Tying Shoes Raises a Question

My granddaugher has outgrown her tennis shoes. We have always bought her the velcro shoes because she can put them on herself. Well, this time my son went shopping and came home with tennies that will need to be tied. He thought it was probably time she learned how to tie a shoe anyway. After all, she will be 5 years old soon.

So...as we each have shown Ariel how to tie her shoes, my family discovered something. All of the men in our family taught her how to tie her shoes one way and all the women in our family re-taught her "the correct way". Which raised the question...why do men and women tie shoes differently?

The men all gathered the loop on the right side holding it with their right hand and going around it with their left hand. The women all gathered the loop on the left side holding it with their left hand and going around it with their right hand. This, of course, led to some timed contests of who could do it faster. Not that my family is competitive or anything. :-)

So...which way do you loop your shoestrings when you tie them. Do you "right-loop" or "left-loop"? And are you male or female? It would be interesting to see if there are any men out there who "left loop" or women who "right loop".

And it raised another question...who taught you to tie a shoe? I know I was probably the one who taught my son to tie his shoes. But I sure didn't teach him one way and then do it differently myself. So somewhere along the way, he switched to the other way.

Now I know this has nothing whatsoever to do with knitting...but I was just curious to see if my family was just weird or possibly normal. Everyone in my family has been going around asking folks how they tie their shoes. I wanted to get in on all the fun...so I decided to ask you. It will be fun to see the results.

Back on the road to good health

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately. I have replaced blogging with coughing for the past 2 weeks. I just haven't had the energy to keep going at the same pace as before. Not a fun exchange...but one none the less. But now that I'm feeling a bit better...and coughing a little bit less...I'll try and fill you in on some of my knitting projects.

First of all, my UFO report. I finished my Panda Cotton socks!

I started these socks with my first 2 "Learn to Knit Socks" classes last spring. But since I'm trying to finish up UFOs this year, I worked on them a bit more and they are ready to wear. You should see these short-cuffed socks on my feet this spring when the weather turns a little warmer.

Many of you have noticed the gorgeous Crayon Box Jacket hanging up at the shop. Lisa made this jacket for her sister, and not only loaned it to us to admire, but offered to teach this class for us as well. I took the Crayon Box Jacket class last year at Market, but got to the class late and never really got a good grasp on how it worked. So I decided that when Lisa gave the class that I would be one of the students. I must say this has been a fun class...but a bit challenging. There are a lot of decisions to make along the way...such as which design to do each mitered square in...and which color(s) to do it in...and whether or not the yarn chosen needs an add-along yarn or not. But what fun it has been to see the various colors come alive. I chose to do mine in turquoise and purples...with a little pink, blue and lime added in for fun. So far, here is what my sleeve looks like.

I can't wait to finish this jacket. It should be hanging up on display in the next couple of weeks. Lisa has agreed to teach this class again on the Tuesdays in March. If you're interested in taking the class, be sure to sign up ASAP because I know there are a lot of folks interested. This is definitely a one of a kind jacket. A great way to use up some of your yarn stash...and add some new ones also. And it will sure bring out your creative side! Oh...the other gals in the class are making some absolutely beautiful jackets as well. We just might have to have a fashion show to show them all off.

Looking Back at 2007

Well, the new year of 2008 has arrived. I've thought a lot today about all the changes that have happened in my life this past year.

New Adventures...
This time last year I was about to begin one of the biggest adventures of my life...opening up a yarn shop. It hadn't been a long-time dream of mine...just an idea that began in the middle of the night. But the thoughts of having my own shop would not go away. It was my first thought every morning and the last thing I thought of before drifting off to sleep. The idea would not let me go...even thought I argued back that this was simply ridiculous. Afterall, I had never own my own business and I didn't have a clue of where to start. But the sheer joy of having something of my own...as well as envisioning how happy others would be to have a new yarn shop in town kept me going.

This time last year my house could hardly be decorated for Christmas because of all the boxes and boxes of yarn sitting around.

And I still remember the day I came home to find 13 large boxes of yarn sitting outside my garage door!

But even with wall to wall yarn at home, the first time I went into the empty rental space where I was going to open my shop, I looked around and said, "I'm going to have to buy more yarn to fill this place up!"

And the rest is history. Today, The Yarn Haven, has twice as much yarn as when I opened...and more is always on it's way!

New Relationships...

Another exciting event in my life this year was the marriage of my oldest daughter, Elizabeth.

After being a single mom for several years, we were glad that she and Matt tied the knot and gave her oldest son a new Daddy. We planned a simple ceremony and Elizabeth was a beautiful bride.

New Challenges...

And then around August our granddaughter came to live with us full-time. She has been a joy to have around, but it's been an adjustment to having a 4 year old to take care of. We enrolled her in preschool and she absolutely loves it! Our son comes home every weekend from Birmingham, where he is in pharmacy school, to see her. She loves her Daddy and can't wait to see him each Friday.

2008...

So 2007 was filled with new adventures, new relationships, and new challenges. My thoughts and prayers for 2008 is that it will be a year full of wonderful memories of family and friends...and I wouldn't mind a little more calm and balance in my life as well. :-)