Eureka!

I think I have discovered the secret to getting quick service at the tax office. My original plan was to take plenty of WIP's to work on while waiting and if all else failed, threaten to turn the kids loose at their tiredest, whiniest most impulsive stage. Apparently having projects to work on had the same effect as scheduling a doctor's apointment for a sick child. All problems suddenly clear up and the child becomes the picture of health... as you pull into the parking lot, leaving you to look like a paranoid parent.

Everything went really well this year. I was pleased to see a diferent set of women working in the office (much more confidence-inspiring than the last crew). There was no line, so as soon as they switched off we were able to get started. The woman doing our paperwork was fantastic. She knew about deductions and regulations I had never heard of and helped us tremendously. Not only did she help with the taxes, but she's a mom too and quickly whipped out clipboards complete with paper and pens and asked the boys to draw her some pictures. She came up with all the appropriate "oohs and ahhhs" and even gave them tape to post their artwork on the wall. Mega Kudos to her.

There were a couple sections that applied only to my husband, so I did have a chance to work on the dishcloth. It's a lace pattern that I've been wanting to try and I really do like it. Please don't be fooled by the language you may hear while I work on it. The pattern has an eight stitch repeat. That's all... eight little stitches. Why, that's not even a whole handful. I still have two fingers left over. I enjoy math, I like numerical puzzles, I have even been known to use algebra in real life. So perhaps someone can explain why I appear to be unable to count to eight. Eight is a nice number. It's about as round as you get (It's twice as round as zero.) I have nothing against the number eight. As a matter of fact, I always thought that "8" and I had a good relationship. Apparently, I was wrong. I only had time to knit a couple rows, but on row 17, I finally was able to work the row correctly the first time.

I thought I would post a couple pictures of my projects, but my camera had other ideas. It has an old war wound from a run-in with a tile floor a couple years ago. (I swear I was using the wrist strap! To this day I'm not sure how it fell.) If the damage weren't to the hinge that keeps the batteries in, it wouldn't be a big deal. However, my camera seems to think it needs these batteries in order to function. Oh well, perhaps a portion of the tax refund can go toward purchasing a new toy visual-image-storage-device. I'll keep my fingers crossed. If I finish my projects before I get a new camera, I'll just have to cast-on something else...