wasted if I just mix up these different colours of Kool-Aid and try them out on this hank of yarn? Even if it looks horrid, what difference will it make?

With knitting or dyeing, the worst case scenario seems so trivial. I wonder why I find it so difficult to be spontaneous, but I do. With big life decisions, like moving or taking my daughter out of school, considering the worst case scenario and realizing that it isn’t so bad usually calms me and cements my decision.

Now that the big decision is made, it is the smaller, daily decisions that cause mild anxiety. Are we doing enough? If my daughter doesn’t want to do much work or starts to get cranky about her work, is it right to let her give up? Or am I not teaching her the importance of sticking with things through the tough spots? What really is a reasonable expectation? And what might be the longer term consequences of letting things slide a bit now?

None of this is easy though it only bothers me in odd moments. In the same way I just mixed up that Kool-Aid and dyed that wool, I am trying to let go and trust that it will be all right (or at least that it will not be an irretrievable disaster). Maybe doing more spontaneous knitting and dyeing will help me hone this attitude.

If you ever get a chance to see/hear this person tell stories, do it. Apart from anything else Ivan is gorgeous (I know I’m not the only one who thinks so). And the stories are great; well told; moving … The person who introduced her today compared them to crack cocaine. We bought a CD. I can’t wait to listen to it. And I really should get around to getting more of her books.

I first discovered Ivan a couple of months after I moved back to Ottawa in 2003. She was one of the featured writers featured in Wilde About Sappho, a fundraising event for the Lambda Foundation. I won a book. But the stories are even better heard aloud. And Ivan tells a great story.

Today she was speaking at Carleton University and the Lambda Foundation was involved in that reading. As I am about to officially join the executive of the foundation, I was invited. And it was just as good.

The kid came along but she was a bit bored and read her book. Many of the stories rely on audience recognition of some character or situation. The kid is just too small. But she did pick up on some things including the ways in which Ivan used her voice to express a particular idea (e.g. talking slowly while describing how annoying it is when some guy at the front of the plane holds up the whole disembarkation process by taking his time about getting his laptop and jacket out of the overhead bin). And she had listened to more than I thought because we could talk about the stories and explain them a bit afterwards.

BTW, for those who are wondering about the pronoun, someone asked that question at the reading today. Ivan doesn’t feel like she fits in either of those boxes, thanks. She’s happy with whatever pronoun and I notice she uses ’she’ on the front page of the website so I’m sticking with that for lack of a better alternative. A lot of violence gets done to people’s identities to make gender work as a binary category. I, for one, support any and all attempts to try to explode those boxes. And if you are unfamiliar with what that might mean, I suggest you read some of Ivan’s stories. They make good introductions to the idea of life in the space between ‘man’ and ‘woman’. But they are also just good stories about interesting people.

I don’t want to make a habit of this but since it was one of the homeschoolers who tagged me and I’m kind of liking the process of finding like-minded folks in that community, I thought I’d do this one.

Four jobs I’ve had:
grocery store cashier
retail sales (fine china, crystal, etc)
university professor
research grant programme officer

Four movies I can watch over and over again:
I don’t watch movies over and over. In fact since I’ve been with my partner, and especially since I’ve had my daughter, I don’t see nearly as many movies as I would like to once, much less over and over.

Le Declin de l’empire americaine (Decline of the American Empire) is definitely on the list though

Four places I’ve lived:

New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
Stirling, Scotland
Ottawa, Ontario
Birmingham, England

Four TV Shows I love:
CSI (any of them)
This is Wonderland (yes, Virginia, CBC drama can be good)
Inspector Morse
The West Wing (though I haven’t watched several of the more recent seried due to hiccups around the move and playing basketball when it is on)

Four Places I’ve vacationed:
Umbria, Italy
Herefordshire, England
Eleuthra, Bahamas
Canton, Ohio (just because it is so improbable; one of my best friends lives there if you must know)

Four of my favorite dishes:
My partner is such a good cook, I am hard pressed to choose.

my partner’s vegetarian lasagne
roast lamb (purchased from the butcher by our cottage, cooked slowly, and eaten with friends)
moose (not that I have had any for a very long time; don’t know any hunters these days)
pumpkin pie (made from fresh pumpkin we’ve grown ourselves)

Four sites [that are not really blogs] that I visit daily:
You mean there are sites other than blogs?

Four places I would rather be right now:
nowhere I can think of

Four bloggers I am tagging:
no need to piss anybody off, now, is there. Play if you like.