Journey...............................

As Advent season has begun, I'm will pause each day to reflect on the reason for the season.  During this time, I'm following along with Alive Now.  And this daily journey uses a camera--what a perfect way to make a journal of your life during Advent!

Through the dark of night, we journey to a bright tomorrow.

Pearl Harbor Remembered

Attack on Pearl Harbor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Attack on Pearl Harbor
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II

The attack on Pearl Harbor^{[nb 4]} was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, in the United States Territory of Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II.

Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan planned in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. There were near-simultaneous Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.^[13] The attacks - from troop landings at Kota Bharu, Malaya, to the air attacks ranging geographically from Hong Kong to Pearl Harbor - took place over seven hours.^[13][

The attack commenced at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time.^[14] The base was attacked by 353^[15] Japanese fighter planes, bombers, and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers.^[15] All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four sunk. All but Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship,^{[nb 5]} and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded.^[17] Important base installations such as the power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 64 servicemen killed. One Japanese sailor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured.

The attack came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day, December 8, the United Statesdeclared war on Japan.^[18] Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been fading since the German attack on France in 1940,^[19] disappeared. Clandestine support of the United Kingdom (e.g., theNeutrality Patrol) was replaced by active alliance. Subsequent operations by the U.S. prompted Germany and Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11, which was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day.

From the 1950s, several writers alleged that parties high in the U.S. and British governments knew of the attack in advance and may have let it happen (or even encouraged it) with the aim of bringing America into war.^[20][21] However, this advance-knowledge conspiracy theory is rejected by mainstream historians.^{[22][nb 6]}

There were numerous historical precedents for unannounced military action by Japan. However, the lack of any formal warning, particularly while negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy". Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack on Pearl Harbor was judged by the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime.^[24][25]

Mariana Mystery Shawl--A Prayer Shawl

Mariana is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais. It was the first village, town and capital of the state of Minas Gerais. It was in the seventeenth century one of the largest producers cities of gold to the Portuguese crown. It became the first capital of Minas Gerais to participate in a contest where the village that has scooped most amount of gold would be elevated to City being the capital of the then Captaincy of Minas Gerais.

“Mariana Shawl”, designed by Aloisio santos 

 is a prayer shawl for Christmas. The proposal is that we can knit this shawl sending out good vibrations for all the people who have lost their homes and need to start over

The pattern will be available in 3 clues: 
06/12 first clue 
13/12 second clue 
20/12 third clue 
The shawl is semi-circular. The techniques used are: purl, knit, ptbl, yo, k2tog, ssk, central double decrease. 

“The Bento Rodrigues dam disaster occurred on 5 November 2015, when an iron ore tailings dam in Bento Rodrigues, a sub district of Mariana, Brazil, suffered a catastrophic failure, causing flooding and at least 13 deaths. At least 16 people have been injured. About 60 million cubic meters of iron waste flew into the Doce River. Toxic brown mud flows reached the Atlantic Ocean 17 days later. It is still unclear the total impact and environmental consequences to river and its wildlife. This incident has been described as the worst environmental disaster in Brazil’s history”

Puff--Puff--Puff

This crochet scarf caught my eye--what is this stitch?  I didn't have a clue, but do not be dismayed--we did some investigation to find Puff Stitch!  And it comes on a website--crocheting for dummies!  There are a couple of videos too that will help you navigate this stitch.

Designed by BrenBoone

The following comes from Crochet Guru

Step 1: Yarn over the hook.

Step 2: Insert the hook into the stitch.

Step 3: Pull the yarn through the stitch.

Step 4: Bring the loop up to match the same height as the previous stitch. There should now be 3 loops on your hook.

Tip #1: If there are no previous stitches and the puff stitch is your first stitch made, pull the loop up to at least match the height of a half double crochet stitch. The puff stitch may even be pulled higher if you choose to do so.

Step 5: Yarn over the hook.

Step 6: Insert the hook into the same stitch.

Step 7: Yarn over the hook.

Step 8: Pull the yarn through the stitch.

Step 9: Bring the loop up to match the same height as the previous loop. There should now be 5 loops on your hook.

Step 10: Yarn over the hook.

Step 11: Insert the hook into the same stitch.

Step 12: Yarn over the hook.

Step 13: Pull the yarn through the stitch.

Step 14: Bring the loop up to match the same height as the previous loop. There should now be 7 loops on your hook.

Step 15: Yarn over the hook.

Step 16: Pull the yarn through all 7 loops on your hook.

Tip #2: If you would like to add more loops to make your puff stitch even bigger and puffier repeat steps 10 through 16.

Step 17: Chain 1.

Winter Blanket in Crochet

http://www.lillabjorncrochet.com/2015/11/about-winter-blanket-by-emma-aldous.html

This is the most gorgeous crochet blanket I've ever seen!

Needle Weaving!!

Needle Weaving

Let's do some needle weaving!  This is the way I became interested

in loom weaving!  A friend was needle weaving a baby blanket

over a large frame--I couldn't believe it!  So, off I went to

find a frame and begin.  But, here is a whole list of information

on the internet!  I didn't have anywhere to turn to for info.

Needle weaving

and oh my gosh--

Pinterest has tons of photos and other stuff!

I think I'm going back to my 1970's roots.....................

Itchin' to Stitch!

 When I stumbled (yes, I stumbled while surfing the web!) on this website--I stopped!  I took a second look!  what caught my eye?  Well this, of course................................

A spinning wheel in felt with decorative stitches--more investigative work is involved on my part.

These gals are doing fairy tale ornaments!

How cool!  and unusual!

This one is from Sleeping Beauty.  

I won't go into details why this is so inaccurate--

I was just thrilled to see a spinning wheel in stitches!

Here is Cinderella's slipper!

And Little Red Riding Hood.

Telling Stories Through the Needles' Eye

is the place for these fairy tale ornaments!