another experiment

Here are a pair knit from Luscious, a yarn from Kollagé. It is 63% cotton and 37% nylon elastic. While knitting I was concerned about how tight the socks were knitting up. After a few minutes of wear they gave to be as comfortable as an old pair of blue jeans. Now the big question: How will they wear in the long run?

What do you mean by that?

Today it occurred to me that the word "handicapped" does not mean what I think it does. Question 1 when people see my daughter is what is wrong with your daughter, to which the answer is autism makes her different, I am not sure there is anything wrong with her. Question 2 is What is autism or how does it make her different, to which I have to say I have no idea. To me she seems so normal.
One of my dear daughter's friends, S., was patiently explaining to me that a certain young man on their bus was disruptive and annoying because he, "you know", does not have language. Today Dear Daughter was telling me about another of the students at school - a girl named C. "She is like K.", says DD, "no language". For S. and DD having no language is no more peculiar than being left-handed. One of the sidecar drivers in Brno wheels himself in a wheelchair when he is not driving his sidecar. He won the race, so I would not say that the limited use of his legs is in anyway a handicap. If he cannot walk, is he handicapped? What does it really mean to be handicapped? Do physical or psychological impairments constitute a handicap, or is a handicap how you deal with the cards you are dealt in life?
So, DD reads this over my shoulder and asks "am I handicapped" and I have to say "I do not know. Do you feel handicapped?"

Her Birthday

Truth be told, I would have paid for a birthday party anywhere for my little angel. She wanted to celebrate at the Farm (Jens raises rainbow trout). I was quite touched. Here is a wretched picture of her little classmates and her teachers from the walk we took in the forest. I took some video and gave her the still camera. She apparently thought taking pictures of mushrooms was more fun than taking pictures of people. All a matter of taste, I guess.

Two wheels

When I paid for parking at the AMK/IHRO raceday event, the man gave me to fives as change. "Two wheels" he said. It was quite appropriate!

a beautiful day at the races

Here he is with Bjarne, Helen, and Bent Møller.
On the 20th and 21st Jens participated in sidecar races for the first time in a decade. He was graciously invited by Bjarne Karlsson, the current Swedish champion, to ride as the sandbag (I kid you not - that is the technical word). They won both days, but it would have be fabulous even if they had just finished. Jens was Danish champion in 1986, and I had never seen him ride. This weekend completed the experience for me. Nobody seemed to be in the race to win. It seemed to be much more important to have a good time and to come home in one piece. True, you can only fall about 2 inches from a side car, but at 80mph, that can be far enough.

Nifty disguise.

How can you not be impressed?

I have read that you have been in Denmark too long when you no longer notice the windmills. It is my tremendous good fortune to see the "wings" on my commute between Hannerup and Aalborg. They look to be about 100 feet/30 meters long. Riding on their special trucks they look like great majestic whales sliding silently through the water. Here is a picture of a typical car trying to pass one. How could you see something like that and not be impressed?

Pediatric Dentistry - however you spell it.

Yesterday my little Darling went to the dentist. Pediatric Dentistry is just one more thing that is light years ahead here in Denmark. When we lived in Virginia I took her to the highly recommended Pediatric Dentist who gave a whole new meaning to the expression "going medieval" with his handling of her: drilling to the root on her tooth without anesthetic while she was strapped to a board, for example. He looked me in the eye when this torture was over and said "she will never be able to have a tooth filled without total anesthetic". Here in Denmark the dentists are, gasp, trained to handle children, even little autists like my baby. During her first visit the Dentist gently but firmly talked her through the process. On the next visit the Dentist even managed to fill two of my baby's teeth without even upsetting her. When we got out to the car from the first visit, I burst into tears of joy. It has been said that Danes are very full of themselves and smug about the superiority of their culture. When it comes to Pediatric Dentistry, they have every reason to be proud. Anyway - I just wanted to say that.

Aunty Margrethe's socks

Here they are! She insisted that they fit, even though she did not try them on. Being the mistrusting soul that I am, I immediately became suspicious. That was foolish. The gift is a symbol, really. It shows here that for 15 hours (give or take) she was more important to me than anyone else I could have been knitting for. That has to mean something.

The Right-Here and Right-Now

Here is Poochie, trying desperately to get me to get off my backside and come out and play with her.

Then there are the Hemp socks for my dear Brother. They are racing toe-up through the gusset toward the mystical turn of the heel. WOW!!!

Finally, what do you make for your best friend in all the world? Reptilian Lace socks, of course. Here they are, almost on the home stretch after the gusset decreases.

Okay, the pictures are crappy. Better ones to follow.

The simple do-it-yourself solution

We decided to try a web-phone and our very own DSL. The ad said it was easy and we could do it ourselves. One week and, um, many work hours later my fabulous and extremely handy hubby got it to work! Here is a picture of the results of his labors.

How do you know you have been exploiting your spouse?

When you say "honey there is something wrong with the radio in the car" and when you get in the car again there is no doubt he has looked at it and found nothing wrong.

Strømperne / The Socks

They have to be something special, something that will mirror how much my little Girl means to me. So they have to be something "more" than anything I have ever done. So they ALWAYS end up as something so frustrating I end up tearing my hair out. Here they are, before I had to, sigh, frog them back to something even.

Til Hende, øjestenen, skal de være noget HELT særlig. Og så bliver de noget så udfordrende. Her er hendes stømper før de bliv travlet op.

En Ærgelse uden mage

Endlig var jeg nåede op til tæerne på min kære datters strømper, og så gik det op for mig. De var næsten en centimeter længere for oven end de var for neden. Så skulle jeg travle op. Det er så træls. Strømperne til Tante Margrethe er nået til hæl (fra tæerne op), men hvordan skal det se ud? Jeg bliver bange for det hele, og strikker bare på halstørklædet.

Bad news on the socks for my Dear Daughter: as I was ready to start the toe I noticed that the top was significantly longer than the bottom. So, I ripped back to where they looked even, and hardly cried. Aunty Margrethes socks are at the heel (going up from the toe) and suddenly I am seized by uncertainty - how to proceed? I find myself retreating to the scarf. It is so fuzzy and soft and comforting and predictable.

Danish or English? Reptilian Lace.

I live in both worlds. It is hard to choose. English is my mother tongue, so maybe that is easier.

New on the needles: Keeks purple club Reptilian Lace socks are fast approaching the toe. Thank you again Savia Harding for your help! It was quite something that a great famous designer would have patience enough to help a tiny anonymous knitter like me.

Also on needles: a Danica scarf (pattern from knitty.com, natch) for BigBro knitted in alpaca, a pair of toe-ups for beloved Auntie Margrethe. Lurking and waiting to be cast on: a pair of Austrians from Favorite Sock for Mum. Hey, socks are fun. Do not come here and tell me that just because the project fits in my purse that it is not serious knitting.

Så - at leve i to verdener, det gør det ikke nemmere, men jeg vil nyde flytte fra Danmark!

Nu på pinde: Reptilian hulmønster i lilla til min Lille Pige. Også, tørklæd til storbro, strømper til Tante Margrethe (hende den høj elskede), blandt forskellige andrer. Jeg har forberedt til de strømper der skal strikkes til Mor - de bliver spændende.

Det er sørgelig at nogle folk ikke finder strømper til at være "strikning for alvor". Bare fordi det passer i tasken betyder ikke at der er manglende insadts i det!