Author: Betsy

35, and other random things.

| Betsy

So as of Sunday, I am now 35. A number, which I’m totally okay with, but just seems, well, overwhelmingly adult. Things are so much different with my life than when I started this little site at age 28! Yikes!

But a few things have stayed the same, like my interests. The top photo is my favorite craft badge in the whole wide world, which I bought in Brighton, England in 2004. The bottom photo is of Teneek women from Mexico working on their embroidery at the recent Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Yes, that’s yarn on their heads, gorgeously wrapped up with their own hair.

If you’re wondering why my blog may seem a little, sparse, lately, it’s because I’ve been keeping up with lots of things simultaneously. Volunteering recently at the Festival. Writing about Afghan war rugs. Volunteering my communications skills to help Emerge Global aid Sri Lankan girls start their own jewelry businesses! Meeting all sorts of amazing new people! And, of course, continuing to discover the layout of my new hometown, DC!

As they’re easier to update on the fly, you can also find me over at Tumblr and Twitter.

Do come say hello!

Greatest video ever by a 9 year old knitter!

| Betsy

When I was 9 years old, my biggest worry (seriously) was how I was going to tell people I was 11 with only 2 hands, even though I still wasn’t even 10.

Thankfully, kids of today are more sophisticated than myself. For example, the following video sent to me by a 9-year-old girl named Heather. After the video, I’ve posted her email about it, along with links to the projects she mentions.

Heather, you are awesome! Thanks so much for sending me your awesome video! I’m not sure who else you sent this great video to, but I hope the whole world gets to see it!


My name is Hannah and I am nine years old.

Could you please link my YouTube video on your blog?

I’m trying to get knitters to donate a hat to Hats for Hunger.*
All money goes to Heifer International to buy livestock for poor families.

I knit on a loom. I unravel sweaters for hats sometimes. And I dye the yarn with koolaid.

I made the video as a 4H project and it won a blue ribbon, a purple ribbon, a trip to the state fair and a Best of Show ribbon.

Hannah

*Hats for Hunger was started by a 9 year old in 2008. He’s now 11, and I’m betting has better things to do than tell people his age by displaying his fingers.

2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival!

| Betsy

The video above is a Zapotec weaving demonstration going on currently at the 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, just one of the many awesome things you can see at this year’s festival which continues next week, July 1-5! The programs this year are: Asian Pacific Ties: Local Lives, Global Ties, Mexico, Smithsonian Inside Out, and A Tribute to Haiti. The full festival schedule is over here.

I’ve been lucky enough to have the chance to volunteer at the festival this year and have had a wonderful time! Not only did I get to see the weaving demo posted above, I also saw a wonderful bhangra show, saw some amazing Huichol beadwork by women from Wikarita, learned how to make amazing Lao food and today while eating lunch caught some awesome Mexican rock among many other fantastic things! And there’s still tomorrow and another weekend to go!!

If you’re not able to make it to DC this year, you can read about what’s happening the festival each day over at the Folklife Festival blog. There is also Flickr pool for the event, too. The photo above is from Flickr user Mr. T in DC of the Palo Volantin ceremony which is done at the festival twice daily.

Sherri Wood’s New Blog!

| Betsy

Years ago, when I had first returned to North Carolina, I kept hearing about the amazing works of local artist Sherri Wood. I ate lunch under one of the installations of the 1200 hats she made with women in the North Carolina Correctional Institute for Women. I read about her Tattoo Baby Doll Project. I read Issue #5 of Knit Knit with the photo of her pieces Comfort Room and L.A.T.C.H. on the cover. I eagerly followed the progress of her Mantra Trailer. I interviewed her about her Passage Quilts for my book, Knitting for Good!

So, I was happy to hear that Sherri has started a blog over at Daintytime.net and in one of her first posts, part of a greater mending tutorial, talks about the “unpredictable geography of mending.” Also of note, her Modern Mood Quilt Craft Along tutorial Welcome to blogland, Sherri!



Crafty Links:
*Crochet Ombre Necklace tutorial (via Cut Out + Keep)
*The Great Owl Crochet Along at (Itsy Bitsy Spider Crochet)
*Electricity in Bhutan help women weavers earn extra money
*The emotional knitted sculpture of Johan Ku (via Ecoterre.com article)
*Stethoscope Cozy Crochet Pattern!!!! (via Meet Me In The Day Room)

[Photos above from Sherri Wood’s Flickr account of Passage Quilts.]

What’s happening? I disappeared… But finally got internet in my apartment for the first time in over a month. Network “Waterloo” (named after one of my favorite ABBA songs) is up and running!

Artisans Helping Artisans! (Help Tanya Aguiniga Get to Chiapas!)

| Betsy

One of the coolest things about writing about craftivism has to be all the amazing events/projects/people I get introduced to! Faythe Levine sent me an email about an amazing project that her friend Tanya Aguiniga is currently doing. Tanya is trying raise $7,000 for this project, and could use your donation if you have some change to spare for crafters helping crafters. Here’s a little excerpt from the project’s website about what Tanya is doing with this new project called Artists Helping Artisans.

I am a furniture designer/maker looking to start a brand new artist collaborative, Artists Helping Artisans (AHA), which will focus on helping artisans in marginalized communities whose craft traditions or livelihoods are at risk. With the current economic crisis, and tourism dwindling, many of these craft communities are in dire need of help.

A large scale exhibition of my work is scheduled for Sept 2010 at MACLA, Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latinoamericana, in San Jose during the Zero1 Biennial. MACLA has allowed me to use the exhibition to showcase (and kickstart) collaborative works with artisans—and for the first time in my art career, allow me to become a catalyst for social change through the creation of craft.

I have wanted to create collaborative works with artisans I met in Chiapas and Oaxaca since a trip in 2007. For the MACLA exhibition, I plan to spend June 2010 in the highlands of Chiapas working with Mayan women to collaboratively create new functional art pieces. Chiapas is a place whose struggle for indigenous cultural preservation has led to one of the richest artisanal traditions in Mexico, and for the same reasons, is one of the most economically repressed regions.

Also… Have you heard about the Conference of Creative Entrepreneurs happening in Seattle August 13-15? Along with an awesome schedule of events, they’ve also assembled a fantastic list of speakers! Although I’m biased, I think Susan Beal’s Craft Activism discussion will be brilliant!


[Photos above of Chiapas, where Tanya is proposing to do this work, from Flickr users skino and magnusvk, respectively.]