I'll make you a deal

The scene: Dad out of house on a secret mission. 12-year-old Boy asks Mom to play Xbox with him, knowing full well that peacemonger Mom has simply not discovered the joy that awaits her in those cheerful, loving shoot-em-up games.

Mom, who knows full well that Boy has not discovered the joy that awaits him when using 2 pointy sticks and string: "You want me to play Xbox? I want you to learn to knit. I'll make you a deal. I'll show you how to knit. You knit a few rows and I'll play Xbox with you for five minutes. For every few rows more, I'll play another 5 minutes."

Boy, with gleam in eye: "Deal."
Scene: A little while later, a few minutes into Xbox game.

Mom, who is prone to motion sickness: "Wow, these graphics move fast. It's making me dizzy. Yes, I see the machine gun over there. No, really. It's really making me dizzy. I can't do this. I'm going to puke."

Boy: "Heh heh...Do I still get to play?"

Mom: "Yeah. I need air."

Scene: Mom exits. A while later, Mom comes into living room to discover Boy on couch, knitting.

Mom: "You know I can't play that game with you, so this doesn't get you more video game time."

Boy: "Yeah, I know. But this is kind of fun. Hey, help, did I drop a stitch here? Is it true there are only two kinds of stitches to learn and I already know one of them?"

Mom: "You bet. It's all just knit and purl."

Boy: "Cool. Do you think I could make a hat?"

Mom: "Absolutely!" 

guess who!

There is a budding weaver in my house and -- surprise! -- it's Scott! He has done most of the leg work in figuring out how these looms function and, along the way, seems to have become fascinated by their potential. After a practice run a week or two ago and armed with some reference books from the library, he dressed the jack loom earlier this week. The kids and I arrived home from roller skating last night to find the tunes cranking and the Dad having a blast with his new toy!

There was no particular plan for this project, so he did what I suspect a lot of newbie weavers do -- try many drafts to see what happens.

Yeah, it makes me dizzy too. ;-)

He wants to try out a few more supercool drafts on this just-for-fun sampler, but in the meantime, he did some rummaging around in the yarn stash this morning while toying with ideas for upcoming projects. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.