Isolation

Death means permanent isolation from those that you care about.
Sudden unprepared death is shocking,
a temblor to one's core.
It's been hard to breathe.
Someone so central to our lives over the last three years,
someone that we would see every day is gone
forever.
We never said goodbye,
until after he was gone.
He knew how much we appreciated him however.
We knew how he felt about us.
Crying hasn't been this profuse since
my world was shattered in 1984
when my father died
suddenly as well.
I know that only time will
begin to heal the hurt.
Why do good people always go long before they should?

Off the Needles, On the Hook

Here's a closeup of a scarf that took one day to knit.
I modified a pattern from Twinkles Weekend Knits
and used up a Rowan Big Wool Print yarn that has
languished in my stash for a long while.

This one is still in progress.
It's a Rowan pattern called Bark that I have wanted to make for years.
It is crocheted in a quarter circle to make a shawl.
Eventually it will have a picot edge of Rowan Big Wool Tuft.
I have started this pattern at least six times with different yarn combinations in the last few weeks, ripping countless stitches and rewinding ball after ball. Now I think I have found a combination that I am happy with. The pattern is supposed to be made with very thick yarn and when I worked it up in that yarn it was too stiff for my liking. This may be a great pattern to start using up the expansive stash pile, or I may use up the stash to make a stripey knit blanket.

Note: I have ripped the whole shawl. I didn't like it after all.

Make Us Proud

Bring light into darkness.

Make the important things count like quality education for all, safe bridges, access to medical care, safe food, renewable resources for energy, clean air and water, upholding real human rights, and an unquestionable democracy. Banish greed, access to power only through special interest, war. Embrace diplomacy, freedom of ideas, personal choice, peace, prosperity for all. We need you more now than ever before to lift this country out of its hollow to become a haven for truth and rational thought.

Best wishes to this land of ours.