No finished-objects, but here are some in-progress shots:



The Zelda sweater. Front and back are done (I'm making the possibly risky modification of putting the neck stitches on holders rather than binding them off, as the pattern directs. We'll see if it works).



This is the sock of KnitPick's "Dancing" in the color called "Tap." I was not expecting the green and orange stripe to show up.



Finally, this is the "pelt" of what will eventually be a Stegosaurus

I don't know if I'm the only one out there who "talks back" to radio or television advertising. But there was a radio ad this morning that made me a little mad. It was for some purveyor of television programming (a cable or satellite dish company) that was talking about combatting "Bored Kids Syndrome" - implying that if you bought their service, you would never have to deal with bored kids again.

It made me mad because until the company identified itself, I thought it was going to be an ad for libraries, or some such thing. I really don't think plonking your kid down in front of the television is an appropriate response to their complaint of being bored.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not one of those anti-tv militants. I have a television. I watch television. There are some programs I enjoy immensely. But, I don't think it's a one-size-fits-all solution, and I certainly don't think it's a good idea to respond to "I'm bored" with "Okay, go turn on the tv then." Doesn't teach a kid a whole lot, other than that you can use television like a drug to combat boredom (Though frankly, when I'm bored, television often makes it worse).

I remember what my mom did when my brother and I were kids and complained of being bored. She:

took us to the library
gave us crayons and paper and suggested something to draw
showed us how to make paper dolls
told us to go read a book
got out a book on origami and some origami paper and told us to have at it
sent us outside to play
got out a board game and played with us
asked us to help her in the kitchen
asked us to help her clean
asked us to help her in the garden
gave us garden tools and a packet of seeds and pointed us to a vacant patch of the garden and told us to plant our own garden
got out books that she had bought for us and was just saving up for such a time
taught us how to play games she played when she was a kid
gave us empty paper towel rolls, empty shoe boxes, scraps of paper, and told us to make stuff.
taught us to sew (yes, my brother too. But she never taught him to crochet or knit, as she did me).
told us to go clean our rooms
let us build "forts" in the living room out of chairs and blankets
asked us to write her a story
told us we could bake cookies IF we cleaned up the kitchen afterwards...

I realize all those things take time (and some take money) but I think they do more to build a certain degree of boredom-resilience in a person.

Actually, I think the "Combatting Bored Kids Syndrome" would make a wonderful public-service ad (as in: how to be a decent parent) if they included some of those things, rather than just plopping the kids down in front of the tv. ('Cause frankly, even with the cartoon channels, there's not that much on that's interesting in the afternoons any way).