Current Crochet WIP: Snow Girl Sweater

I'm starting this sweater, which has been a WIM for some time, and is now a WIP:

http://www.freepatterns.com/search.html?parent_cat_id=&usage=&criteria=snow+girl&x=0&y=0

because someone on the net contacted me out of the blue asking for help with the decreases.

The Constitution

"The Constitution is not
an instrument for the government to restrain the people,
it is an instrument for the people
to restrain the government — lest it come
to dominate our lives and interests."

Patrick Henry, first governor of Virginia    

Checks

"The regular distribution of power into distinct departments; the introduction of legislative balances and checks; the institution of courts composed of judges holding their offices during good behavior; the representation of the people in the legislature by deputies of their own election... They are means, and powerful means, by which the excellences of republican government may be retained and its imperfections lessened or avoided."

Alexander Hamilton, 1787        

Sundries

Explosion:  The fire is finally out, and the dangerous smoke cloud went out to see.  No fatalities.

On the crochet front:  I made a scrunchie using ribbon yarn.  I have to be straightening out the yarn constantly in order to show off the yarn properly. I gave it to my dd, and will ask her to send me a picture.

On the personal front:  I did something to my back, cannot figure it out.  It's all strained and cannot move easily.  My head also is about to split open.  Oh boy, what a way to go through this day.

Today is my Work Anniversary!  It's been 1 year since I started working for Fearless Boss, so I decided to buy some gourmet Puerto Rico bakery cakes and had them sent to him.  He picked it up last Saturday and told me it made him happy. He, in turn, had lovely carnations delivered to me.  They are beautiful!

Dangerous Explosion on the Island

This picture was taken by my husband from a balcony at his work, aprox. one mile away from the Gulf refinery.

  At least, I THINK it's called a refinery.  There was an explosion at around 12:30 a.m. at a refinery in Bayamón.  That's about 20 minutes away by car, closer as the crow flies.  It rocked the island and was felt all the way to St. Thomas, one of the US Virgin islands.

My son, the Danny Boy, felt it, too.  He said it was slight, a tremor, but those in Bayamón felt the thing rock the house, as if it were 4 on the Rickter (sp) Scale.

Eddie has been waiting for traffic to go down, but it isn't.  He's close to the airport now and says that he can see a terribly large black cloud coming, from Bayamón.  Also, someone called him just now that the windows at his business are all blown out from the explosion.

THANKS BE TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, no fatalities.  I understand that 11 containers exploded, and we don't know why, yet.  Some Fire Marshalls are coming to the island today, too, to help out. 

I've been feeling miserable since I ate those strawberry Pop Tarts, and hope to God that the cloud won't come over here.  You can see some pictures here:

http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/

This month has been a terrible month for the island, so many bad people doing bad things.  Perhaps they will pause a bit and think about what is truly important, God, family, life, instead of greediness and power.

Please pray for our island.

Crochet Sting Ray

Now I know what my wayward crochet shawl reminds me of... It looks like a sting ray!

Stingray drawing here.

Picture here, third picture, right column.

*sigh*

"Five-thirty Feeling?"

I'm watching a movie starring Ginger Rogers called "Kitty Foyle" and it mentions "that five-thirty feeling".  Does anybody know what this means?  I've done a search and can't find any explanation.  I'm hoping my American friends might know.

Thanks.

Bribery

“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress
discovers that it can bribe the public
with the public’s money.”

-- Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian

Not Paying Attention to What I'm Crocheting...

causes me to do this:


I'm not using anybody's pattern, just my own pattern for a half-granny square, and then adding single crochet borders and any other combination I fancy...
The edge is supposed to be STRAIGHT!!!  Instead, it looks like, like, I don't know what it looks like, but certainly not like a straight edge.

Jeff Gordon was looking, just in case I had a laser light he could chase; he seems to think that it's some sort of a mouse:

So after unraveling too many rows to mention, this is what's left of several hours of work.  I refuse to unravel any more.  Once I'm done with it, I'll put half double crochet, single crochet along the top edge to even everything out.


This does remind me, though, of mistakes and sin.  You make a mistake, you sin, and there it is, which, unchecked, is off just a little bit, not enough to notice at the beginning.  After a while, it forms a pattern that little by little shows, and before you know it, it's not straight, and you are off-course.  The remedy, in my shawl's case, is unraveling.  And no one will ever know it was wrong; as if it had never happened.

In MY case, when I sin, I ask for forgiveness, to God in Jesus' name, and His atonement, His sacrifice, has eliminated my sin debt.  As if it had never happened.

There is comfort in all the unraveling, if I learned a good lesson.

If Freedom of Speech is Taken

"If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent
we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."

President George Washington

A Successful Marriage

Now, who this person is/was, or he never existed, is not something I know.  I *do* know I like the quote, and it bears reproducing here.

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times,

always with the same person." -Mignon McLaughlin

More On Freedom

"If a nation values anything more than freedom,
it will lose its freedom; and the irony
of it is that if it is comfort
or money that it values more,
it will lose that, too."

Somerset Maugham,
English playwright and novelist

            

Tyranny

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."

President James Madison

To Fring Or Not To Fringe

that is the question.  Does this shawl need fringe?  (Dave, any jokes about "lunatic fringe" and you're in trouble).

Missy

Here is Missy, a cat that Honorable Son #1 saved and Honorable Son #2 claimed as his own.  She is the epitome of "fraidy cat". Really.  She is afraid of everything.

On the home front, I have stuck in this house for week and finally decided to go out today with my DD, to Borders.  I did not imagine that Borders would have a sort of demonstration of some sort of religion called yoga and without warning any of the patrons, had incense burning.  I wanted to run out screaming, instead, I bought a book I had no intension of buying, and left quickly.  That was so inconsiderate.  No thought for asthmatics, or allergy sufferers at all.  I can't believe it at all.  It spoiled my outing since, once I get one of these attacks which mimic asthma attacks, exposure to any other allergen could have me gasping for breath even worse than today.

Totally unfair and uncool.

Well, here is Missy.  BTW, I'm allergic to cats.

My Shawl

My daughter is modeling the shawl.  I only need to weave in the ends after the single crochet border.  After experimenting with different stitches, like treble crochet, double crochet, granny square triangle, half double crochets, I decided that this shawl had to be as simple as possible in order to show off the lovely yarn.  It's just too busy to in itself to show off combination of stitches, so, with a Size H Susan Bates hook, I made this shawl using double crochet only.

Nothing else, just double crochets.  It shows off the yarn's beauty, and when I needed to unravel, was able to do so fairly easily.

Thanks for looking at my shawl and for the compliments for my daughter.

:)

Original post with the yarn
Details of the yarn:
cisne POPCORN
Distribuido por COATS
Vila Nova de Gaia - Portugal
93% Acrylic
7% Nylon
COURTELLE
50  G
Made in Great Britain.