Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
A Pittance of Time-Please Remember Our Soldiers on this day of Remembrance....
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 | In Flanders Fields | ||
The association of the poppy with remembrance has been around for at least 110 years prior to being adopted in Canada . There are records during the Napoleonic Wars, which mention how quickly poppies grew over the graves of soldiers in the area of Flanders , France . The person who was responsible more than any other for the adoption of the poppy in Canada was Lt-Col John McCrae . John McCrae is the author of the famed poem “In Flanders Fields” and was written during the First World War. John was born in 1872 and raised in Guelph , Ontario . He was more than a poet; he was a doctor, a soldier, an author and an artist. At the early age of 15, John McCrae joined the Highland Cadet Corps and became a bugler in the local militia regiment of artillery commanded by his father. John later joined as a gunner. John McCrae graduated at the top of his class in medicine at the University of Toronto and in 1899, was awarded a fellowship in pathology to McGill University in Montreal . He unfortunately had to leave university to go to South Africa with the artillery (Boer War 1899-1902). In 1914, McCrae again offered his services to the military. He was conditionally offered the position of Brigade Surgeon in the First Brigade of Canadian Field Artillery. He was made responsible for a field dressing station at the front and treated those wounded during the Second Battle of Ypres in the spring of 1915. When he was needed, he also served on the guns and occasionally performed burial services. After performing the service for a friend, Alexis Helmer, McCrae was inspired to write “In Flanders Fields”. The poem was written May 3, 1915 . In 1918, while working at the Number 3 Canadian General Hospital in France , McCrae became ill with pneumonia. Pneumonia soon became complicated by meningitis. Four days before he died, he was honoured by being the first Canadian appointed as consulting physician to the first British Army. John McCrae died on January 28, 1918 and was buried with military honours at Wimereaux Cemetery in France . At McCrae's funeral procession, 75 nursing sisters stood by to watch and McCrae's horse, Bonfire, wore his master's boots backwards in military tradition. For more information, please visit our Dominion Command website at: Today is Remembrance Day (in Canada) and Veterans Day (in the USA), please remember our war veterans this day at 11:00 am with a 2 minute moment of silence. In this day of commercialism is has become a day of acquiring and just a day off of work. Today when you see a veteran or a service personnel in uniform please stop and give them a moment of your time to thank them for serving our country. These are brave men and women who have sacrificed lots, and sometimes their lives, so that we can be free to live ours. Here is a video that really opened my eyes to this day. Thank you Terry Kelly for writing this beautiful song. The song is called A Pittance of Time. Cora | |||
Monday, November 9, 2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Crafting idea for the Holidays from favecrafts.com
Sunday: Christmas Ornaments and More
FaveCrafts.com Editor
P.S. If you love to crochet, you may be interested in our new launch of Hooked on Crochet newsletter. Subscribe now.
- Little Angel Crochet Ornament (shown)
- Nature's Quick and Easy Ornament
- Stackable Holiday Trays
- Peppermint Bead Bracelet
- Festive Advent Calendar
- Crochet Pumpkin Beanie (shown)
- Pumpkin Hat Knitting Pattern
- Spider Coasters
- Cable Cardigan with Hood
- Fashion Leg Warmers
- Candy Corn Halloween Bracelet (shown)
- Pumpkin Bead Bracelet
- Eye-full Halloween Purse
- Spider and Webs Bracelet
- Ruby's Slippers
- Halloween Invite and Favor Set (shown)
- Playful Pumpkin Patch
- Spooky Halloween Party Servers
- Ghostly Decoration
- Bright and Bold Halloween Table
FaveCrafts.com Editor
P.S. If you love to crochet, you may be interested in our new launch of Hooked on Crochet newsletter. Subscribe now.
Monday, October 26, 2009
I love the designs that Kim Guzman has come up with.
Sweetheart Ripple Afghan from Crochet World Magazine February 2009.
Some people on Ravelry have come up with sime ingenious ways to use this pattern.
A Camera Bag
A Tote Bag
What about the St. Petersburg Coat? Isn't it gorgeous?
You can find Kim at Ravelry, Facebook, http://www.kimanedesigns.net/, http://www.kimanedesigns.net/, http://kimguzman.wordpress.com/, and on twitter. She is one busy lady, check out her designs she is phenomenal!
Cora
Friday, October 23, 2009
From the Crochet Me Blog...
Posted: 22 Oct 2009 11:43 AM PDT
Choosing a Variegated Yarn
They create color variation and patterns spontaneously without the need to physically change skeins of yarn. As I began playing with different variegated yarns for this week’s newsletter, I began exploring a few of the different ways these variegations are created within a skein of yarn. These different methods can create a different look in your overall project.
Some yarns ply, or twist, together strands of different colors. They may use one yellow strand, one light blue strand, and one dark blue strand as in this example. This creates a variegated yarn that will have a consistent variegation throughout the entire project. A yarn like this will not create sections of color, but instead will have a regular “variegation.
The most common type of variegated yarn is one in which the entire strand of yarn morphs from one color to the next. You can really see the transformation from one color to the next in this pink, white, and brown yarn. When finding a yarn of this type for crochet, you want to make certain that there is a long stretch of each color. This will make the colors pool and create unique patterning. If the color stretches are too short the stitches will just look mottled with color changes occurring too frequently.
A yarn such as this yellow one uses more subtle colors, working with colors from a pale yellow to a deep yellow. A yarn such as this can create great depth in a project without noticeable pooling of colors. For this reason the length of each color is not as important, though good size stretches of each color might still be beneficiary.
This yarn changes colors too quickly as you can see. Some of the colors, such as the dark blue, are no more than 2 inches long. If you are working a tall stitch, a single stitch may use more than one color. While that is fine occasionally, if this consistently happens the colors become confusing to the eye.
A few yarns use both the first and second methods mentioned here. This yarn plies two variegated strand of yarn with a single strand of white. The single consistently colored strand will tie all of the different colored sections together. However, it is still important to find a yarn with adequate sections of each color. This particular yarn was a sample I chose specifically to show that the color sections need to be long. They are too short in this sample.
The best way to learn which variegated yarns create the affect you are looking for is to play. What are some yarns that you have found work well?
Best wishes,
Toni
They create color variation and patterns spontaneously without the need to physically change skeins of yarn. As I began playing with different variegated yarns for this week’s newsletter, I began exploring a few of the different ways these variegations are created within a skein of yarn. These different methods can create a different look in your overall project.
Some yarns ply, or twist, together strands of different colors. They may use one yellow strand, one light blue strand, and one dark blue strand as in this example. This creates a variegated yarn that will have a consistent variegation throughout the entire project. A yarn like this will not create sections of color, but instead will have a regular “variegation.
The most common type of variegated yarn is one in which the entire strand of yarn morphs from one color to the next. You can really see the transformation from one color to the next in this pink, white, and brown yarn. When finding a yarn of this type for crochet, you want to make certain that there is a long stretch of each color. This will make the colors pool and create unique patterning. If the color stretches are too short the stitches will just look mottled with color changes occurring too frequently.
A yarn such as this yellow one uses more subtle colors, working with colors from a pale yellow to a deep yellow. A yarn such as this can create great depth in a project without noticeable pooling of colors. For this reason the length of each color is not as important, though good size stretches of each color might still be beneficiary.
This yarn changes colors too quickly as you can see. Some of the colors, such as the dark blue, are no more than 2 inches long. If you are working a tall stitch, a single stitch may use more than one color. While that is fine occasionally, if this consistently happens the colors become confusing to the eye.
A few yarns use both the first and second methods mentioned here. This yarn plies two variegated strand of yarn with a single strand of white. The single consistently colored strand will tie all of the different colored sections together. However, it is still important to find a yarn with adequate sections of each color. This particular yarn was a sample I chose specifically to show that the color sections need to be long. They are too short in this sample.
The best way to learn which variegated yarns create the affect you are looking for is to play. What are some yarns that you have found work well?
Best wishes,
Toni
Hate Crimes Legislation Heads to President Obama’s Desk
Hate Crimes Legislation Heads to President Obama’s Desk
By voting overwhelmingly to extend to these often-targeted Americans our nation’s decades-old bias crime legislation, senators sent the message that hate crimes will not go unpunished, and local governments and law enforcement agencies will not run out of financial resources to provide justice to these victims and their loved ones.
The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act was attached earlier this year to the annual Defense Department spending bill, and Thursday’s 68-29 Senate vote to approve the final House-Senate compromise on the defense bill now sends this important law enforcement provision to President Obama, who has vowed to sign it.
Under the legislation, federal prosecutors could step in to try violent hate-crime cases if local authorities cannot or will not secure an appropriate conviction. It also opens up federal funding for law enforcement to handle the typically high cost of investigation and judicial proceedings in such cases, and would make grants available for training and prevention programs at the local level.
The act is named to honor Matthew Shepard as well as James Byrd, an African-American resident of Texas brutally dragged to death in 1998 in a notorious hate crime. Matthew’s parents Dennis and Judy Shepard have campaigned for the legislation’s passage for more than a decade since their son’s murder in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998 in an anti-gay hate crime.
The Matthew Shepard Foundation applauds Congress and President Obama for their steady and successful efforts throughout 2009 to bring the legislation to this point. We eagerly anticipate its final enactment and wish to thank the countless organizations and individuals who have worked tirelessly for its passage.
Yahoo, about time is all I can say!
Cora
Saturday, October 17, 2009
I had a nice suprise in my Ravelry inbox yesterday...
Almost 2 years ago (February 12, 2008) a young man Lawrence (Larry) King had been shot in the head by a classmate of his. Larry happened to be gay who was out a young age. Larry died two days later in hospital at the age of 13. I found out about this remarkable young man about a week later, through a post on a Ravelry thread. It turned out that Larry was a crocheter, along with his mom.
The circumstances aren't so cut and dried though. He was adopted, with his birth mother being a drug addict. So Larry was dealing with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome which has its own problems. Among these are socialization and impulsive issues. At the time of his death he was in the custody of Children Services. There had been documented behavior issues.
Larry was often bullied by the other boys, although we may never know the full extent of the bullying. Larry was often seen as the "instigator" in the situations, however I believe that had more to do with his socialization and impulse issues than Larry "planning on ticking thes boys off". In today's society we are seeing sexual exploration at a much earlier age. If you don't fit in you are screwed.
So I searched out more information and came across a website called In Memory of Lawrence King. I posted a comment in the Guestbook, which is the third to last comment. I also started a Ravelry group and a blog as a way to remember this extraordinary young man.
Now to go to what happened yesterday...I heard from Larry's mom, Dawn King. Dawn thanked me for my kind thoughts and prayers. Dawn also explained to me about the scarves.
This is Dawn's explanation in her own words..."Yes Larry and I started doing the scarves for the troops here because of the 3 military bases all within a 1/4 mile from our home.. and he found out a lot of them don’t ever receive mail or packages from home and he didn’t want them to feel forgotten.. so we crocheted and collected goodies to send care packages the the CB base to be sent the troops over seas.. 1st yr they went to Iraq 2nd yr sent Afghanistan , 3 yr Romania.
This yr, I am doing it in his memory.. Its hard with him not by my side helping but I know he is here in spirit and it keeps me going."
So if you are interested go to Ravelry group or blog to find out more information on what you can do to support the troops, whether in the US or Canada.
Cora
The circumstances aren't so cut and dried though. He was adopted, with his birth mother being a drug addict. So Larry was dealing with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome which has its own problems. Among these are socialization and impulsive issues. At the time of his death he was in the custody of Children Services. There had been documented behavior issues.
Larry was often bullied by the other boys, although we may never know the full extent of the bullying. Larry was often seen as the "instigator" in the situations, however I believe that had more to do with his socialization and impulse issues than Larry "planning on ticking thes boys off". In today's society we are seeing sexual exploration at a much earlier age. If you don't fit in you are screwed.
So I searched out more information and came across a website called In Memory of Lawrence King. I posted a comment in the Guestbook, which is the third to last comment. I also started a Ravelry group and a blog as a way to remember this extraordinary young man.
Now to go to what happened yesterday...I heard from Larry's mom, Dawn King. Dawn thanked me for my kind thoughts and prayers. Dawn also explained to me about the scarves.
This is Dawn's explanation in her own words..."Yes Larry and I started doing the scarves for the troops here because of the 3 military bases all within a 1/4 mile from our home.. and he found out a lot of them don’t ever receive mail or packages from home and he didn’t want them to feel forgotten.. so we crocheted and collected goodies to send care packages the the CB base to be sent the troops over seas.. 1st yr they went to Iraq 2nd yr sent Afghanistan , 3 yr Romania.
This yr, I am doing it in his memory.. Its hard with him not by my side helping but I know he is here in spirit and it keeps me going."
So if you are interested go to Ravelry group or blog to find out more information on what you can do to support the troops, whether in the US or Canada.
Cora
Some really cool ideas from When Creativity Knocks...
Ironing Board Sofa Table
Knitted Cuff Bracelets
Here is the website for the videos. You should really take a look.
Knitted Cuff Bracelets
Here is the website for the videos. You should really take a look.
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The “Proselytize Knitting” Badge - A requirement for all Knitting Scouts, the recipient must do his or her bit to present knitting in a positive light, whilst at the same time avoiding all references to “hipness”, grandmothers, and yoga. 
The “MacGyver” Badge (Level One) - The recipient must demonstrate clever use of a non-knitting tool in a knitting-related scenario. For instance, recipient has used paper clips as stitch markers, or successfully whittled and then utilized bamboo skewers as dpns. 
