Letter to an Immigrant

A Disclaimer:  This post is quite a bit different from my recent posts.  This post is also a reflection of my personal beliefs and convictions, and not necessarily position of the agency I currently work for.

 

Hello,

I don't really know who you are, although, I have heard the stories and stereotypes.  I am sure I have passed by you on the street and in the store, but I do not really know who you are.

Everyone around me is drawing lines in the sand saying you are a problem that needs to be solved.  Problems can be dissected, broken down, solved, compromised and walked away from.  However, I see you as a person, who is complicated and delicate, not easily discarded.  That makes my thoughts and feelings all the more confusing.  I have lived in a country as a foreign resident with a green card appreciating the tight controls in place at borders.  But, I wonder if all countries are the same.  My heart wants to offer a cup of cold water, but my head asks if you come just to take advantage or fleeing the law and if I will get hurt opening my hand to stranger.  However, if I am following the example Jesus set before me; do I even get to ask those questions?  If I look at the hands He offered, I will see the scars of offering. 

I wish there was a way to sit down and talk to you.  In all the discussion about this issue of immigration, there does not seem to be many people talking to you.  I do not know that any of us truly understand why you come or if we ever really will.  We have theories and probably uneducated guesses, but I do not know that anyone has actually stopped to ask you why you come.  We have seen hard times, here in the US, but I doubt that many have experienced desperate poverty.  What does make you so desperate to leave your country that you would risk your life to come here?  Do the rumors and movies make life look so fantastic here that you just have to see for yourself?  Is it the poverty and watching your oldest child give up his dinner, so that his younger siblings can eat?  Is it the drug gang violence that threatens to swallow up any possibility of a better life for your children?  Was it even your choice to come? Or were you taken from your home and family as a victim of the sex trade, and then dumped on the streets in a foreign land because of disease or pregnancy? 

I want to understand.  I want to listen.  I want to know you, instead of just throwing up walls and fences to insulate myself from real people.  I know many will consider me liberal or just plain crazy for saying all of this. I also know that I cannot solve the problems of your country that may bring you here.  But I do know that I never want to stop seeing the value of a human life no matter how that life was brought to my doorstep. 

Sincerely,

Your neighbor

Weekend Crochet Warrior

My husband and I spent last weekend coming down with and recovering from a head cold respectively.  In other words, we sat around in our pajamas doing nothing, randomly whining about how we feel or comparing snot.  Oh, the joys of marriage. . .

The upside for me is that I was on the road to recovery and actually had unfogged enough to do something - crochet.  Since I was sick, I decided to focus on crocheting something for myself.  It's so hard to think of others when you don't feel well.

Fingerless gloves with mystery yarn

My first project was a pattern for fingerless gloves from The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Crochet by Nancy Queen and Mary Ellen O'Connell.  Since this is an item that actually has to fit, I tried to pay attention to gauge. I have to be honest and say that I have never crotched a swatch like the books always recommend.  Usually, I'm just making a shawl - it's either long and wide enough or it's not.  I haven't gotten into any of the complicated patterns with different motifs, so I'm sure at some point I will be forced to really figure out this gauge thing until then . . .I used some fuzzy blue yarn that came from the donation pile at church (don't worry, I didn't use it all on myself).  So, being mystery yarn, the gauge didn't exactly come out as specified in the pattern.  I tried changing to a smaller hook twice to no avail, so I went with the original hook size.  Everything turned out A-OK in my book.

Flapper Hat Model with cute curly hair

My flapper hat attempt

Now, the hat is another story.  I then attempted to crochet this lovely flapper style hat with some Caron Simply Soft that my mom gave me. Again, I could not for the life of me, get the gauge to come out correctly.  Also again, it is possibly because I didn't use the exact yarn called for in the pattern.  What is a cheap crotcher to do?  So, needless to say the hat did not come out quite as cute as the picture (hence the rubber ball as a model head, and not mine).  Or maybe it was some weird hope that if I made this hat and wore it on my head, I would suddenly have cute curly hair and when that didn't happen I was disappointed in that hat?  Nah, I would never have an irrational thought like that!

Those who can't create - MODIFY!

Since it has been almost a year since my last blog post, which had nothing to do with being crafty, I'm sure you are all thinking I have given up on yarn.  For those who were betting on a passing fancy, you were wrong - it was the blogging that fell to the wayside.  So, here is my attempt to revive my blogging efforts and share more of my adventures in craft, yoga, journeying with God, marriage and more.

For my first entry, I must submit my latest creation . . .alteration.  My best work is taking something someone else has done, practically destroy it, and put it back together again.  Take for example, my costume for the 8th Annual Wonder Girl Costume Party:  a 20's flapper dresser fashioned from last year's 60's girl group dress.

2010 Costume

Yes, please ignore the fact that I am not very photogenic.  Also keep in mind that I did not make the dress on the left or achieve the 60's hair on my own.  Yes, someone else did the sewing and the back combing for this costume.

2011 Costume

 On the right, is a complete modify of last year's dress that I somehow managed to do myself.  Ok, so I had a little bit of input from my mom, who actually knows how to sew and my husband helped place a few strategic pins.  Actually, when I first consulted with my mom we discussed tucking the shoulders in a bit and creating a deeper scoop neck.  I decided to go in a wee bit different, and more drastic, direction, and basically just cut off the top 6 inches of the dress.  My first thought also was to use some of the fringe as straps for the dress, but as everyone warned me - that stuff is expensive - and looking at the material I cut off, I decided to make golden straps from the scraps using my new wonder tool - Stitch Withcery. That allowed me to have the strip of fringe across the top, which I think really looks good.  For attaching the fringe, I used Steam-A-Seam, which is a thinner adhesive cousin to Stitch Witchery.  The only actual sewing I had to do for this project was under the arms where the arm hole was and tacking the straps in place.

Now, another major work of fine craftsmanship for this costume is the hair.  And for anyone who has ever helped me fix, curl, shellac my hair into something other than board straight boring, you will appreciate this one.  I evidently did learn something in those various lessons on hairspray, curling irons and bobby pins.  With many thanks to White Rain, I give you my pin curled 20's hair-do.

In closing, I must once again thank the Wonder Girls for giving me an opportunity to hone my modification skills, Hobby Lobby for such wonderful coupons and staff, White Rain for helping me achieve hair success and a slight buzz.