Therefore, in the hiatus, there’s quite a bit of stuff I want to share with you. Yay! One of the things I’ve been working on is activism of the self, our internal activism or self-activism, I haven’t really figured out how to phrase it (have any ideas?). However, it’s using activism/craftivism as a way/tool for self change instead of changing others. At times on here I’ve felt incredibly selfish when people contact me about the work I’ve done with craftivism, as honestly, it all started by accident. When I started to knit in 2000, I was in an incredibly dark place where, seriously, I don’t know know where I’d be if I didn’t find knitting. When I say that “knitting saved my life,” I’m actually not kidding around.

Crafts connection to activism came out of the healing of my own self. As I got stronger and better, I was able to see how crafts has changed me; therefore, it wasn’t a far leap to see how it could change others, albeit in different ways. Over time I realized that craftivism allowed people the time/space to really think/internalize their own views on craftivist pieces, starting a change in themselves. And it is my belief that this internal change in others is what can make the world a better place, because we change ourselves. But first, we need to help our own selves heal/get strong/thrive before we can truly help others. Thoughts?

I’m calling this part 1, because I’m running out of time and won’t be able to upload the snapshots from the conversation on twitter yesterday with some lovely thoughts from the always helpful and inspiring @MrXStitch, @hstryk, @janislena and @thejaymo.

Also, know any Swedish crafters? The new Swedish craft website Zickermans was kind enough to run a lovely little interview with me over here.

This is especially exciting to me as in college I studied Russian for 4 years, although I can do little but read Russian phonetically these days… Meaning I almost peed my pants when I saw read “Термин крафтивизм (сraftivism) впервые был использован в 2003 году теоретиком и практиком Бетси Грир (Betsy Greer).”*

According to its Facebook page, KYKY is a “an on-line magazine which tells its readers about interesting cultural phenomena: music, art, design, fashion, literature and city from Belarusian observer perspective.” Wanna know more about what’s going on in the craft/art/music scene in Belarus? You can also follow KYKY on Twitter over at @kykyorg! Thanks so much, KYKY for writing about craftivism!

What’s fascinating to me are the ways in which different countries and cultures take craftivism and bend its tenets to its own ideosyncrasies, preferences and current situations. And seeing something written about крафтивизм (craftivism) in a language I studied for so long is just so freaking cool I had to share it.

Because using your creativity and your activism in joint force is not an American thing or a British thing or a liberal thing, it’s a universal thing that’s been happening since time began! The term “craftivism” is just an umbrella term to hang the type of work on, as often it’s easier to understand/explain/internalize/share what we’re doing if we have a name to call it.

By giving it a name, we allow ourselves to sink into what we’re doing and let it become a part of our lives and ourselves, truly getting behind the honesty and grit and reality of our work as we work to help the world understand how we see it. Because we know, that it’s not necessarily that we want people to agree with us, it’s that we want people to see how they can use their creativity as their mouthpiece and speak out for what they believe in.

Hence, our actions give others permission to think, make and create as they please. By internalizing the creative process and letting our work speak for us, we become permission givers to those who might have an inkling of an idea of something to make, but aren’t so sure if it’s crazy or stupid or pointless. That’s our whole job as makers, to share with people that it’s okay to feel, to scream, to care, to cry, to laugh, to love.

(Also included in the article are some pretty amazing craftivists like Radical Cross Stitch and Craftivist Collective! Always chuffed to be included with such great and inspiring company!)

*However, if I got it wrong and this is in Belarusian, and not Russian, someone please let me know!!

Translation for this article seems to come out pretty fair in Google Translate, which is great as it includes tutorials for:
Wallpapering with Xerox!
Building a fix-wheeled bike!
Making a mini guitar amplifier!
Making an invisible bookcase!

In case you haven’t checked out the DIY scene down in Brazil lately, there are some pretty amazing things going on down there! I especially recommend the work being done by Rede Nami and Anarkia (Panmela Castro), but know that there’s much more amazing work being done by others, too!

Plus, there’s a lovely article about the work of Rede Nami here. And more about the work of Anarkia here over at Culture is Your Weapon and here at Senses Lost.

[And somewhat unrelated to this, yet still related, while looking for links I also discovered the further awesome Brazilian projects Grupo Opni and Coletivo Briza!]

I first noted this over on Tumblr. Got a blog over there? Lemme know, so I can see what awesomeness you’re up to!

*”en Brazil” may not be the correct Portuguese. Feel free to correct me! THANKS, Luiza for correcting me! Awesome!

(by Franklin Habit)

If the above doesn’t scare you off, I have a nice and easy pattern for fingerless gloves in Craft Hope. As someone who has given these as gifts, I can tell you that they have always been well received, usually either sparking a request for the pattern or a friend to say, “Oooh! Make me some!” I’ve been wearing those exact gloves in the photo below and can tell you that they are handy and keep your fingers from getting cold while both typing and walking around the city.

Pattern (PDF) here.

*Bells? Holidays?! HA!

How can you not be enamored of someone who writes that:

“instead of making more waste, we REUSE waste. Instead of employing highly skilled experts, we TRAIN the unskilled. The aim is not to make more stuff quickly and cheaply, but to address problems through CREATIVE experimentation.

Where there is garbage, there is always poverty. A large part of the world – primarily in developing countries – continue to live in extreme poverty within huge global economies of waste.

I design products from waste and the production methods that include the poor. In waste reduction and social business, the more challenging aspect is to instill a sense of possibility and creative experimentation in this mix of artistry.”

Invisible Sisters is a project set up to help women in Manila who can’t work outside of the house earn an income. They crochet items from city refuse, bags, wires, computer parts. Seeing this creative reuse of trash is not only uplifting, it is also inspiring and providing us with another example of what we can do with this mountain of trash we’ve collected over time.

Even though we may not be able to see the heaps and heaps near our houses because they’re tucked far away in a landfill (out of sight out of mind), they’re there. And one day we will not just have the option, but will most likely be forced to deal with them. Why not start now?

You can read Ann’s inspiring vision for the project here.

Also inspiring and crafty:
*Schoolchildren reuse fabric for charity weaving project
*Harris Tweed weavers start course to help bring back dying industry
*Women in England knitting real-life size house to raise money for church
*European Relief Society members knit 4,400 hats for newsborns in Guatemala

Bonus! If you can read Greek, you might want to read about their introduction to craftivism over here. Thank you, Greece!