Derby day

Yesterday was Cub Scout Pack 248's Pinewood Derby. Aidan was very proud of his car, Emerald Raptor:


Aidan designed the shape and look of the car and although James used power tools to cut out the car, Aidan did all the sanding and painting.

As always, there were many different designs and color themes:


Parents, grandparents, friends and Cub Scouts were excited about the races and the new track, which was purchased with money raised by the Scouts from the popcorn sales. Each car raced six times, one race per lane, and the match-ups were determined randomly by computer.

Here is Emerald Raptor racing down the track in lane 1:


Aidan anxiously watched his car:


In that particular heat, his car came in first. I was able to snap this photo of his car in another heat, this time in lane 6, heading to the finish line in first place:


It was a fun afternoon at the races; the Cub Scouts were well behaved and the adult volunteers kept the pace of the racing fast. Aidan had four first, one second and one third place finishes. His car qualified for the finals, which will be held on Tuesday night at the pack meeting. Go, Emerald Raptor!

Eye of the beholder

Just a simple U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail box ready to mail?


Absolutely not - this box contains a weight off my mind and a monkey off my back!

My January resolution was to finish knitting a vest for my mother, what I called the "bleepity-bleep" ribbon vest. Way back in August of 2010 during a visit with Mom, she took me to her local yarn store and showed me a vest that she wanted me to knit for her. It was made out of Cascade Egeo, a ribbon yarn, and although I had never worked with a ribbon yarn, I said yes. I was such a fool.

Knitting with ribbon yarn is very different than knitting with other yarns, I soon learned. I won't go into all the details, both because the details are boring to non-knitters and because I still twitch a bit when thinking about the yarn, but trust me when I say it is a PITA. I started the thing a half dozen times, only to drop stitches and have to frog back. I put it in timeout for months on end. I think I even threw it across the room a few times. Finally, I hitched up my knitting needles and just got down to business.

When Mom visited here over the holidays, I showed her the almost completed project and she seemed pleased with it, which made me all the more determined to get it done (not to mention that I could really use the bag it was in for another big project). So I promised my mother that she would have the completed vest by the end of January and I resolved to get it done.

And I did! Here is the finished project:


I won't lie; I don't think it looks nice at all and I see every mistake I made. But if my mother likes it, then what I think is totally irrelevant. And if she does not like it, I will probably never know; we moms tend to think that everything our offspring makes is wonderful.

It is such a relief to have that project completed, boxed and ready for the mail. Now back to knitting projects that I actually enjoy!

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Speaking of knitting, I somehow missed my fourth knitting anniversary on January 20 - I guess I was too busy swearing at the ribbon vest - so happy belated anniversary to me!