Brought to you by the letters B and C

B is for Beth's Brambler and C is for Clare's Chevron. 

                 

                                Brambler by Anne Hanson, Shibuiknits Sock yarn in Mulberry

            

          Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, Cherry Tree Hill and Great Adirondack yarns

Wow, two FOs this week!  Can you believe it?  In all honesty, the Chevron scarf was about done.  It's a few inches shy of the recommended length, but I'm happy with it.  (It's a gift for my friend Clare, who I now hope hasn't been reading my blog!)  I was a little tired of knitting it and I wanted to free up the needles.  I thought they were the size 3 needles that I need for Alhambra , but they're size 4.  My size 3 needles are in my Clapotis.  I'll bet you can guess what my knitting goal is for this week.  :)  And I'm  excited about Brambler.  I'll really enjoy wearing it when it cools down a bit.

May I ask a quick question of you?  Do any of you have experience with Facebook?  The kids and some of the staff in my daughter's school use it and I'm wondering if you feel that it is a safe thing for young teenagers to sign up for.  Thanks for any advice you can give me.  Navigating the teenage years can be challenging for a parent.  But I think it may be easier than going through it as a teen.  :)

Comments

[mia]

Great scarves! I personally don't use facebook, but if it were me, I'd keep my kids as far away from those kinds of sites as I could for as long as I could. If used properly, it can be quite harmless.. but there's lots of weirdos out there.... and a LOT of them are on Facebook.

[Carole]

Both scarves are great but I really love that chevron scarf. As for Facebook, Hannah has had an account for a while. I think it's actually safer than My Space. My recommendation would be that you create an account for yourself and have your kids friend you. That way you can keep an eye on what they are doing.

[paula]

Love the scarves. I have kinda wanted to make the Chrevron one off and on. I have been on Facebook for a while, only dealt with other librarians, knitters and college students but I don't think I would want young kids (below college age) on there. I do think Myspace would be worse.

[Terrie]

I love both scarves!!! They look great :) I agree with the previous comments about Facebook. I think it's safer than MySpace, and if you sign up and "friend" your daughter you can keep an eye on her :)

[Leah]

Lovely! I especially like the Chevron. The colors are fabulous.

I'm gonna have to check out Facebook. I know nothing about it, but my 17yo has a myspace account, and it has always made me uncomfortable.

[Sheepish Annie]

Nice job on the scarves! Both look great!

I don't use FaceBook, but I think it's like anything else out there, online or otherwise. If kids know to be careful and understand how to keep themselves safe, then they will be fine.

[KM]

The scarves are great. I'm with Carole. You need an account first. My small group girls from our youth group got into some trouble on MySpace. They were mentioning when&where they would be meeting friends. We talked, they created an account for me, and then they knew I would check their pages/comments etc. They were much happier knowing they could still message friends but really wanted to be safe. The bummer thing is that kids can be mean on these pages too. Someone posted a photo of one of my girls and said some mean stuff. Just because it's not to your face doesn't mean it hurts. I really think though that this is a place where you can teach safety through the account. In a few years, she'll be doing this stuff at college and it would be better if she's had some guidance first.

[Marti]

Oh My gosh! when I loaded your page I was in awe of the brambler. That is awesome! Then I scrolled down and saw the chevron. I am in love with both of them.
I haven't messed with facebook but I do have a myspace. There are actually alot of girls and adults I know who have them. I check my daughters our regularly and feel pretty safe. We have our accounts set for privacy which means someone can find a "profile" of us that has little info on it and then they can request to be added to friends. It keeps away the weirdos. I would pray about it and then make the decision.

[Mary]

Hi Beth, my turn to play catch-up and I hope my 2 cents don't come in too late with regards to the F-cebook stuff. (keeping the searchbot stats down)

I was checking these sites out for a friend doing a paper on them. F-cebook is what I decided to try. It is not as "open" as M-Space. You have to be a member to "browse" people you might know. And you have to be their friend to see more than their name and profile picture. I like this aspect a lot. You have to be friends to have them write on your "wall" and if you are your daughter's "friend" you can see everything but the private emails. There is email.

There are also "games" and quizzes that are age-appropriate...you can send people "beer" and play poker.

The sad thing is that the mean and weird folk are going to abuse any of these sites, even neopets.com isn't safe and that started out all about the games and collecting "neopoints." (Yes, I'm a member as well. My students used to send me messages before they outgrew that and proceeded onto the more "teen" sites like M-Space and X-nga.

My advice is for you to join and see what you like and don't. I can't remember how old "E" is but I know my 8th graders were super into having sites and profiles to share their likes and their music tastes and what was 'hot'. That's probably why the staff uses it. If E becomes "friends" with her teacher and you? I think maybe the chance of mean things being put on her wall might diminish.

On the scarves--rock on! What made me chuckle is that I've been blasting away at one of my scarves because I thought it had the needles I wanted...but was wrong...only now I'm so close to finishing it seems a shame not to!

[Ruth]

Hi, love the scarves.

I use facebook. I don't accept friend requests from people I don't know, and I've set my privacy settings so that only people I have confirmed can see my profile.

Lots of my students I used to teach have facebook and many of them are friends with their parents. I think if you talk with her about internet safety and make sure that she knows the people she links with and set the privacy settings right it can be ok. But if it was my daughter I'd be monitoring it.

[katie]

Hey Beth! Great FOs! I use facebook. I just started really finding it fun, bc a lot of my old HS friends recently started joining. But I'm very careful about my privacy. You can set it so no one can see your profile unless you "friend" them first. But it's one of those things I can see being used the wrong way. I have heard of teens ganging up on each other online and it doesn't sound nice. However, like someone else said, you can "friend" E and then you can watch everything that happens on her page.

If you sign her up, I can check and see what shows on her profile to someone who isn't in her list of friends.