Sunday, October 28, 2007

"I Can't Hear You!"

Over the past several weeks, the United States government and corporate media, which currently seem to be one and the same, have demonstrated their political strategy of selective hearing in terms of current events. I have also observed plenty of evidence that many American citizens seem to be voluntarily plugging their ears to some of the harsh realities that our world is currently facing.
The devastating fires in California, drought in Atlanta, and flooding in New Orleans that have made the headlines over the past several weeks, seem to provide substantial evidence that something with our earth is not right, especially for human habitation. Just when I thought that maybe the politically driven corporate media might begin to publicly acknowledge the devastating toll that human action is taking on our planet, they came through again with another politically driven explanation of these events. Apparently, terrorism may be to blame for the recent fires in Southern California. That explanation seems like a really good way to shift the blame away from climate change, land use policy, or anything else connected to the ever-innocent leaders of the United States.
So, I 'm back to thinking that even if you are screaming the truth in someone's ear, if they do not want to hear it, they will find a way to literally or metaphorically plug their ears. So, perhaps the best way to move forward is to try to work with the public that is listening, particular to the youth in this country, to become critical consumers of a corrupt media.

More positive blog next time, plus knitting content.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Colorful Cuddling

This past Sunday, we took a drive up to the Northeast Kingdom, specifically St. Johnsbury. The colors were brilliant. We finally got a bit of rain and the weather had cooled down a bit, which provided the perfect conditions for the green trees of summer to transition to various shades of orange, red, and yellow. It was one of those days that you try to file in your brain for times to pull out and cheer you up during less joyful times. Two other great thing about the fall weather finally arriving is that it motivated me to finish a few knitting projects I had put aside and it means increased cuddling opportunities. Below are Robb's fit adorned in the lovely handknit socks that I made him. I had cast aside his socks a couple of months ago since it was sandel. The combination of his September birthday and the beginning of fall inspired me to pick them back up. Aren't they handsome? Oh, and my feet are adorned in the finally completed socks made out of soft merino yarn in Pippi's gorgeous Jammin' colorway. Now those are four happy feet!

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Foliage and Fiber Unite

First of all, congratulations to Brenda for winning my Blogiversary contest. Brenda informed me that she has been involved in that backbreaking fall ritual of stacking wood and I think she deserves some nice new yarn to sit down and knit with. If she were going to Rhinebeck, one of the Vermont vendors that she would like to visit is Shepherd's Flock, a company that makes lovely slippers. Excellent choice.

It's Vermont and it's October, which mean colorful trees and usually cooler temperatures. The trees have been changing, but the temperatures have been more typical of July than early October. While I am concerned about the unusually warm weather, I have allowed myself to take advantage of it. This past Monday afternoon, I went for a wonderful hike with Ella T. Dogg up Worcester Mountain. It was a little cloudy near the the top, but I was still able to enjoy the view in the photograph above. I have done this hike probably 5 times in the past year and, as the seasons change, it always feels like a completely different experience. Ella, as usual, was full speed ahead, zigzagging across the trail and running off the trail periodically to mark her territory.

Here is Ella considering a little bath and showing a stick who's in charge.
Inspired by the colors and beautiful sunshine of the past few weeks, I decided I would do some outside dyeing. So I gathered my 5 skeins of undyed Sylvan Spirit, which is 50% tencel and 50% wool, and set up a work space in the driveway. I used jacquard dyes, which have a very brilliant color, but muted them by overdying. I had a lot of fun playing with all that color and fiber. When I was done, I had 5 skeins of beautiful yarn (if I do say so myself). I