Introducing Nanodistal!

Nanodistal is now live!

 Celebrate the dog days of August with me...with the Distal Trio.

Put Distal, Gigadistal and Nanodistal into your Ravelry shopping cart by the end of August, and spend only $10!  That's $5 off, and it's a chance to knit every version of this Distal Trio at a big discount.  Cause it's summer, and I like treats when it's hot out. :)

Permission to Experiment--on PLY's blog

Giving ourselves permission to break the rules is a luxury.

Often, when I teach spinning, I hear a newbie say “Am I doing this right?” or “Am I following the rules?” I usually call the entire class to attention to address this issue. If we focus on human history, we have to acknowledge that as a species, we’d have gotten way too cold (hypothermic even) and died out in the wilderness if there were only one way to spin. Ever since we stopped exclusively wearing animal skins and started producing textiles, folks have been spinning.

....Want to read more?  Visit PLY magazine's Blog to read this article!

Societal Supports...and reinventing mini golf

Here's my most recent CBC opinion piece.  It's a serious one, about some of the violence we've been facing daily and where it might come from.  (and we face it both in the media and in the world...)
Avoiding the boiling point: Society must help prevent violence

That is a sharp contrast to our household August activities here, which involve a lot of unstructured play time.  Turns out we really needed time off--from camp and school.  It's a lot of hands-on parenting time for me.  I alternate between loving being outdoors and with all this creative kid energy, and feeling like I might explode from frustration and boredom...not getting to work, make dinner, do anything by myself or even get to the bathroom while managing twins.  :)  (a normal parental response, I expect!)  I am often trailing my guys while carrying my knitting or a spindle or my iPad.  It can sometimes be hard to keep up with work email while managing the finer points of play and arbitrating conflicts.

A few days ago, we were out in the yard, and the guys created their own version of mini golf.  We'd played it last December in Florida, and apparently, if my twins have a few kid gardening implements, you spill out a toy bin or two, and the front walk?  You can create a golfing course.  Who knew?

Today, my lovely professor has both guys off at a park, racing around on their new bikes with training wheels.  This is a good break and a distraction--I'm having some more interrupted sleep- 2 and 3 AM wake up sessions with little boys- and I had so hoped we were over this already!  (at about 4.5 years old, my guys finally started sleeping consistently through the night.  Except for lately.)

 I needed a bit of twin-free time.  I canned 5 pints of bread and butter pickles...and wrote this.  A fabulous chance to catch up a bit.  The refrigerator now has 4 lbs less in the way of cucumbers, and I had a moment to connect with you.  For the moment, it's all sunshine, and it's all good.