craftivism.

Because craft + activism = craftivism.

knitting for good!

| Betsy

So, yes, I wrote a book that will be out in a mere 5 days! And yes, this book is called Knitting for Good!

But this is not the time to talk about what I’ve done, it’s the time to talk about just a few of the many knitters who inspire me each and every day.

Last week, the Saddleworth Salvation Army Thrift Shop in South Australia celebrated the collection of over 10,000 knitted items during the past 18 months. The photo above shows some of the knitters wearing some of the donations. The quote below was taken directly from the article which pretty much encompasses why I believe that knitting can (and should) be used for the greater good.

“At Bramwell House (supported accommodation for women) a woman and her four children who had left everything they owned behind, they received a very large knitted blanket among the goods they were given. It was made in lots of different colours a

Just a few of the other knitters recently in the news for their knitting and their giving:
*The CareWear project in New Castle County, Delaware
*A lovely group of knitters in New Bedford, Massachusetts
*Knitters in Truro who aim to cover Afghanistan like a blanket
*The Knit Wits of St. Edward’s Episcopal Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
*The Baby Blankies Makers of the Seabrook active-adult community in New Jersey

What are you doing with your two hands at this moment? (When you’re not online, that is.) Do you have any idle time? Could you be using that time to make someone’s day better? This someone doesn’t have to be a stranger, even. This someone just needs to be a someone who may just need a little extra love, attention, care, pat on the back or hug. This someone needs to be a someone who could use a little hope or joy or comfort.

If you know someone who fits the bill and have some idle time on your hands, you could be helping them the next time you’re waiting for an appointment, watching television, riding public transportation, or in line at the bank. We all think we have no idle time, but if we really look, it’s always there. Waiting to be filled by kindness. I’m not suggesting that you need to be spending all of your spare seconds altruistically, I’m just suggesting that maybe some of them could be more wisely spent.

Knitting for good (the construct) not necessarily the book, is about looking beyond ourselves and the little bubbles we’ve created with our lives. The knitters noted above are examples of that quiet kindness that always exists in us always. Quiet kindness is in the tiny actions like a smile to a stranger, letting cars in front of you in traffic, telling someone they have toilet paper on their shoe. Teeny tiny actions that are rooted in infinite kindness. It’s there, I promise, all you have to do is look.

the dividing line.

| Betsy

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Part of the following is an email response I sent to someone very talented and bright, regarding divisions she noted in the craft(ing) community:

Over the past few weeks, I’ve thought a lot about your email and the divisions from within the craft(ing) community.

It makes sense that this division should be happening now, as craft has been popular (well, indie-popular) for several years now. Whereas at first, it was like, ‘Holy hell! Marble magnets! That is the most awesome thing ever!,’ where everyone was experimenting and not selling what they made and everyone urged everyone else on.

Then, I remember one case in particular, where someone posted in an online forum that someone else “stole” their idea. Suddenly an idea that was shared in order for people to learn and create became a protected trademark and selling point- and the moment was born where people realized that, yes, there is a market for this kind of thing! People like buying handmade instead of mass-produced! Eureka!

Somewhere along the way, an invisible line has been drawn between the “professionals” (those who sell their creations) versus the “hobbyists” (those who craft mainly for fun instead of profit). We’ve come to a place in the craft resurgence that the “movement” is big enough to sustain multiple groups and cliques and levels. There are the crafty superstars the ones many of us know by first name: Heidi, Leah, Melissa, Susie. There are those that network at craft fairs like Bazaar Bizarre and Crafty Bastards and those that blog and those that hate Debbie Stoller and those that don’t and all of a sudden this little craft world seems almost unrecognizable from the days of “Oh! My! God! You knit too?!”

And it’s a good thing. In order for things to flourish, there must be growth, but what about when people feel left out? It is a bit of a worry when I read on various blogs that individuals are scared to submit something to this site or that zine because it might not make the cut. It’s not necessarily a worry that people are feeling insecure about their creations, but a worry that people are finding themselves detached from a community instead of part of it.

The punk rock aspect of this new craft revolution is that ultimately there is no hierarchy.

As “women’s work” is continuing to be reclaimed and redefined, there is no reason why we, the perpetuators of this so-called movement, should start thinking that we are less important or less talented than someone because we are in it for a different reason. We are defining and molding how craft will be viewed in the future, and ensuring that there even is a future for traditions once seen as antiquated and out-of-date.

Just as we can dare to create things without a pattern, we, too, can create our own definitions of what it means to craft.

decorating DIY.

| Betsy

This is what greeted me as I was going to get some coffee the other day:

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There’s something similar about the state of the car and the state of the union. Rusty. Patchy. Old-fashioned.

But it seems that the political tide is somewhere betwixt and between right now, like the boot of the car. Mixed. Both colors (parties) fighting to take over the whole of the trunk.

Photos from Massive Knit’s event Tuesday.

sand.

| Betsy

In what may be the worst photograph ever posted here, I bring you sand:

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This particular sand is part of a parking lot near my house. While walking home recently, I came across this vacant lot covered in intertwining lines of tire tracks and foot prints, making it look almost like a painting or a piece of fabric instead of a lonely strip of sand.

This is why I prefer to walk instead of ride a walk, why my eyes are always darting from side to side as I’m driving down the road, because quiet beauty is so often overlooked.

The pattern created at random in the parking lot twists and curls in myriad patterns and weights, making ridges of sand that reminded me of low tide at the seaside.

Lately it seems as if I’m going on all these different divergent paths like the sand depicted above, creating cacophony instead of a forward moving front. But, when I stop and take a moment to really look closely, I see that instead of looking at the big picture and taking it for what it is (waves upon waves of sand), I was paying too much attention to the individuals tracks and trails.

Stepping back, its uniformity and oneness is again revealed.

And all these paths I’m taking (craft, art, sociology, theory, thinking, making, doing, photographing, writing) converge into an act of progression and embracement of DIY and individualism. I keep moving forward because I am not alone in thinking this way.

I recently came back to a post I wrote over two years on why craft is punk rock. And I still believe that correlation rings true.

And for a recent article on craftivism, please see here.

connecting you, yarn and the urban.

| Betsy

Thanks to my new friends over at Massive Knit, I was recently informed of an upcoming event in NYC, as well as a new blog dedicated to the memory of the inspiring Jane Jacobs. Not only will this event help connect individuals, but it will also unite people with the park and their urban spaces.


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This is a brilliant idea, as it works with knitting at different levels- because more than just a method of creating, knitting (and crafting) is a way of connecting more than yarn, it grounds us to a moment, to others, to places. And I realize that I could be saying the same things about quilting, embroidery, needlepoint, crochet, or any of the other myriad crafts that allow the process to be as satisfying as the product.

It is this dual joy that allows the handmade to not only thrive, but to nourish as well.

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