friends crack scarves choir

[ciroccoj]

It's a miscellaneous kind of day.

Took kids to choir and swimming and there was much drama at both. At choir, Anne's son Garry having a bad day and being himself around Justin, which is never a good thing. Basically, he and Daniel get along great, but Garry is a total *&$# with Justin. Snatches toys out of his hands, makes fun of him, tells him he can't play with them, the works. Justin responds by being annoying and getting upset. Daniel sides with Garry. Today this caused several meltdowns, and resulted in Justin wailing for about a third of the rehearsal.

Had a long, long talk with Daniel and Justin about it afterwards. To wit: Garry is a good friend to Daniel, but he has some problems being nice to Justin and this is a problem. We cannot change Garry's behaviour. We can, however, change our own. Justin will henceforth stay away from Garry as much as possible. I will entertain Justin when Garry is visiting. And Daniel will, on pain of ending the friendship, not side with Garry against his little brother. And hopefully, some day in the (probably very distant) future, the three will be able to coexist peacefully.

I don't envy Anne. She's a wonderful parent, but Garry has a lot of problems. Whenever I think she's letting him get away with too much, I remind myself of all she's had to do to get him to this stage of social acceptability. And she's not helped much by the homeschooling community, many of whom see Garry as a little troublemaker and shun them both, without stopping to consider that Garry (and Anne) have many positive traits, and that shunning will certainly not help either one of them improve Garry's behaviour.

I might understand if Anne were the sort of parent who feels their bratty little terror can do no wrong, but she's not. She's quite aware of the fact that he has problems, and dedicated to helping him deal with them.

Oh well.

***
At swimming, Justin learned the hard way that when the teachers say "dont' run on deck", they mean it. Because if you do, and you slip and crack your head, you will cry a whole lot. And Mama will come and cuddle you and you will get ice to put on your head and people in bathing suits will ask you to follow their finger and ask if you feel like throwing up and fill out some accident forms. And except for the cuddling, none of it is terribly pleasant. And the cuddling in no way makes up for any of the rest of it.

***
In other news, I'm trying out a brand new writing technique called "write a story from beginning to end." Brand new to me, anyway. It's quite fascinating.

See, Leslie and I once compared our writing styles and she came up with the "knit scarf/quilt" analogy. Basically, if you write from beginning to end, with or without a definite plot in mind, as she did, you're a Scarf Knitter. If you write random little scenes, maybe with an overarching plot in mind, maybe just fiddling around, then one day you take your scenelets and try to figure out what your plot should look like and in what order the scenelets should be plugged in, then move them around, stitch them together, fill in the blanks, then finish them off with some fancy topstitching (formatting, spellchecks, etc), you are a Quilter.

From asking around, I've found that most people are Scarf Knitters. I'm a Quilter, and have been since (checking ff.n profile) January 2002 :) And yet I've currently got a 62-page scarf on my hard drive. It's such a bizarre way of writing. How on earth do you Knitters do it?

***
Two choir concerts this weekend; one two-song blip on Parliament Hill tomorrow morning with HBLN (homeschool choir) for the Peace Song Circle, the other on Sunday with Harmonia.

Comments

[bear.livejournal.com]

How on earth do you Knitters do it?

Simple: I knit washcloths, not scarves. :) Or possibly, scarves and not blankets.

[tudorlady.livejournal.com]

How on earth do you Knitters do it?

Because we can't not do it that way.

Or, possibly, because we cracked our heads on the deck once too often at a formative age.

::looks thoughtful::

[jessebee.livejournal.com]

The knitting/quilting analogy is fascinating. I never thought of it that way before. I think I'm a knitter. Then again... ::considers all the little bits floating about on the hard drive::

Break a leg with the choir performances! :-)

Um well

[animaltalker.livejournal.com]

there is one terrible think about kntters, and that's that some of us have been known to put half finished scarves out on display. Sometimes people fall in love with them and want to know when you're going to finish them and then real life comes along. The worse thing is when one's muse says, you know I'm tired of that scarf let's knit this other one, or suddenly says, you know it's not going to be a scarf after all, it's going to be a cardigan sweatr, let's rip out that section and through a cable in it.

I love the analogy. My Mom was a fabulous knitter (the nuns taught her, so she knitts European style, I watch people knit American style and all I can think is how exhausting it looks in comparison to how my Mom knitted) and the women of my father's family all quited. So of course I can't do either.

Hope Justin is feeling better. Sounds like he had a tough day. IF I were him I'd want to curl up with a warm kitten or a blanky.

here's hoping tomorrows a better day.

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe it has to do with the way we read? I read so much, scarflike as books are wont to be, that it's hard for me not to try to write that way. I do think I like the quilt method better though; it's a lot easier to keep bits of work intact even when you decide the whole structure has to change.

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

Writing-wise, I am definitely a scarf-knitter. Which is interesting, because in real life, I am a quilter. (Essay-wise, I am a quilter, yes, but what I mean is, I sew quilts. And can't knit to save myself.)

[snarkhunter.livejournal.com]

Quilter here, too.

Both literally and figuratively, though the literal quilting isn't coming along very quickly.

Too tired to get into detail. *hugs to you and the boys*

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

Quilter here, too.
Wow. That makes you one of maybe two or three fellow quilters I've come across in like, ever. Neat :)

[cassatt-2.livejournal.com]

And yet I've currently got a 62-page scarf on my hard drive. It's such a bizarre way of writing. How on earth do you Knitters do it?

1. Outline. Sometimes works, sometimes makes the writing really boring. 2. Start with the initial scene and see where it takes me, or how it takes me to whatever the next one will be. Usually, a fairly entertaining way to knit a scarf.

I'm finding that the more I write fanfiction, the more I want to be entertained along the way. I want the surprise, too.

And, I've always thought that your description of your process sounded like a highly entertaining experience. More power to you, for being able to create something that's ultimately cohesive. All your stories are.

[ciroccoj.livejournal.com]

And, I've always thought that your description of your process sounded like a highly entertaining experience.
It is, actually. A little stressful when I get to the part where I organize the scenelets, but it's pretty neat to see it come together. And it's very nice to hear that it's ultimately cohesive :)

[kaylarudbek.livejournal.com]

Heh. This is quite the interesting analogy, as I'd say I'm more of a Quilter-style writer than a Knitter-style, but in RL, I know how to knit but not how to quilt. (and in RL, I have five projects on the needles at once....)