Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Dark Days

"The end of freedom is imminent when the fee for a modest handful of rights is our great halo of liberties. " The Dark Wraith

That quote is a response to the attempts of some in the Republican Party to repeal the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution. This is the amendment which imposes a two term limit on the Presidency. This was proposed in the House on 02/17/05 and is, I believe, still alive in committee.

I think we should be able to vote for whoever we want to, regardless of how long they've been in. If they're doing a good job, they should be allowed to continue their service. It takes away lame duck years and should inspire optimal work from the person seeking office.

The problem with repealing this amendment now is the fundamental lack of faith in the current electoral process. We cannot allow the lying, manipulative and evil people currently in power to even have the chance of electing themselves to a dynasty by stealing the election.

I've always had a healthy skepticsm of my government, republican or democrat. The founding fathers seemed to think it was important to challenge our leadership. While being the best devised system in this world, it's still has one major flaw; it is run by people. The best government is no better than the corruption level of the people running it. That level appears to be downright toxic at the moment. Is there one thing this administration has said or done that is the truth? I'm hard pressed to think of a thing. Every thing they've done, every thing they've said, has been lies and manipulations. We're losing, and rapidly, the mechanisms by which the people's voice is heard. We're losing our civil rights and liberties. We're leaving behind a large segment of the population, the one most unable to fight for itself.

And now, our fearless (chickenhawk) leader will surrender control of our ports to one of the very countries reputed to have terrorist leanings toward our country. He just announced that he will veto any legislation that attempts to block the control of six Eastern ports, some of the most vulnerable entrances to our country, ports that handle the loading and unloading of our MILITARY equipment, passing to the UAE. How can this make sense to anyone?

I'm literally sick to my stomach thinking about what this administration has done to this country. George wanted a legacy, did he? He's got one. It will take decades for the financial and political harm that he has done to this country to be truly known, and far longer to reverse it. I hope he's proud.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Still more...

This is a prayer shawl I crocheted for my asbestos friend, Barbara, for her birthday. It's a lovely turquoise color which is just so BARBARA, and so soft it's like buttah. Oh... I do wish I took better pictures. Sigh.

Then there's this: Santa brought a deck of cards that were approximately one inch tall. Very cute; but what happens when you take them out of the plastic wrap? So I crocheted a tiny little bag to store them in. Again, the picture only looks like a blob of blue. Sad.

Tomorrow, I hope to get pictures of the hooded sweater I knit for Son #2. Unfortunately, he's rather severely ill at the moment and not up to modeling. Here's hoping he improves over night and avoids the dreaded doctor visit.

A couple more, if Blogger lets me...

This is a capelet I made for a Yahoo Crochet Along group. I love the pattern; it's so pretty and feminine. The model is Paulette, my boss's wife. The color, though it looks blue, is really a seafoam green. I really REALLY need to learn how to take photographs.

This is actually the second one I made, and was commissioned by a friend for a Valentine's Day gift. I like the pattern so much I'm on my third edition. Other WIPs are a summer top in "Sassy" yarn, the World Traveller bag for me which will be felted, a knit Magic Scarf in eyelash yarn, and a couple of secret projects for future gifts. Hardly leaves me any time to learn my drop spindle...

My handmade things

This is what's kept me busy over the last couple of months:
This is a pair of Christmas stockings I made for my wonderful mother in law, Dorothy, and her new husband, Bill. It was rather an achievement for me as I didn't have a pattern and had never made anything like it before. I think they turned out rather elegant.



Even though we're in Southern California, it does get cold here at night, and my soft hearted husband worries about our two little Yorkies, Sugarplum and Rocky. So I made them some sweaters. Rocky manages to keep his on for a while, but Sugar somehow gets hers of and must bury it in the back yard, cause we can't find them ANYWHERE. I've made her at least four.
This is a baby blanket I made for my boss's wife's daughter, who was having her fourth boy. It's made from a boucle yarn, which was a revelation to me. I had stopped crocheting and knitting because I was bored with the yarn; it's amazing how much has changed! New colors, and new textures and blends! It made me excited again, and fueled this new obsession with fibercraft.


I wanted to add more pictures, but blogger isn't cooperating, so I'll try again later. I am having a blast with this fiber stuff!

Saturday, February 11, 2006

I'm Back!

Ok, so it's been two months since I've posted. With birthday week, Christmas, New Years and a couple of personal issues, time has flown. Not to mention my obsession with politics just got overloaded. Can you believe how much you've been lied to?

Anyway, I've gotten back into an old obsession; crocheting, and some knitting. I've been a wild woman whipping out sweaters and capelets and wrist warmers and snoods and all kinds of stuff. I'll get pictures up soon. I'd like to turn this into a business at some point. I'm also learning to spin my own yarn, and will try my hand at dyeing too, sometime. So I've been pretty occupied. Luckily, my darling husband is incredibly supportive, even of the amount I've spent one Ebay on new yarns!

I'll try to keep up with the blog now and again; but right now, it's back to crocheting!