Bits and Pieces

K1's comments got me thinking .... I have a cross-stitch piece I started in 1992 and still haven't finished! Every now and then I pull it out, but I just can't get myself to focus on it. I think "craft" kinds of things have to really match one's personality. I like crocheting becaue I'm fast at it, plus I always have to think a little bit because I crochet backwards, kind of. I come from a family of lefties, even though I'm right-handed. There's several things I learned left-handed (like all "manly" things ... tools, etc. from my dad), including crocehting, which I learned from my left-handed aunt. So, she couldn't figure out how to show me right-handed, so I watched her and learned - except I didn't fully reverse what she was doing, so my patterns turn out flipped (front/back). I have other right-handers show me how to do it the "right" way since, but after years of doing my way, I just can't get the hang of it the "right" way! So, I'll continue doing it my way and refiguring patterns! I also use screwdrivers and hammers both left- and right-handed, knives left-handed (almost always), clean both handed (doesn't matter which hand I have a cloth, vaccum, spray bottle, whatever and I use them both at the same time to get done faster), and so on.

It was interesting when Harrison was born, it was obvious he was right-handed by the time he was 10 months. Clay on the other hand used both hands equally, for everything except eating, which he did left-handed consistently. He would actually color with both hands at the same time in pre-school! In kindergarten, he gradually went to handwriting only with his right hand (no pressure from teacher, who was a leftie). So now he writes with his right hand, but most other things he does naturally with his left: plays pool left-handed, shovels left-handed, cleans left-handed, tools left-handed ... however, he bats right-handed. About 7 - 10% of the population is left-handed, but it tends to be genetic, so some families will have much higher percentages. Two right-handed parents will produce around 9 per cent left-handed children, two left-handed parents around 26 per cent and one left and one right-handed parent around 19 per cent. (http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/faq.html#percentage) Being ambidextrous (or in psych circles, cross-laterality)is very rare (probably less than 2%). Clay is left-footed; usually people are same footed as handed, but not always (a good way to tell is to notice which foot gets into the pants first or which foot you begin walking with).

It is interesting to note that even though left-handers are such a minority of the population, they comprise the majority of individuals with an IQ over 140. Another interesting tidbit is that the majority of people with an IQ over 130 are introverts (well, that shouldn't be surprising as introverts prefer reading to almost anything else in the world!).

So, I'm working on my eggplant colored sweater and now have about 9 inches of the back done. We'll see how I progress on this project!