I am hoping that this blog will help you and me experience the craft of crochet as well as knitting. During times of silence or turmoil, crochet and knitting continuously help me quiet my mind at my own pace, enabling me to find my center. I am also sharing my SECRET persona, Lt. DAX, my life in code while living in Bajor. Maybe fiction maybe not is up to you to decide. Peldor Joi!!!
Monday, October 31, 2005
We have EARS!
Here we have the progress so far on Heidi. I have the Ears made during the weekend and I was able to attach the head to the body.
I am also working on Drew Emborsky's Do your Vest! pattern and should be done with the shoulder section this week. I really like the pattern it's very easy to make.
Today is Halloween, is not a holiday, but kids and some adults like this dressing up. I really enjoy the costumes, I can do away with the drinking. I will share with you a picture of mine from the past that shows me in a Halloween custome I made. I made this costume and I wore it for up to 12 years. The make up was a Bajoran Male with a beautiful Prosthetic Nose, which I made. Trick or Treat!!!
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Pacific Ocean Skull Cap
These excercises by the ocean will be conducted by what it's called Ocean Beach, near the Golden Gate National Recreational Area Park. We had breakfast at Louie's. This restaurant has been family owned for almost 100 years. Afterwards we walked toward the ocean for some visualizations. Here, close to the ocean in this open space, before a cave that went through the rocks, we meditated for what seemed like an eternity.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Navy Blue & Yellow Skull Cap
The pattern is made in single crochet all around, done with Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton Sunflower Yellow and Bernart Berella "4" Navy Blue. I was trying to give you the impression of a 3D lattice with diamonds around the cap. The lattice has some overlaid single crochet stitches and some chain ones and maybe four double crochets. It is a unique pattern, I never make two patterns alike. The only time my skull caps are alikel is when they are made in a plain single crochet stitch. Did you notice that there are some vertical lines, four in total, One in front aligned with your nose, one on back and the other two in front of each respective ear.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Dachshund Heidi the wonder weiner!!!
I will have to confess that it is my first crochet stuffed animal. Scott has been very gracious and patient ,coaching me along in this project. When it comes to English, which is my second language, sometimes instructions do not make sense to me. My secret is that sometimes I have to improvise and guess what it is the pattern is saying, which means 90% I get it right.
This is the first look you will have of Heidi. I have been working on the body, crochetting it along and stuffing it, you can actually see the torso form and see how it is taking it's shape. Soon I will have a picture of the torso to show you.
I will have to say that there are two types of Dachshunds that I like, the wire-haired dachshund , which I think is adorable, an another variation with a little longer hair, but still with a hint of a Terrier. I like the tight hair appearance and texture. This is a very handsome dog. Don't you agree ? WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!
Sunday, October 23, 2005
To Scott of Crochetdepot.org Thanks
This is the main picture of my profile and I think he did a great job with the techno effects.
Here he made my blog botton, which if you want to link to my blog is available for the taking. It is people like him that allow art to have expression. He also helped me with the header and the coloring and the website in general. Thank you for your help in helping another crochet fellow. You may want to pay his sight a visit if you are a crochetter and maybe join, www.crochetdepot.org, pay him a visit.
Crochet Depot moved to http://groups.msn.com/crochetdepot.
Remember when people used to have R.A.S.K., which stands for Random Acts of Simple Kindness. Well I think that we should encourage those kind of actions everyday without asking for anything back. Never forget that The Law of Reciprocal Actions will be put in motion. First you need to know of the Newton's third law: law of reciprocal actions, I have mentioned it here before.
I think that when it somes to kindness, doing nice things, people often get confused. It is with discrimination that you should do your kindness. Go figure I have learned that in this lifetime.
I am working on Dachshund Heidi , which is a crochetted stuffed animal from Scott Hooper, at
http://www.crochetdepot.org/patterns/DachshundHeidi.pdf, if you want to download it, you will need Acrobat reader to be able to open the file. I will be posting my progress sometime later this week, it is coming along very nicely. Thank you for visiting, come back soon!!!
Time to crochet and A time for fun Oct 05!
For this particular ocassion I made my great Eggplant salad, which people ate like it was going out of style.
So I will have more posts later today or tomorrow, with some works in progress and grattitude to a friend for his help in my website.
Namaste!!!
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Do your Vest is Finished !!!
Please visit
http://www.thecrochetdude.blogspot.com/ and see tha pattern and support his craft.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Doing your Vest Unassembled!
This came out to be a very nice project and I enjoyed making it. The vest is done from the pattern of Drew Emborsky Do your Vest! I used Red Heart Acrylic yarn and the feel of the vest is magnificent. Even though it is acrylic you can see that the combination of the color and the stitch gives a nice presentation to the eye.
Right now I am working on putting it together, maybe within the next few days or so the vest will be displayed assembled. As you can see, it is ready to be whip stitched together and ready for display. I will say that I am also working on a bigger model. Is just a little different than this model, but using the original Do your Vest! pattern as template it will be very easy to follow. Anyway thnak you for stopping by and enjoy.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Vest in progress 4 Pieces
You can see from this picture the modularity of the Vest. This modularity gives it in my opinion the flexibility to make it bigger or shorter, wider without much to think about. The long pieces are the shoulder straps and what a wonderful texture they possess. It's a tight handywork from my style of crochetting. You have to admire the creativeness of it's designer Drew Emborsky, and you can check his blog at http://www.thecrochetdude.blogspot.com, go pay him a visit he has plenty to show you as well.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Crochet and Do your Vest!!!!
Isn't it a very clever title? I borrowed the title from the pattern's name by The Crochet Dude, I think the pattern so far is fantastic. Here on the left you will find the way the vest looks on the pattern flyer, please be conscious of the copyright, I asked for permisssion to post this picture, if you want to use it ask The Crochet Dude.
As I go along I will post the progress of my vests. Here on the right side, is my work in progress. I am thinking of working with different materials, one of them being Lion Brand Wool Ease. I am working on plain 100% acrylic in a deep blue by Red Heart yarns. I bet some nice egyptian Cotton, or Linen, which by the way comes from the Flax or Linen plant, will add great texture and feeling to it.
I want to thank all of you for keeping up with me and the Academy for the award, Ooop!, I think I am confused with my other talents and the Emmy Awards, which I probably deserve one anyway, but I will stop right here for today. Thank you , Thank you , Thank you.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Crochet Vests , Sweaters and Shawls
I bought a fantastic pattern from Drew Emborsky, his blog is http://thecrochetdude.blogspot.com, a fellow crochetter that is very creative as well. So works in progress are vests, sweaters, Dachshund Heidi, maybe some hats and some doillies.
Here is a shawl I made for a lady in Arizona. The Ruffled Peacock Shawl, in a pineapple crochet. If you want to buy the book, is a Leisure Arts Publication. You can find a geat deal on this book at Amazon.Com, the ISBN 0-942237-63-3, starting at $3.65 what a deal. I altered the pattern to make space for a broche button that I thought would add a real classy and vintage look to it. The Spaniard Ladies would have used these garments, when it got a little chilly during the fall and winter nights in the "New World" . The New World meaning the Americas as they are known today.
I have to have many projects at once, because I like to do lots of things and multitask. I also have to see how my neuropathy is that day. Some of the projects are more hard on my body than others and I can only work for one hour and rest for two or more.
As you can see I have some Needlecraft webring that I have joined. It's very exciting to see how much creativity is out there and how many people show their work on the Internet. Please come back and visit, leave your comments and share the magic of working with needles. Shalom!
Monday, October 10, 2005
Of Red string and some needles!
This by no means is an endorsement of any religion, so keep an open mind because the story is about faith, hope, trust, possiblities and beliefs.
Have you heard the story about Rahab her story shows you what something as simple as a red strings may save your life.
Rahab, (Heb. rachav; i.e., "broad," "large") is a prostitute who lived in the city of Jericho in the Promised Land, according to the book of Joshua in the Tanakh.
According to the book of Joshua (Joshua 2:1-7), when the Hebrews were encamped at Shittim, in the "Arabah" or Jordan valley opposite Jericho, ready to cross the river, Joshua, as a final preparation, sent out two spies to investigate the military strength of Jericho. The spies stayed in Rahab's house. When soldiers came to look for them, she hid them under bundles of flax and pretended that they were not there in order to prevent them from being captured.
"Rahab's being asked to bring out the spies to the soldiers (Joshua 2:3) sent for them, is in strict keeping with Eastern manners, which would not permit any man to enter a woman's house without her permission. The fact of her covering the spies with bundles of flax which lay on her house-roof (2:6) is an 'undesigned coincidence' which strictly corroborates the narrative. It was the time of the barley harvest, and flax and barley are ripe at the same time in the Jordan valley, so that the bundles of flax stalks might have been expected to be drying just then" (Geikie's Hours, etc., ii., 390).
When the city of Jericho fell (Joshua 6:17-25), Rahab and her whole family were preserved according to the promise of the spies, and were incorporated among the Jewish people. She afterwards became the wife of Salmon, a prince of the tribe of Judah (Ruth 4:21; 1 Chr. 2:11).
Rahab is also mentioned in the New Testament as one of the ancestors of Jesus (Matt. 1:5) and as an example of a person of faith (Hebrews 11:29-34).
Rahab identified her house with a scarlet robe. This was later adapted by prostitutes to become a red light that was placed at their windows to indicate the nature of their business to potential customers.
Rahab's story is possibly the inspiration for the euphemism "the world's oldest profession" for prostitution.
Again this is not about criticism or trying to put a religion on your agenda. This is about the posibilities of life from a peculiar point of view. I hope your week goes well, I will have more to say later this week. I am very glad to share and by this medium help others heal, and write or blog a personal story.
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Hats for the fun of it!!!
So if you think that I am working on holidays stocking stuffers, you are so right. It is a well known fact that puertorricans like holidays and if there isn't one, we are more than happy to make a new one without hesitation. Please enjoy life and the fun of sharing a smile, a smile can change someones life. Without a smile I feel naked, I am actually blushing. Can you believe it?
I have made a commitment that everyday I go out into the world I will pick up at least two pieces of trash and put it in a trash receptacle; needless to say I will never litter consciously . So do your part for the cleanliness of your city and pick up at least one piece of litter a day, if you can. We are part of the environment we are all one "Esho Funi".
Some Buddhists call "esho funi" -- the idea that self and environment are two but not two. Esho funi holds that by changing myself, I simultaneously change my environment. A change can be simultaneous only if there is no separation -- no distance in time or space -- between self and environment. So at the deepest level there is no "internal" and "external" -- it's all the same place, same thing.
Have a great weekend from the shores of Kalifornia.
Friday, October 07, 2005
Is it a Quilt or an Afghan?
I am pleased to announce that I have finished the Quilt Afghan. The pattern is quite complex , but as you can see the outcome is astonishing. It is done 99% in Bernat Berella "4", and the golden border is Lion Brand Wool Ease. This Afghan is primarilly made up of small granny squares which later are whip stitched together. Each square is about 2.75 square inches there are 384 squares that make the majority of this Afghan.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Puertorrican Plus!!!
Puertorrican Plus!!! Blogging my life away, i am getting out some of my secrets in hopes that someone will benefit from what I write. I was sexually abused by my father from the early age of 5 years of age. I remember the first time it happened like it was yesterday. Going forward in life at the age of about 8 my half brother started the same game of abuse; he is 5 years older than me. Did I tell anyone? You bet, I told my mother and she spanked me for fibbing, how dare I say that kind of thing about my brother. Well ladies and gents, my father sexually abused me until the age of 14. My brother sexually abused me until a week before he got married. I thanked the God I believed in. Now I had room to breathe for once in my life. From this moment on, it will be up to my mother to emotionally try to scar me for the rest of my life with fear of God and whatever she could find available. (Yes. I know she was doing the best she knew; that does not mean I had to like it.) Hopefully for me I created a thick skin, independant thinking and, by the age of 37 -- yes 37 years of age -- I realized that I have been operating from the modus operandi of a sexually-abused person. I secretly trusted no one ever since.
A child survivor of sexual abuse has a very difficult life, for it colors everything you do and everything you say until you start to mend the broken boy and become a mending man. Unfortunately, the job is never done; it is a continious work in progress. The book that helped me turn my life around was "Broken Boys Mending Men" by Stephen D. Grubman-Black. At the age of 37, I realized I was still the victim of that sexual abuse from so long ago. I was confused, lost and not knowing who I was, what was mine, or what was the result the abuse actually had on my life.
Life was very different from that day on. I live life without regrets 100%; I have no fear of death. I believe in the law of physics: "For every Action there is a Reaction"
In classical physics, a reaction is defined by Newton's third law that can be formulated like
- Whenever one body exerts force upon a second body, the second body exerts an equal and opposite force upon the first body or also
- For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. One must never forget that these two forces are exerted on different bodies.
The idea that any given force has a pair or opposite force.
That is how this puertorrican plus has learned to view the Universe. When I was younger I had the arrogant concept of an Earth Centered "God" and, by that, I mean that, in our arrogance as humans, we believe that "God" has no other planet to worry about, his constant attention is devoted to Earth, the Blue Marble. I do not limit "God" to that frame, my "God" is incomprehensible by human standards, but it is there. It you say yes, as far as I know, there is no gender in heaven; the importance of gender is an evolutionary necessity for procreation . Anyway it is my personal belief.Nature always brings peace to me. In nature, I find the hand of the unknown, the Universal Intelligence at work. Here is a picture of me many moons ago near my home town enjoying the
"El Yunque Rainforest"
My father's ancestors came to Puerto Rico in the early 1500's to colonize the island and convert the natives into Christians. What a concept, but I will leave it at that. My mother's family can be traced to when Rodrigo de Nevares set foot on the shores of Arecibo sometime between 1700 and 1708, coming from Spain. I really enjoy this ancestry search, it can get very complicated if you allow it to overwhelm you.
San Juan the capital city of Puerto Rico is almost 500 years old, you can see in this picture taken from one of it's fortresses, the Old San Juan .
I grew up being proud of the city I was from. Lots of culture, art, and history, the main Cathedral in the middle of the island city.
Well this puertorrican plus is about to finish his post for today. It is important to say nobody can take away my innocence anymore, or rob me from being a loving human being. The God I believe in is bigger than any human word, book, or philosophy can describe . My God is the ruler of the whole Universe, not just a selected group of people, like the Sun my God shines on good and not so good people. From California I say to you Namaste.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Fearless Lion
Here is the Lion Baby Bath Wrap with my Benjamin. He is my boy doll. Oh. By the way, he in fact is anatomically correct! He is an amazing boy and loves to model with daddy.
Talking about fearless lions. My friend, Coco, a Japanese lady friend of mine, shared with me one day the fact that she was terrified about spiders; and that even though she was terrified about spiders, she still wanted to help her little girl grow up without that fear. She taught her little girl not to be afraid of spiders and allow her little girl to develop her own fears, and not the fears inherited from her as a parent.
Sometimes, when we feel afraid, have you thought about it? Are these fears our own or the ones we learned from others? Fear is there to be conquered and serves a purpose; once that purpose is served, then fear has no place. In my life experience I have learned to trust life and the Universal Intelligence some call God. When it comes to this lion there is no fear , just cuteness.
Monday, October 03, 2005
Legal Drugs Illegal Drugs!!!
I have to write in order to get this off of my chest, because a friend of mine that moved from San Francisco, California, made a comment that he finally escaped from a "third world city," referencing San Francisco. He opined that it was full of "freaks."
I myself am not a freak. It bothered me when he said that to me and a lot of other people in a mass email.
For instance, he considers shopping malls on every corner the sanctuary of modern life and, even though I like shopping malls, I must, nevertheless, disagree vehemently with his point of view; at the same time, I would not call shopping malls or corporations "evil."
One point he omitted on his critique -- on purpose, I believe -- was the fact that his biggest problem in San Francisco was his drug addiction problem. I think this was the biggest problem he had, for he simply couldn't earn enough money to support his drug addiction. He had lost more than one job because of this. He said he stopped doing drugs at one point. I replied, "I hope you did." It is a viscious circle, make more money to take drugs so you can make more money so you can take more drugs. I still love him as he is my best friend and will be there for him if he needs me. Moving to a new city with old problems is your biggest mistake; better leave the baggage in the baggage claim department, and just go with the shirt on your back, man. You will be tempted no matter where you go; just say 'no' to drugs! Otherwise, you will create suffering for you and your loved ones with nobody else to blame this time.
Well, it takes a lot of money to take drugs that are legal, so imagine how much more that illegal drugs cost. Not to mention that it in fact can cause felony charges and a prison term.
Now, let's discuss drugs that are legal. The other day a friend of mine was complaining about side effects from his AIDS Cocktail a.k.a. "Highly Active Anti Retroviral Therapy" ["HAART"]. He is taking medications without getting his Infectious Disease physicians to run two very important serolologic tests called genotype or phenotype, I forget which one it is called, but I related to him that the drugs he was taking are very strong drugs. At least in the San Francisco Area, drugs like Protease Inhibitors, like my friend is taking, are left as the measure of last resource, when AIDS patients run out of options for typically-prescibed AIDS medications called Nucleoside Analog Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NARTIs) or (NRTIs) and Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs), both types of which have a punch all of their own, but with a significantly decreased amount of side effects. Protease Inhibitors in fact do have their place in the treatment of HIV, but without knowing whether you need to take them or not is not a very sharp idea.
Lots of water, vitamins, and sunshine are not enough. HIV+ patients need to know if they can start with a softer HIV medication combination therapy.
Anyway. Thank you for stopping by. I will definitively be more outspoken about everyday life and things I see, hear, and taste. Have you ever had Blue Corn Chips with Hummus? Yum!
Hasta la Vista!
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Lion's Head comes alive
My next animal project is a wonderful dachshund stuffed animal, named Heidi, from the great "grannyguy" Click this button on the "Blogs I Read" to the left and it will take you to his site.
Thank you for visiting my blog, I am working on many projects that are exciting. New projects , new people and always surrounded by love. It is interesting that this pattern may be modified to make a zebra as well. I had to wear it, it is too cute. Anyway enjoy your visit and please come again!!!!
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