Asking and granting.

 (An essay I wrote ten years ago, and still find true in 5785.)

This is the time of year that Jewish persons ask for forgiveness of transgressions, to learn from them and move into the new year (palindromically 5775) with a clean slate, as it were. But the faults and transgressions are not erased; you are given another chance to NOT do the same things again, and to make yourself a better person and the world a better place.

In the old days, when you lived in the same small town or area as everybody with whom you interacted, it was easier to make apologies and sort out understandings. It also made sense to do this, because you still have to live in the same small community. Today, we spread out, we travel, and it can be harder to know when you have hurt someone's feelings or committed a perceived wrong. To ensure that they have apologized to everybody, especially those who cannot be reached and those who may feel slighted in ways unknown to the actor, many Jewish issue a blanket apology.

The value in doing this is that you might find out from someone about something you did, of which you were not aware - a remark, an action, some slight or hurt that bruised the other person but which was not intended by you. I think it's a good thing to ask about this, to become aware and empathetic. I don't think it should be limited to one day or season of the year; always try to be thoughtful of others, to let them know it's OK to tell you when you have committed a hurt, and to try to not do it again.

Of course, there are people who will always be hurt, who will take every comment as a slight. I know there are times when I do it, and I try to figure out why and unlearn the doing, so I don't receive or perceive it the same way in the future, if possible. I also want to know if I did something that hurt another, so I can try to unlearn the doing of that too.

Therefore, if I've hurt or confused you, feel free to ask me about it. I may have an explanation, I may not have realized that you perceived the interaction differently from my intention, or I may end up as confused as you. No telling, but no knowing until we try. As the Lord's Prayer says, at least in the version I learned, "And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."

In between.

Today in the Jewish calendar is Shabbat Shuvah, also known as "the Sabbath of return", also reminding us that we are in the midst of the season of repentance.

It is a time of introspection, and reflection, and asking and giving forgiveness for known and unknown faults and trespasses.  Many people use it as a reset, to begin some new practice or way of living.

I saw an imagine, that I cannot now find, which said

Many pay attention to how they

live between

Rosh Hashonnah and Yom Kippur,

when they should pay attention

to how they live between

Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashonna.

That is something important to think about.  I try to live well and considerately and appropriately all year, but it's not easy and I know I fail.  Instead of wallowing in the failure, I try to learn, and do better.  After all, we cannot change the past, but we have the power to change the future.

L'Shana Tovah 5785

As this New Year begins, many in Israel have been hiding in shelters because of bombs from Iran and Lebanon.  There are those who say it is just retribution for what is happening in Gaza.  They see only the reports of Palestinian civilian deaths, and ignore the events of October 7, 2023 that began the conflict, and the killings and other atrocities that have continued.  They see only the Palestinians, not the Israelis.

And if I ask people to consider the Jewish side of the conflict, I am called a Zionist and a colonialist and worse.  Threats.  It's becoming less easy to be visibly Jewish, yet I cannot hide because that is what these people want: to wipe us from the planet.  To force us into hiding as in the Inquisition and the Shoah.

As 5785 begins, I recommit to not hiding.  To speaking out.  To asking people to hear and see the other side.  To not allow the Jewish people to be wiped out of this planet.

May those who celebrate be written for a safe and healthy, a sweet and happy, year ahead.  L'Shana Tovah.

DFW Fiber Fest 2024 - Charitable Giving

Every year, DFW Fiber Fest allows various charities to set up shop, so to speak.  For several years the locally-headquartered Warm Up America! has been co-hosted in the vendor hall information booth, and this year they were given their own space.  As previously reported, I took quite a few items to donate.  I debated whether to switch to a large duffle bag but decided that might entice me to bring back more yarn than I need,* so I decided to pack into the suitcase (unfortunately, not an expanding type) and a couple of totes, one of which looks enough like an oversized purse that I could carry it on the plane as my personal item.**

I also took these two sleepy kittens which a friend is collecting for her local library's Welcome Baby project.  I made them out of scraps of dishcloth cotton plus a bit of acrylic for the light purple face:

The pattern says to use DK weight yarn and mine
are of worsted, since that is what I have handy.

I made sure to get a photo of the luggage before unpacking:

Saturday night I spent a couple hours post-supper relaxing to videos and running in ends and making sure everything has tags.  I tried to photograph them by groups, but a couple items hid under other things so are in a different group.

These are blanket pieces.  WUA takes 7"x9" pieces and has
volunteers sew them into blankets.  I was trying stitches.

Eighteen hats - the nineteenth was hiding under scarves.

Four shawls, assorted sizes and shapes.

Eleven of the scarves.

Three hat-and-scarf sets.  The middle one is of a handdyed
acrylic I purchased at DFW Fiber Fest two years ago.

One more hat, a pair of mittens (also handdyed yarn), and a
striped pair I decided I don't like enough to keep.

These scarves were still in a drawer when I took the other photo.

My total is 2 blanket pieces, 19 hats, 3 hat-and-scarf sets, one hat-and-mittens set, one large pair of mittens, 13 scarves, and four shawls.  Most have a label from the yarn; a few have printed washing instructions.  I had an old worn-out duffle I'd left with friends that one brought to me, and I packed everything into it.  I was surprised that they all fit!  I printed a donation form and marked everything included.  So when I walked up with the donation, the volunteers offered to unpack and I said they didn't have to do it, I was happy to donate the duffle as it couldn't be used as luggage reliably.  One started to ask me to fill out a form and I pulled out the one I had, which was in an outside pocket.  They got very excited as I had written the number of each item on the form - the volunteers told me many people just do a checkmark at the type of donation.  Hey, it's not my first donation!

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* Not that I truly need yarn, you understand, but there are show colourways to collect.  And so on.

** Handily, it plus my computer bag fit under the seat in front of me, always my preference since I don't like struggling to reach into an overhead bin if I can avoid it.

DFW Fiber Fest 2024 - The Yarning

I went to DFW Fiber Fest again, and took a full weekend of classes, saw friends, shopping a bunch (some for friends), and managed to keep work at a simmer.  This will be the first in a series of posts, since I didn't get around to doing the usual one over the weekend.  Well, I was having fun!

Every year, the facility is decorated inside and out with bits of knitting and crocheting and weaving and whatever.  This year was no exception:

  

 

 

 

 

I want to find this pattern.

Almost any flat area has items scattered upon it:

 

Plants get cozies:

Benches are covered:

A number of the hooped ones dangle from above

  

And there was much, much more.  On Sunday I helped to retrieve and pack many of these items, ready for use next year.  A few years ago the outside items were destroyed by a storm, but they have definitely been replenished.

Socks and Shawl and Star Trek®

By some cosmic serendipity, on Star Trek Day (the show originally launched on September 8, 1966) I happened to be at a store and found socks:

I haven't watched all the sequel shows, but I am a proud Trekkie and definitely adhere to its teachings:

Last night I finally pulled out my big suitcase to begin packing for DFW Fiber Fest and realized I may have to use something larger:

Those are all the scarves and hats and blanket pieces I've made for Warm Up, America!  Not as many as I would want to donate, but it's what I made in the last year.  I also have one hat on the hook, another granny beanie, and I might have yarn enough for a third either that style or something else.

I'm also working on two toys:

A friend is collecting them for her local library.  I am using scraps of cotton worsted from the leftovers another friend provided to me.  Because they are stuffed, I really want to finish these before I go.  They have been my carry-around project for waiting in line and such, and I'm about to start the faces.  A couple long meetings this week and they will be finished.

I've printed my class information and handouts, and have supplies to gather but thankfully no homework.  Because I also have to finish at least one make-along shawl.

Almost done with the second tail, then to separate at the
waste thread for the square down the back.  I like how the
stripe of add-in yarn seems very purposeful.

I've accepted that I won't have both shawls finished.  Retired friends and acquaintances keep telling me how much time they have for knitting and crocheting and travel and hanging out with meetups and other activities and so on and on - I'll get there!  Still counting the years before retirement.

A week early.

As I told a friend of mine, Friday the 13th arrived a week early because work suddenly "went blooie" around 5:00pm my time - and not, as usually happens, because of something in California.  Usually I have some heads-up about those, but this was something that simmered for a while, and all of a sudden the business spun an escalation.  So I was in line at a food truck, picking up supper for my parents and myself, when both my boss and his boss were emailing and texting.  I got the food, apologized to my parents for eating and running (luckily they understand these things happen), and went home.

Around 9:00pm it was under control enough to shut down for the night.  I've done some minor bits of work since, and scheduled a meeting for everybody on Monday morning.  It's going to be an interesting week - and likely longer.

Despite this I was able to get this week's questions written for an exam-writing workshop in which I am participating, and watched the films for my cinema class, and helped my parents on Saturday with another round of bookcase-clearing.

Not as much progress as I wanted on the DFW Fiber Fest make-along shawl, but I'm on the second tail, which is decrease rows:

There is a lighter stripe partway through because there is less yardage of the blue yarn than the multicoloured, and it might not be enough for the size I chose.  So I worked in a scrap of light gold that I think blends with the multi.