I used to knit. I went through a knitting phase about 13 years ago and I started to knit some beautiful patterns. Then I got distracted and I have a pile of unfinished projects.

Early this fall I noticed some gorgeous, simple scarves knit with chunky wool. How hard could they be? I decided to find out and I picked up the needles again. That was 4 weeks and 9 scarves ago. I am hooked (or should I say needled?).

I've checked out 3 yarn/knitting stores in town (Three Bags Full, Birkeland Brothers and Homecraft on West 4th) and each has its unique charm. All of them have helpful staff and classes so I find myself asking a lot of questions and getting pointers and tips. There are a lot of great resources on the internet with instructional videos and tons of free patterns.

Now if only I can learn enough to try something more complicated than a scarf...

Wednesdays are special at our house: we've reached the mid-week hump, I have the evening off at yoga class, there's French class at preschool. But most importantly, on Wednesdays the mid-week bundle of flyers arrives on our doorstep. And in that bundle is the Canadian Tire flyer.

S is obsessed with Canadian Tire.

He insists on us reading the whole flyer to him. Not only do we have to tell him what an item is, we have to read the blurb under it. I now know more about nail drivers, routers and reciprocating saws than I need.

I can see the attraction. S loves anything to do with tools, building, machinery and cars. Canadian Tire covers it all. He's not all that interested in the housewares pages but he's beginning to show some interest in the sporting goods ones (Roland's been talking about skating and hockey).

Looking for a deal on a power inverter or a new set of winter tires? Let us know and we'll keep on eye on the flyer for you.

S has been attending preschool for 2 1/2 months now. At first it was hard to pull anything out of him. Whenever we asked what he did at school, he'd say, "I don't know" or "Nothing." But now little bits of information are trickling out of him unprompted.

This week he told me about his music class and about the songs his music teacher has been teaching: a song about reindeers, "Bonhomme Bonhomme" and a song about Hanukkah.

We had told him that not everyone celebrates Christmas and we had mentioned Hanukkah to him before but hadn't gone into any details. Tonight he gave us a lesson in Hanukkah:
-Jewish people celebrate it
-they used to burn oil
-the menorah is a big candle stick holder
-they light a candle when it's dark and let it burn all night
-people have a big party and the kids play with a driedel
-they eat potato pancakes

I'm impressed that he has actually retains so much. I'm also impressed by what the teachers are teaching (e.g. winter holidays other than Christmas!).

When I asked S if he'd like to make latkes and play with a dreidel, he said, "But we're not Jewish." I reassured him that it would be OK for us to celebrate Hanukkah too.