Three points STILL determine a plane

A few weeks ago Carmen was looking for a pattern for a carrier for the food gifts she wanted to give to friends for Christmas. I told her that if she got started earlier next year I could help her out with knitted and fulled/felted carriers. I told her about bags I had made several years ago for the bottles of herbed vinegar I gave to co-workers at the Senior Center. She wanted to see a picture, but I don't have any. So, yesterday I made one that I will send to her. I started with a garter-stitch square for the bottom, then picked up stitches around the edge of it to knit the sides. Since the bottom is square, I thought it would be good to use five double-pointed needles - one for each side and one to knit with. It was very floppy, but I kept thinking things would improve when I got an inch or two up the sides. After almost six inches, it was still driving me crazy, so I divided the stitches onto three needles, worked with the fourth, and set the fifth aside. Immediate improvement - much more stable!

Next time I wash jeans, I'll add this to the load and see how much it changes. It is currently 5"x 5"x 11".

A Complaint:

Are there song lyrics that annoy you? I'v found some on one of my Christmas CD's. They go something like, ". . . feel sorry for the laddie; he doesn't have a daddy; he's the little boy that Santa Claus forgot." I resent that!

Carmen was seven and a half and Dominic had just turned five when their father died on Labor Day weekend. As fall progressed and Christmas decorations appeared in the stores, they frequently asked me when I was going to get them a new daddy. That was the farthest thing from my mind; I was too busy working and caring for them. After Christmas, they stopped asking about a new daddy. I think they had daddy and Santa Claus connected and were afraid they'd have a bleak Christmas. After Santa visited anyway, they were not interested in replacing their daddy.

Don't get me wrong. I do feel sorry for that laddie, as well as my own children and many others. I think the ideal situation for children is to be in a household with a father and mother, who have as least a reasonably good marital relationship, and who are both involved in the care and training of the children. However, not everyone can have that.

Down from the soapbox now.

Merry Christmas!!

I gave this needlepoint to Mother many, many, many years ago. It's one of the things I reclaimed after she died, along with the afgan you see a bit of behnd the needlepoint. I wasn't sure she'd like it; it may have seemed too Catholic for her, but for years she kept it hanging throughout the year.