* Over at Mason-Dixon Knitting, I had the opportunity to talk with Julia Farwell-Clay, whose work I’ve long admired. Give it a read and learn about the Sweater of Pathos.
This scheme was provoked by Rachael Herron, a writer and knitter who offered up on Instagram a pair of hand knitted socks for three lucky folk. All potential winners need to do is register to vote and/or register others to vote in November’s election.
What a great idea, I thought. But didn’t know how to jump on the bandwagon because I’m pretty sure that everyone I come into contact with is already registered* already. And then I had an idea.
In January of last year, I bought the pattern for Bristol Ivy’s Peace de Resistance mittens. I fully intended to have knitted them by now -- but, um, haven’t. I’d like to, though. PLUS I’d like to knit them to further a cause. I have a tendency to do this with mittens.
They look like this when finished:
(I contacted Ms Ivy and she’s cool with my plan, btw. My plan is also partisan. We can get into a larger discussion about why I’m #TeamNotRepublican later, if you’d like. My leanings, however, have never been hidden.)
If you’d like to have a pair o’ resist mittens knitted for you in your choice of colors, here’s what you need to do:
1) Go to The Last Weekend, which is sponsored by Swing Left.
2) Register to do something.
3) Come back here and comment that you’ve committed to doing something.
4) On August 15, I’ll randomly draw a name and knit ‘em some mittens.
5) There is no five. Only four steps are required.
Sound like a plan?
* RIGHT?!?
I am a huge fan of the souvenir craft project. Sometimes, it involves yarn bought at, say, a delightful shop in Portland or beads bought in Prague. Not only will the finished object always remind me of the trip, working on it will, too. Couple that with my Liberty Tana Lawn problem* and the reality that one of the few items sold by their London shop that I can afford are pillow kits....
This pillow lives in my work office. I picked up a kit when I presented a lecture years ago in Cambridge at Anglia Ruskin** and spent an extra day kicking around London. Sometimes, life is pretty sweet.
I finished this little guy over the weekend. He lives on our window seat (for now). It's a souvenir from our February trip to Edinburgh and London that I finally got around to putting together. I can't look at it without remembering the Teen and I having a blast in Liberty; then getting moderately (and amusingly) lost in Soho. Again, life can be sweet.
Tomorrow I'll have a project-to-be that you won't be able to resist.**
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* we all have our vices. Some are just more obscure than others.
** Sometimes, I have to brag. It'll pass.
*** The corgi enjoys eating my throw pillows, which is why the blue one is in my campus office where no corgis tread. She hasn't munched one for at least a year but I'm totally ready to move the purple one up on campus, too, if it will extend its life.
****I chose this word carefully
I’m still in craft clean-up mode because I’m still waiting for info on a couple of other work-related projects. So ....
I’ve made a few Paper Source wreaths for our front door and switch ‘em out every change of season. I didn’t have a true summer one, though. Now I do.
The kit itself no longer exists on their website, which isn’t that much of a surprise since I’ve had it for at least a year. Maybe two? No more than three, certainly.
I like the finished product okay but it seems a little clunky to me. And, just FYI, those honeycomb shapes are a massive PITA. Still, happy to have finished it.
You’ll get another craft tomorrow. And, likely, on Friday. I’m excited, too.
Because I have a couple of work-related projects that I’m waiting to hear more about, I’ve been cleaning out the craft closet. And, as luck* would have it, there were a couple of UFOs** that could be quickly FO’d. You’ll be seeing them this week (and maybe next, given how slowly decision-makers make decisions in July and August).
Prairie Fire pullover in Spirit Trail Birte*** with omnipresent corgi.**** I cast on after I saw someone else’s Prairie Fire at Rhinebeck and have to have one of my own. Conveniently, I was a Spirit Trail Booth Wench all weekend and knew where I could get some tasty, tasty yarn. Fun pattern; yummy fiber. Total win.
However, I’m going to have wait to really wear it because it’s so blooming humid here. But maybe it’ll cool off by Rhinebeck time? I’ll be in the booth again....
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* not luck because this is a thing I do, apparently
** UnFinished Objects
*** I think. The ball band has vanished.
****next band name
“The election of Obama in 2008 had felt like a cleansing moment for America, a proof point that our present was better than our past. People wanted so desperately to believe that we lived in a country that could elect an African American, and when that came to fruition, people wanted to believe that America had crossed the Rubicon and left our less than glorious past behind. There was some real truth in these hopes and dreams, but Obama’s historic election and successful presidency also roused some sleeping demons and brought them from the fringes into the mainstream of the Republican Party.
“It’s possible the Republican Party was headed down this path anyway as their voters got older and whiter while the rest of the country was getting younger and more diverse. But there is no question that the election of a young African American president with the middle name Hussein catalyzed the craziness.
“If you want to understand how and why the Republican Party stands by the daily moral and political outrages of Donald Trump, it begins with their response to the election of Barack Obama."
-- Dan Pfeiffer, Yes We (Still) Can.