What's In Store in 2024?

I don't make New Years Resolutions anymore; my experience is that big ideas/goals get lost in everyday life leading to disappointment. Instead, I just live one day at a time, making sure to be grateful for each day I am given.

That being said, I woke up to 2024 knowing that we have a huge electoral process facing us!! I decided that it is high time that I ramp up my efforts to exercise my civic duty. I've made minimal efforts in the past; going door to door in my nighborhood to encourage my neighbors to vote; making phone calls to get out the vote; but this time is different!

A friend on Facebook must follow a very large amount of sites; and I am enjoying the Memes she is posting daily. So I began sharing them on Facebook. Shortly I realized I was "preaching to the choir." So I opened up my page to the public in general hoping to reach more people with different outlooks on life than me. I have so far only focused on the themes of "kindness" and "acceptance" of opinions that differ from mine.

Belonging to the group Braver Angels has given me a new way of thinking about conflict and how we can learn to avoid devisiveness by listening to divergent thoughts. "I can believe that a viewpoint is completely wrong without believing that everyone who holds it is ill-motivated." I have come to believe that we are who we are because of life experiences that have effected our thinking. From a young age or any age along the continum of growth we have developed into persons guided by external forces and less often by efforts to understand our own deepest inner selves.

We live in a world full of anxiety-producing stimulus in the form of social media; vast numbers of news outlets all with differing focuses; and bloggers like me who are free to talk about whatever we want. Please do not be dismayed and let your self fall into apathy about the power of your vote. Make the effort to research things you hear that don't seem valid. My most disheartening experience while encouraging my neighbors to vote in 2020, was one who said, "Why bother? It won't make a difference." It WILL make a difference if we all get on board and do our parts as citizens of OUR great country!

"The self-evident truth that "all men are created equal; endowed by their creator with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" remains the powerful philosophical and moral foundation of a successful foreign policy no less than it is the foundation of the American republic itself. Yet, as we are seeing today, the advance of freedom and democracy is not a straight path, but one that also sustains setbacks. Americans have kept their Republic and built it to be strong, but it will only remain so under constant vigilance." from: The American Experiment

All of this weighs heavily upon me; and I hope I am not dragging you, my readers, down; but instead have given you a boost of energy to go forth and do your part to save our Democracy this November with your VOTE!!

I remind myself often that it is always okay to laugh in order to not cry. I must admit that I enjoy sarcasm, but am working on avoiding its " thinly veiled attempt to disguise anger." Please indulge me; I hope this next Meme brings you a laugh!

I readily admit I have stepped out of my comfort zone with today's blog! The need to express myself has been growing inside me for some time. I fervently hope that you can accept me for who I am. I do not expect you, dear readers, to always agree with me. I accept that you may have beliefs that differ from mine. We can accept our differences without having to compromise our own beliefs; and hopefully it will lead to a relationship that can begin to heal wounds and devisiveness.

I am still hopeful that we can come to understand the importance of maintaining this beautiful and powerful democracy that we Americans enjoy and sometimes take for granted. It is up to us, the VOTERS, to get to know those who hope to lead us in 2025. So, research their backgrounds, look at the facts and GET OUT TO VOTE. Falling into apathy is defeat and your vote counts!

This year we have an opportunity to save the experiement that is Democracy or watch it go up in flames.

Craft vs. Fine Art: How is Crochet Blurring the Lines

I was awakening to the world of crochet in 1972,a time of immense artistic expression through fiber arts; and crochet was not the “ugly stepchild” at the time. In fact, Ferne Cone Gellar who I admire as a successful fiber artist said in “Knitting: The Stepchild of the Fiber Arts?” ( Fibercraft Newsletter 1978), “Has knitting been slighted among the areas of the fiber arts? The very word ‘knitting’ evokes images of the little old lady in tennis shoes. Over the years, I’ve learned to ignore all those jokes.” Cone Gellar went on to publish Crazy Crocheting in 1981 and encouraged her readers to create more than bedspreads, providing ideas such as “things to play with or to display on a shelf or hang on a wall.” A photo of single crochet from bread wrappers served as inspiration. In 1972 in her book, Creating Art from Fibers & Fabrics , Dona Meilach wrote: “Why are fibers and fabrics becoming increasingly appealing to artists? Most artists agree

Wartime Crochet With Attitude, Part I

Wednesday, October 30, 2013 Karen Ballard and I have a mutual love of free form crochet. We met for the first time in a class taught by Prudence Mapstone of Australia at the Chain Link Crochet Conference 2011. I admire Karen's vast knowledge of needle work history and am grateful for her willingness to share with us as my guest blogger this week. Karen wearing a World War II-era knitting hat with stubby needles on top Karen's Heritage Heart, with flowers symbolic of her heritage, is currently on tour with Prudence Mapstone's traveling "Hearts & Flowers Exhibition" in Australia and New Zealand World War 1 Attitudes About Crochet by Karen Ballard In 2008, I coined that term, "Workbasket Campaigns" to describe the organized efforts during World War I (WWI) and World War II (WWII) coordinated through the American Red Cross {ARC} and the Navy League to create needle crafted items. These items were mostly knitted but also sewn, qu

What is Free Form Crochet?

Monday, January 6, 2014 This topic came about from the title of my article recently in Fiber Art Now magazine. "Crochet As Art: A Conversation with 5 Free-Form Crochet Artists." Yes, the 5 artists I wrote about, all of which are in my book The Fine Art of Crochet , are free-thinking when it comes to their creativity. They are free-wheeling with the hook and use unique fibers in many cases. Once you read the article, tell me what you think? Are these artists doing free-form crochet? In order to define free-form crochet, we must look way, way back to it's origins: Irish crochet. A brief history of crochet, including the Irish method, written by Ruthie Marks is available through The Crochet Guild of America . Unfortunately, there are no images on the site. On her blog, Nancy Nehring has a beautiful montage of Irish Crochet in reference to a class she taught in 2013 at Lacis . I wrote an article in Old Time Crochet Magazine (Spring 1998), "History of Irish Croc

Crochet Queen: Royal Ramblings

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