knitting.

I like knitting, you like knitting, the world likes knitting.

Merry. Merry.

| Betsy

Today was going to be one of those days where I really crossed things off my to-do list. Then I was called last minute to work for someone who’s home sick.

This morning I got most of my list done as I rushed around town and dropped things off, picked things up, sat at the mechanics and wondered if my “holiday list” is ever going to get finished before Christmas.

So instead of writing about some lovely people who knit jumpers for chickens who’ve been in battery farms, I shall post this for now. It’s the story of one lucky chicken, although she’s not the only hen to be given the gift of the handmade this year:

The video is from a tiny little blurb in The Daily Telegraph. I can’t believe I’m just seeing chicken sweatery goodness now and not when it first came out, but it’s still wonderful nonetheless.

Oh, and if you are stressed out by the holidays, I wrote a few crafty holiday mantras and give you permission to relax over here.

on giving.

| Betsy

Two new projects have been brought to my attention lately, which I’d like to share, both of which are accepting donations until December 10th. Both of these projects are not only for wonderful causes, but they are both for causes that are very near and dear to my heart for two very different and very personal reasons.

Supernaturale 6th Annual Scarf Drive

All donations go to Sanctuary for Families, a New York non-profit that helps women and children affected by domestic violence. This annual drive is very special to me for two reasons. This is first drive I ever sent a knitted donation for charity to! It’s mentioned briefly in the book, and I still remember shipping those scarves off and being so happy to be able to do something for people who had been through so much.

While fortunately I’ve never been in a domestic violence situation, I have been in abusive relationships. They were long ago, in what now, thankfully, seems like another lifetime. But I will never forget the powerlessness, the helplessness and the confusion involved in them, and how they turned my little world completely upside down for a long time. I’m still quite gunshy when it comes to trusting people as a result, and still wonder what could have healed more completely if I had gotten help at the time.

So sending those scarves to those women for the first time, I felt like I was sending them all my love and hope and acceptance in those stitches created by my hands. It was my greatest hope that they would wrap them around themselves to keep them warm and know that somewhere someone was rooting for them and sending them strength. It is for reasons like this that I earnestly believe in the power and the sanctity of the handmade and giving and loving without expecting reciprocity. Clicking either the link above or the photo will take you directly to more information about what types of scarves to send and where to.



Mama to Mama: Caps to Cap Haiti Project

Mama to Mama is a new craftivism project started by the always inspirational Soulemama that is collecting newborn caps and receiving blankets for safe birthing kits for new mothers and babies in Haiti via Konbit Sante, an organization created to improve Haitian healthcare.

According to Mama to Mama, in northern Haiti:

* Just 1 in 5 women receives skilled medical care during childbirth.
* Haiti has the highest maternal mortality ratio in the Western Hemisphere.
* 1 in 40 women will die as a result of pregnancy complications, unsafe abortion, or obstetrical emergency.
* Twelve percent of children die before the age of 5

My personal interest in this is due to a long-time concern regarding the health and welfare and newborns and their mothers, especially those with premature babies. In 1975, I was born 3 months early, a thousand miles away from where my parents were from, while they were on vacation. When I was in my early teens, I visited the NICU I was in for 3 months, and was shocked at the teeny tininess of the infants. The fear for my survival can still be seen in the faces of my parents and relatives as they relive the first few months of my life and how I fit entirely in my uncle’s hand.

Thirty-three years later, my birth still evokes heavy emotions from them. And I was born in a modern Cincinnati, Ohio hospital! What about all the babies that are born with problems to scared new mothers in countries without all of our technological might? They, too, need to be comforted and held and listened to like my own mother was. But in countries where so many horrible things are happening simultaneously, how can everyone be heard and comforted and listened to? The links above will take you directly to more information and what to make and where to send donations.

Both these new mothers and new infants, as they begin their new roles in life, need the same warmth and comfort and hope that the women and children affected by domestic violence do in New York. Or the children of Iraq and Afghanistan. Or the hurricane victims still suffering from Katrina. Or any of the hundreds of thousands of people that receive donations all over the world from charities.

The trick to starting to live more compassionately and openly is by figuring out where you’d like to help and for what cause…something determined by your own life experiences and histories. And then to reach out and do some good for others, whether it’s for someone in your own life who needs some help and support or for someone across the world. By being a tiny part of the change you’d like to see (or even the change you’d like to have), you’re causing tiny ripples, ripples that perhaps one day will become waves.

p.s. you are awesome.

| Betsy

Lately, I’ve a bad case of the “enoughs.” I’m not brave enough, smart enough, thin enough. I’m not pretty enough, tough enough, cool enough. I’m a million different things, but not “enough” of any of them. Whenever the “enoughs” strike, I’m forced to realign where I’m going and how I want to get there. (See a post from the last time the “enoughs” hit here.) The “enoughs” are not discriminatory or unique to me, battling the “enoughs” is a part of being human. They’re a part of humanity that we don’t often let the world see because in this age of bigger and better and richer, to not be enough of something equals failure. But I am enough, even as I battle the “enoughs!” It’s only in the battle and admission of it, that we can gain ground.

It is in the swinging and struggling and searching and attempts to achieve against our own negative thoughts and those of others that we learn the compassion and the empathy and the depth that it takes to be fully alive. And ironically, the very battles that make us more human and more understanding and more compassionate are the very battles we tend to hide, only wanting to show our best sides and behaviors. The giant flaw of this logic being, of course, is that it’s our weakest sides that make us who we truly are.

It’s our vulnerabilities and quirks that help us foster closeness, not just our strengths. Our fight to be “enough” and fear of not adding up lock horns and call a stalemate. What a wicked irony that what can connect us best is what we fear disclosing most, as without disclosure we’re only sharing self-edited versions of ourselves, not actually our selves at all?

I was reminded of the trick to silencing the “enoughs” this morning when a friend of mine emailed me a link to the work of micro sculptor Willard Wigan. As a result of severe dyslexia, Wigan can neither read nor write, but he found a teeny tiny outlet for communication and creativity outside of those cultural expectations. He battled the “enoughs,” ignored the constructs that got in his way and embraced his skills, allowing for a landing just where he was supposed to be. I’ve met some people who could neither read nor write who tried to hide it, ashamed of the fact, when disclosing it would have led to creative problem solving or help instead of mockery.


And why yes, that is Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston duking it out in a boxing ring smaller than the head of a match. Refusing to ignore his creative side and refusing to believe others who doubted his intelligence, Wigan has discovered an incredible talent and an unending font of patience via his artwork. He makes sculptures, sculptures that are so tiny, that he has at least on one occasion, inhaled his work and had to start all over again. In fact, his sculptures are so amazing that I can’t stop sneaking a peek at them as I’m typing, trying to get my head completely around their awesomeness. (I mean, really, when was the last time you saw sculptures of Snow White and her seven dwarves showcased inside the head a pin?!)

In allowing himself to step outside of what was culturally expected of him, Wigan took the path towards becoming enough and found his life’s work on the way. In daring to look outside the mainstream construct of enough, Wigan redefined it by devising his own limits and goals instead of letting others set them. He is a reminder of how to follow your own path even though you don’t know where your next step will fall, in the belief that that net will appear. He is a reminder of how we are all enough– despite cultural definitions. we just need to heed the urge to seek it, fight it, and trust its wisdom.

You are enough, you just seek it, find it, define it own your own terms, in order to keep the “enoughs” at bay.

1. For the disbelievers, you can verify it here.
2. A big thanks to The Guardian for including me on their techonology blog roll today!

TODAY!

| Betsy

So I used caps up top because, this is a BIG announcement… the book that I have been working on for the last year and a half is out in the United States TODAY!

The book is about how you can use your knitting (or your creativity) to help yourself, your community and your world. It was so wonderful to have the chance to write it, and can’t believe it’s finally out! You can see more information here.

I couldn’t have done this without the help of the kind people at Shambhala, and everyone who contributed something to the book:

Patterns:
Katie Aaberg, Li Boesen, Janice Bye, Naomi Johnstone, Aneeta Patel, Fawn Pea, Linda Permann, Judith Shangold, Kelly Wooten

Pattern Illustrations:
Joy Gosney

Sidebars:
Sage Adderley, Susan Beal, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Heather Cameron, Cinnamon Cooper, Cathy de la Cruz, Donna Druchunas, Rayna Fahey, Kari Falk, Felicity (Felix) Ford, Sally Fort, (Sister Diane) Gilleland, Bryant Holsenbeck, Faythe Levine, Cat Mazza, Valerie Soles, Wendy Tremayne, Otto von Busch

Thank you all for all of your hard work, and for believing in the power in the handmade.

leaves, knitting awesomeness and the marshall tucker band.

| Betsy

Above you will see a photo from the November issue of Ode magazine, which I took in the bookstore, while it was on the shelf with people looking at me weird. You can read the review online right here. Thank you Ode! Thanks also to my friend Jeff for taking this photo of me on his front porch one afternoon in Durham!


Today is one of those days when it’s lovely and perfect to sit outside drinking tea with your feet up and no shoes on, even if your neighbor insists on listening to The Marshall Tucker Band* really loud and leaves keep falling on your keyboard and in your tea. I secretly wish it was like this outside everyday.

In knitting news, I found the most amazing article about how knitting can change lives today! It’s the story of my new favorite knitter, Tonks (aka Jessi Rose), and how knitting both saved and changed her life.

After battling mental health issues for years, Tonks saw a way out as she planned to commit suicide one night after the mandatory group therapy class at the halfway house where she was living. What she didn’t plan, however, was to learn how to knit during the class. As she watched the slow and steady progress of the instructor’s work and picked up the needles herself, she began to see how she could slowly rebuild her life bit by bit, just as the scarf progressed row by row. That was 7 years ago.

She is now preparing for her full knitted wedding vow renewal ceremony in 2010. You can follow her progress on this project on her blog! Go Tonks! Her story is one of hope and persistence and love and creativity that makes my heart smile.


*“In My Own Way” seems to his favorite, generally closely followed by his second favorite, Can’t You See.