Blatherskite

pretty weed, originally uploaded by CraftyMoni.

These are actually weeds! They are growing all over the place around here.

Why, hello there! How are you? Good, I hope. I thought I would tell you a little story that happened earlier this week. Monday, in fact. At my Massage Therapy appointment.

First of all, I haven’t really told you much about massage therapy. I like it. I guess. It seems to be working. It definitely has helped with my problem of cramping muscles after the accident. So that’s good. I was very nervous about going at first. And still a little bit now. I am the kind of person that hates getting her hair cut because I am a little shy and not good with conversation while people are doing things with my hair. I hate the dentist for the same reason. And the doctor. I have recently been lucky to have found a very good hairdresser/dentist/doctor that make me feel comfortable. And my massage therapist has been pretty good in that regard, as well.

But this past Monday was different. First of all, the appointment was in the afternoon (not the morning ) and he seemed a bit chattier that usual. I suppose that’s fine, but I would rather relax during my massage than chit chat. We talked a little bit about the weekend, my job, etc. Then we went on to the news. Specifically, the horrific earthquake in China that happened that very morning. I thought it was a little weird that he would bring up something so devastating during my massage, but o.k. Then he said, “your going to see more and more earthquakes like this and worse.” So I asked, “why do you say that? what do you think is going to happen?” I mean, he seemed to have some knowledge of some future events and I was curious. But as soon as the question came out of my mouth I regretted asking it. He launched into his “End Times” theories and how we are are “very close to the end times right now.”

I won’t go into it with you here. You probably know them already. We are in the end times right now and there are all of these things going on right now that prove it: Food Shortage, Earthquakes, wars, Tony Blair and his “Faith and Globalisation” speech, blah blah blah.

ugh. I just listened and pretended to be interested. What else could I do? Just get up and leave (not a possibility at all. And if you’ve had a professional massage you know why)? So I lay there and listened. Taking it all in.

I have told you before about my Christian past. In my past life as a born-again crazy-ass Pentecostal Christian I believed and studied these end-time theories. I really thought this was all going to happen, Armageddon, the Rapture, the second coming of Christ. All of it. And deep down inside the whole thing scared the hell out of me. It didn’t make me happy. I didn’t rejoice in this (but I pretended to). It really just scared me, more than anything (Along with lots of other things including the idea that people could be possessed by the devil, but that’s another blog post). I got out of the church more than ten years ago and it took me many, many years to clear some of this fear out of my mind and my psyche. I think my experience with the Pentecostal Church screwed me up a little bit psychologically. I probably should have gone to a Psychiatrist because of it, but I have managed to work it out myself over the years.

When my massage therapist started talking to me about this some of that old fear came back and I started to question myself. I actually started to think, “Wow. He’s kind of making sense.” That old Fundamentalist Christian logic bubbled right back up to the surface. It’s kind of scary how I quickly I fell back into that way of thinking. But thank you skeptics . I read a few things that shook me back into the realm of logical thinking.

This episode has made me come a little bit closer to the realization that Christianity is not for me. I have nothing against Jesus. Jesus was cool. I just really have not had the best experience with the religion. I realized that my experience really kind of messed me up. I was brainwashed. And I am still, more than ten years later, having to deal with it. I know that not everyone has had this kind of an experience so this is not a generalization. This is totally personal. But I have come to realize that Christianity(as I have experienced it) is a religion based in fear. I don’t want to live in fear. Simple as that. I just do not want to live in fear. Been there. Didn’t like it. At all.

So I continue to look at Zen Buddhism. And I am liking what I see. I can’t believe I am actually in a place to even consider another religion other than Christianity. That thought would have really scared me not that long ago (I’d be going to hell if I thought about something else). But I moving on. It is liberating.

swirlies, originally uploaded by CraftyMoni.

From my day at Hogg Canyon earlier this week. I just like the pattern of the swirlies in the water.

I have to apologize for being so lame this week. I have a good excuse, though. I am on vacation and have been enjoying my garden. I’ve been working my butt off, planting, sowing, and mowing. It’s been great! So I may or may not be a bit lighter on the posting since Spring has finally arrived to the Inland Pacific Northwest.

This is the Baby Surprise Jacket, pattern from The Opinionated Knitter. This was super fun to make. Folding it up at the end really just adds the icing to the cake. For mine, I used some worsted hemp/wool yarn in my stash and followed the instructions as given. I think this will fit a 1 year old (but it’s hard to say since I have no 1 year olds to try it on.). My original plan was to do the whole thing in green but I quickly got bored of that and added some blue stripes. Then I decided to switch things up at the end and do blue as the dominant color with green stripes. Fun! I decided to do an i-cord bind-off (which I had never done before). I also did applied i-cord around the whole thing before seaming the shoulders. That really took up a lot of extra yarn, which was good since I’m stash-busting. The buttons I found in my Great-Grandmother’s button tin.

I’m already planning my next one! And, no, I’m not knitting this for any particular baby. This is really practice for an Adult Surprise Jacket down the line. I’ll keep it on hand as a gift.

Here’s the Ravelry page if you’re interested in the details.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I bought this book. I wanted to go into more detail on it for you. Really, it can all be summed up to: I love it! I don’t know why I waited all of these years to buy it. It is a true gem, especially if you love Elizabeth Zimmerman. I’m probably preaching to the choir here. I’m sure all of my knitting friends already have it and know what I’m talking about.

The book is a collection of All of Zimmerman’s newsletters from 1958-1968. The newsletters came about when EZ saw the printed version of her (now famous) knit-in-the-round fair isle yoke sweater published in Women’s Day. The pattern called for the knitter to knit it in pieces and then seam it up! (can you believe that?!?) So she decided to print her own patterns and send them to people as newsletters. The book contains all kinds of fantastic patterns that include the Baby Surprise Jacket and the Tomten jacket. And they are published as they originally appeared, with EZ’s handwritten notes, and all. They are wonderful.

Included in the book are her writings about all kinds of things from her love of skiing, to camping, and many more that I have yet to read. She was such a wonderful writer. I love her style. There are also really fantastic photographs of the knitted items from the newsletters as well as photographs from various stages of her life.

And I have to say, I cried at the end of this book. Yes, I did. I cried at the end of a knitting book. The last piece of the book is the Wool Gathering letter that was sent out reporting the death of EZ to her subscribers. And then a list of notes from her readers telling how much Elizabeth meant to them. It is so incredibly touching that it brings tears to my eyes right now.

I’ve mentioned this many times before, but I learned how to knit from reading Elizabeth Zimmerman books, specifically Knitting Workshop and Knitting Without Tears. I feel very at home with her style and I love it. Zimmerman is like my knitting grandmother. Her writing just makes you feel like she is in the room with you teaching you how to knit, chatting away with you and telling you stories.

I decided to start knitting the Baby Surprise Jacket pattern from this book. It truly is an engineering marvel. I’ve been knitting along, sometimes questioning the pattern, but knowing that there is no way there is a mistake in it. I’m just knitting this thing on pure faith right now. I’ll show it to you on Monday.

have a great weekend!

Solitude, originally uploaded by CraftyMoni.

I took this last Sunday while on a walk at the Columbia Plateau trail at the Fish Lake trail head. If I could paint Sumi-e I would paint a scene much like this.

Primary Loss and Furor Over Ex-Pastor Hurt Obama in Poll - New York Times
Senator Barack Obama’s aura of inevitability in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination has diminished in the wake of his loss in the Pennsylvania primary and the furor over his former pastor, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

I have to say. I’m disappointed that this is happening to Obama. I like him. I so want him to win. We need him. If he doesn’t make it then I will vote for Clinton. Because any Democrat is better than McCain (and, thus, the status quo). But I have to say I am very disappointed in Hillary Clinton’s tactics during this election. I am just so sick of all of the negativity. But am I surprised that she is like this? No. She has always been pretty cut-throat. This is nothing new.