Little stockings...Done!

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Finished up the second sock for Youngest Grandson. Simple pattern: Using two strands of sock yarn, CO 36, 2x2 rib for 10 rounds, st st for 8 rounds, heel flap and gusset, 36 rounds from beginning of gusset decreases, standard toe. Let's hope they fit.

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Keeping the "We" in "Yes, We Can!"

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We know the battle ahead will be long. But always remember that, no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

... For when we have faced down impossible odds, when we've been told we're not ready or that we shouldn't try or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

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It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality. —Martin Luther King, Jr.; A Christmas Sermon for Peace, December 24, 1967

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Anybody can do just about anything with himself that he really wants to and makes up his mind to do. We are capable of greater than we realize. - Norman Vincent Peale

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What to do with a bottle of blue Dawn dishsoap. And use it to wash your hand knits. It's designed to remove grease. Spinners use it to clean fresh from the sheep wool before preparing to spin. It apparently removes fleas from dogs, too. Not to mention getting white fur white again. (hmmmm wonder if it'll keep grey hair from getting yellow?) Gets rid of ants, too.

And check out the uses for the humble bar of soap. And an additional one. Use it instead of toothpaste. Toothpaste is really bad for your teeth (but good for dentists). I've been using a bar of Kirk's Castille Soap for several years now since I originally read this. If you avoid getting the soap on the back of your tongue, the taste is minimized. (You do know that there are different taste buds on various areas of your tongue, right?) So by avoiding the back as much as possible, the bitter taste of the soap doesn't register. Granted there is a mixture of all tastebuds on your tongue, but most of the bitter ones are concentrated in the back. BTW, if you decide to use bar soap, any brand will do. But it must be solid soap. Liquid soaps contain gylcerine which is what you are trying to avoid. And don't fall into the old belief that bacteria causes tooth decay. If that were so, why do so many very ancient remains we find still have their teeth? I can think of no more bacteria laden place than a body returning to it's basic components. Yet teeth and bones survive it.

If you're into crafting alot...with lots of different mediums, check out the Top 100 Tutorials of 2008.

Victory Gardens were one way Americans helped out during WWII. Why not think about it for this year? Even if you do some container gardening, or straw bale gardening....growing some tomatoes, herbs, pumpkins, carrots will make you feel good and oh, they taste so much better.

Look over here and see that this idea is the top idea for Day One!