Watching Harry Potter at the quidditch match Just a friend and I in December '05 on a trip my husband and I took to London, England, with another couple. This is in the stairwell of a huge toy store in London. Every landing was illustrated with a selection from Harry Potter. Cool, huh! I actually climbed stairs to view all the different levels...I think there were seven floors at least. I L-O-V-E Harry Potter, and hope that the Queen knights (or whatever) J. K. Rowling for what she's done to promote the love of reading, especially in BOYS!

By the way, if any of you object to Harry Potter on the grounds that it promotes wizardry in young children, please, I do not mean to offend you, but let me say this: When I was a little girl, I REALLY, REALLY wanted to be a ballerina. I borrowed ballerina books from the library and devoured them cover-to-cover. I put on my little tights and turtleneck and stood in front of the mirror practicing the six basic positions. I dreamed about being a ballerina. I begged my parents for ballerina lessons -- no dice! Oddly, I did NOT become a ballerina, and I doubt that your children or any others will become wizards from reading about Harry and his friends. Just my $.02. Oh, and have you read fairy tales to your children? Have you let them watch Disney movies or The Wizard of OZ? pssst! there's magic in those, too! just thought you should know...

So, anyway, why did I start knitting again? Fast-forward to the winter of 2002. My son and his girlfriend (now his wife) were at our house to watch the Superbowl. The Packers weren't playing, so who cared? Future DIL and I were bored and I asked her if she wanted to learn to knit. Why yes, she did. Out came the (obligatory) size-10 needles, but we did NOT start a scarf. Her mother was pregnant for her little brother, and Future DIL thought she'd like to knit a baby blanket. A blue one. We found some blue Red Heart and I showed her how to cast on and do the basic knit stitch.

Basic baby blanket, knit every row. Despite the Grip-O-Death on the needles and yarn, she did quite admirably, so I sent her home with her project, confident she would succeed. I, by the way, had discovered how much I missed knitting.

Fast-forward again, a couple of months this time. Bear in mind I haven't seen said blanket since Superbowl Sunday. Son and Future DIL show up at the house, and she says, " I think it's big enough. Can you show me how to finish it?" I began to bind off. She caught on right away, so I turned it over to her. It seemed that there were more stitches than I'd remembered...lots more...infinitely more. Many, many stitches later, I discovered that Future DIL had made a half-dishcloth-shawl, accidently making one increase in the first stitch of every row. It was square across the bottom (the original cast-on row), then flared perfectly to arms' width! Her mother loved it.

And then I discovered sock knitting...next time!