Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A Day tWhich Will Go Down in HIstory

I have spent today watching Barack Obama be inaugurated as our 44th President. I found it to be a very emotional experience for me, something I hadn't expected. For the first time in a long time when contemplating our future as a country I felt a sense of hope instead of fear. I realize that things are still in very bad shape, but think that if we can pull together and work together we can accomplish good things. I think that President Obama has an immense job ahead of him, but hope that Republicans and Democrats can pull together and work for the good of all, not their own political agenda.

I loved the poem that was read at the Inauguration:

Praise Song for the Day

Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other,

catching each other's eyes,
or not.
About to speak, or speaking.
All about us is noise.
All about us is noise and bramble,
thorn and din, each one of our ancestors
on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem,
darning a hole in a uniform.
patching a tire.
Repairing the things in need of repair.
Someone is trying to make music somewhere
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom-box, harmonica, voice.
A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, "Take out your pencils.
Begin."

We encounter each other in words,
words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed.
Words to consider, reconsider.
We cross dirt roads and highways
that mark the will of someone
and then others who said,
"I need to see what's on the other side.
I know there's something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe."
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: That many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks,
raised the bridges,
picked the cotton and the lettuce,
built, brick by brick, the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.
Praise song for struggle.
Praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thyself."
Others by "First, do no harm,"
or "Take no more than you need."
What if the mightiest word
is love?
Love beyond marital, filial, national.
Love that casts a widening pool of light.
Love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today's sharp sparkle, this
winter air, any thing can be made,
any sentence begun.
On the brink,
on the brim,
on the cusp,
praise song for walking forward in that light.

— Elizabeth Alexander


OK, I'm done with politics and poetry-now to spinning. I finished my January scarf, so it's onto planning next month's scarf. I'm planning to make the Starry Nite Scarf, designed by Lynne Vogel, for my February scarf, so I wanted to spin the fiber I dyed in Harrisville in August to use for the scarf. Here is the fiber, very bright, saturated colors. When I was choosing what colors to dye with, I chose colors I had not used before and blended other colors using five basic colors.


These colors were more bright than what I want for the scarf, because I am also planning to use some fiber I had spun in Harrisville that was dyed by Lynne, and I don't think these colors would blend well with what I already had spun. So I used some of the techniques I learned in class for pulling apart a roving and blending the colors. These are the singles I ended up with.


Trina was here knitting yesterday and said it was hard to believe this yarn was spun from the fiber she was looking at, so I knew I had accomplished what I was trying to do. Here is the yarn after it was plied.



I really enjoy the color blending that can be accomplished by pulling a roving apart and manipulating the colors. I hadn't done any of it since class, and was glad I remembered what to do.

Time for a cup of tea and bed. My Phat Fiber sampler box arrived today, and I am excited about opening it. It will be interesting to see what other people sent to advertise their wares.

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