Happy Birthday, Mr. President

It's Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Lincoln was a man whose ideals have influenced me throughout my life. When I was young, I was taught Lincoln freed the slaves, he reunited a divided country and that he was honest. These qualities were an ideal I set for myself, to be honest, upstanding and willing to do what I felt was the right thing to do, despite all outside opinion, and despite the consequences. I read many biographies about him as a child. As I grew I learned much more about the man, about his personal life and his politics. I learned he did write the Emancipation Proclamation but that eradicating slavery was more a political move than any sort of moral dictate. That in order to usurp and undermine the Confederate Army he freed blacks from slavery, thus yanking the bottom out of the Confederate states financial base. It was a disappointing illumination that the man I so admired had ulterior motives for doing something that I grew up thinking was an act of honor. I learned he suffered from a severe depression all his life. I wonder many times what else this man might have accomplished had he had treatment for that depression. I admire what he did, I am just not so sure anymore that his motivation for doing such was as honorable as I had thought. I do feel however this person was the right one to come along at the time because it was necessary for the United States as a country to get beyond slavery and the slavery mentality. I know we don't live in a perfect country and that slavery in many senses of the word still exists today. What is different, and better is that now the slavery that is present is not directed toward a group of peoples. What is pitiable is that slavery is a concept that exists and is directed toward the working class and the poor because we are all enslaved by the great gears of government. With that I'll turn my soapbox right side up, refill it with the yarn it held until now and store it back with my stash, hehehe.

Speaking of yarn, I've so rightly resisted temptation lately that I cannot believe myself. While the boucle listed in my latest acquisitions isn't the last acquisition it was the last larger one I made. I haven't bought anything else except some yarn I purchased at the thrift store and some I purchased to give to a friend for her birthday. My friend was tickled to get the present I put together for her. I was thrilled that she liked it so well.

The thrift store purchase was something I hadn't expected and so I shot my yarn budget on it and am trying desperately to be good and not buy anything else the rest of the month. I ran across some cones of beautiful yarns and was so tempted that I bought most of what was there, bypassing some other ww acrylics that I'm always picking up to add to that stash. All are thin yarns, most acrylic or acrylic blends but oh so beautiful (these pictures don't do them justice). I can't wait to get my fingers in them, though for now they're simply put up, awaiting my determination as to what I'm going to turn them into.

Now, since I've been down and in pain I said I haven't done much crochet, only working a little at a time on the Skipping Stones Circular Afghan that I've wanted to make myself for years now. It's not finished by a long shot, but I thought you all might enjoy a glimpse of the work in progress.I am really excited about this afghan, love the color and love the way it's working up. I'm sure it will be a finished object by mid-week. Then on to the next project. All of these, by the way, are from the PIGS pile I've promised to clear out this year. The next is a shrug from the book 100 Crochet Projects.

Well, I hope that my morning report has livened your day at least a little. I know Mondays are so dreaded and sometimes dreadful and so I think offering something that's a bit of fun is a good way to break that monotony. Until next post.