Trip Delay, Distractions, and Learning New Things

Skip and I were scheduled to head south tomorrow. Unfortunately we've had to postpone our departure due to some medical tests that were done last week and we await the results. We're really bummed out but it can't be helped so we're trying to 'roll with the punches'.

To comfort myself, I've been stitching and knitting like a fiend.

I've been knitting the yoke on Skip's sweater. Before starting the colourwork, I knit 5 short rows back and forth between the underarms on the back to add a bit of extra length for the back. Now on the yoke, I'm on the first decrease row.

I went back up to Myrtle Station Wool again today to pick up the yarn for Scooter's Icelandic sweater. I'm knitting him a Riddari like this

except with the lighter grey as the main colour. I also had to pick a shade darker of the blue yarn and a heathered black.

Yesterday at Jeanette's I got more stitching done on my Stars piece - a lot of the leaves and the beginning of the alphabet.

Speaking of Stars, I really want to get this chart - Cinnamon Stars by Plum Street Samplers. I love the colours and autumn themes with the sunflowers, pumpkins, scarecrow, corn stalks, stone house,and stars. I will be obtaining this one sometime soon.

I've been watching a lot of Floss Tube videos on YouTube. Some of my favourites are  Priscilla and  Chelsea, Yankee Creek Stitcher, Jen's Stitching Niche, and Sassy Stitchin Sisters and Brother.

Recently I've been intrigued by all the different ways people hand dye their fabrics before stitching and in some cases, after stitching. It gives a nice mottled or primitive affect.

I still want to kit up some of the projects I'd planned to take south. In most cases I have the threads or the fabric but rarely both.

Recently Skip read 'The Inconvenient Indian' by Thomas King. It was a bestseller in 2015 and won several non-fiction awards. I've been listening to the audiobook.

From The Chronicle Journal review:

"The Inconvenient Indian' is a book of stories with a lot of history in it. It may well be the best analysis of how Native people have existed, and still exist, in North America... Even if you think you know North American Aboriginal history, you will be richly engage by the stories [King] tells. And if you don't know it, this is a fine place to begin."

I am pretty ignorant about the specifics of how North American Native people were (mis)treated for the past 400+ years. These issues were never taught in my social studies classes in school. I do know about the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse that occurred in the residential schools, the 60s 'scoop', the abject poverty many First Nations people live in, but not much beyond that. I think everyone in North America should read this book and educate themselves about the way the 'colonists' interacted with the First People who roamed our continent. It would certainly lead to a greater understanding of why things are the way they are - far from ideal for many Native people.

King is a very good writer. He has researched the topic of his people well and makes a clever use of irony and humour while outlining the many atrocities that were committed in the name of religion, commerce, and 'knowing what is best for the Indians'. It makes one think...

From the Toronto Star:

"Every Canadian should read Thomas King's new book, 'The Inconvenient Indian'...It's funny, it's readable, and it makes you think. If you have any kind of a social conscience, 'The Inconvenient Indian' will also make you angry."

I'm sure all libraries have copies in print, ebook, and in audio format. When I finish listening to this book, there are a couple more that I'd like to read on this topic.