Shame on hipocrites -- Things that I cannot leave unsaid today

Hipocrite:

1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion

2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

My blog usually is not politically faceted and I mainly state my liberal views in privacy, but today I feel compelled to write this post about issues that deeply anger me.

The so-called defenders of life turn to threaten the lives of democratic politicians, their children and grand children. Shame on you...and to mask your hate with religious reasoning or conservative views is just a plain blasphemy.

And as a born and raised Catholic I feel ashamed about actions of the official church: covering up the crimes of a child molester. Hasn't there been enough wrong-doing in the name of the church?

No wonder many Non-Christians state : I like your Jesus, but I don't like your Christians.

The pictures and headlines:

Pope failed to defrock U.S. sex abuse priest

Vatican halted trial after cleric’s plea for leniency to future pontiff

(NY Times article)

Democrats face death threats and vandalism over healthcare reform bill

Bricks thrown amid calls to violence on web forum as Senate wrangling continues

(Guardian article)

Cotton or wool, that's the question?

It's officially spring, but the weather can't make up its mind seems like.

After we were covered in a blanket of snow on the weekend (seriously, a winter storm in March) we enjoyed one sunny warm day at the beginning of the week just to drift back into semi winter/spring mix with clouds, chills and some sunshine in the evening.

The new hippie tams listed reflect the mix of the seasons:

cotton and open weave and some chill chasers aka warm dread tams.

(listed on Etsy and on my website, links on the right menu bar if you want to check them out:)

German Deli Surprise

My son and daughter in law had a great way to surprise me the other day...with a package from a German Deli.

Many goodies that I have missed for quite some time. And as often it is the very basic simple things that give the most joy:

bread rolls with poppy seeds, Mohnbroetchen:)

candy, Haribo:)

natural mineral water, Gerolsteiner

(There were more goodies in my box..Wurst, Salami, desserts....and they are disappearing pretty fast, too)

Hippie retro crochet from the 70s

is such an inspiration.

Mainly for entertainment I ordered craft magazines from that era on Etsy, but I think I will actually attempt to make some similar designs for the shop, or myself.

Enjoy the cult of outrageous crochet designs:)

New Tams in Hemp Blend

Crocheted with glass blue and soft green "Elsebeth Lavold" Hempathy yarn, a hemp/cotton/modal (plant fiber) blend in pretty spring colors.

Off-white version in Hempathy.

Less feminine but still cute enough for the ladies: Hemp and virgin wool blend in natural, ash blue and muted burgundy

Larger and more rustic: hemp and virgin wool in rust, natural and walnut brown, great for the guys, too

(Just freshly listed at Purple Sage Designz)

I have not advertised my shops in ages, and I am proud of it.
How come, you will ask?
It proves that my listings have a good chance of being found by google searches. I love google.
It's my #1 way of searching for products, and I am glad it works for me as a seller as well.
(Okay, okay, I hate facebook and twitter, am too frugal for paid ads and like to keep my blog more personal... :)
Today I wanted to show off the new tams crocheted with hemp blends. And add a bit of info about hemp yarn as an industrial/commercial material (wikipedia is my best friend).

Hemp

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about industrial hemp.

Hemp (from Old English hænep) is the name of the soft, durable fiber that is cultivated from plants of the Cannabis genus, cultivated for industrial and commercial (non-drug) use.

In modern times, industrial hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food, and fuel,^[1] with modest commercial success.^[2][3] In the past three years, commercial success of hemp food products has grown considerably.^[4][5]

Hemp is one of the fastest growing biomasses known,^[6] producing up to 25 tonnes of dry matter per hectare per year,^[7] and one of the earliest domesticated plants known.^[8] For a crop, hemp is relatively environmentally friendly as it requires few pesticides^[9] and no herbicides.^[10]

Cannabis sativa L. subsp. sativa var. sativa is the variety grown for industrial use in Europe, Canada, and elsewhere, while C. sativa subsp. indica generally has poor fiber quality and is primarily used for production of recreational and medicinal drugs. The major difference between the two types of plants is the appearance and the amount of Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) secreted in a resinous mixture by epidermal hairs called glandular trichomes, although they can also be distinguished genetically.^[11] Strains of Cannabis approved for industrial hemp production produce only minute amounts of this psychoactive drug, not enough for any physical or psychological effects. Typically, hemp contains below 0.3% THC, while Cannabis grown for marijuana can contain anywhere from 6 or 7 % to 20% or even more.^[12]

Industrial hemp is produced in many countries around the world.^[13] Major producers include Canada, France, and China. While more hemp is exported to the United States than to any other country, the United States Government does not consistently distinguish between marijuana and the non-psychoactive Cannabis used for industrial and commercial purposes.^[12]

The variety of appearances for cannabis. Only C. sativa (left) is suited for industrial hemp, but it also has medicinal varieties.

Obstacles

I have neglected my blog lately.

Keeping computer time at a minimum these days because

...I need a new mouse, keyboard and printer as my old stuff drives me crazy and makes my "machine" not running smoothly and the surfing becomes a nightmare.

...flare-up of gastritis just when I have a huge amount of custom orders and really can't afford to take sick-time.

...anticipation of spring and yet another little front lurking around the corner with bad stuff like rain/snow

Okay, so I tried to put a little humor into my obstacles and just get over them. I always do.

I made an hour time today to finally get pictures of a new spring project. To cheer myself up and break the monotony of making hats.

Recycled and adorned with crochet: the black linen crochet eco dress (and it was yet another windy day and not easy to get good pictures, hubby said I should model it, and even though it fits me well, I declined as I don't have any vacation tan left:)

I also went a bit window shopping on the net and came across these fab crochet magazines:

Duplet (now I just wish I could read Russian, the pictures alone make me drool).

The Bohemian style crochet is the most elaborate I have ever seen. I can't even imagine how much time will go into a dress like in the cover picture. But I can look, dream and enjoy the mere possibility.

February in hibernation

(Oklahoma Southern plains scene, typical for February)

This year the wait for spring seems longer than the past years.

Part of it could be because we enjoyed 5 awesome days in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and returned to bland OK country and its long hard winter, rather atypical.

Hibernation is the best word for my state of mind and being. More introverted. Even though I have come up with some fab ideas for spring I don't feel like the "Jack jumping out of a box" surprise thing, trara, look at my new spring collection. No, not yet.

It's still hot tea time, mainly Earl Grey and Spiced Chai, same as around the holidays. Just that I don't care to light my usual evening candle anymore. I would rather get out on the patio:)

Reading is probably a past time I will carry into spring & summer. The best way to change gears and get into "off time" mode (something that online reading would never permit to let me do, it was always semi-business.)

My reading list of the past few weeks is pretty eclectic, just like me, but with a strong tendency of fairie myth tales.

Destined to witness -- Hans J. Massaquoi (Autobiography, Growing up black in Nazi Germany)

The Middle Kingdom (the fairie world of Ireland) -- Dermot Mac Manus

Iny Lorentz -- Die Wanderhure (German novel, middle ages social drama of a fallen woman)

The Fair Folk (short stories) -- ed. Marvin Kaye

Twilight -- Stephenie Meyer

Presently I am reading "Fox Evil" by Minette Walters, a thrift shop find. Mystery novel in modern England.