history

Thank You.

| Betsy

No matter if you call today Veterans Day or Armistice Day or Remembrance Day, just remember to say thank you to a veteran today. (Confused by all these names? Go learn more here.) No matter what you call it, it’s still about paying tribute to veterans who have given their lives for their countries.

According to the US Census, there were 23.7 million veterans in the United States. Chances are you’re pretty darn near one right now, so thank them.

Not all veterans look like those lovely men above snuggling in cozy lapghans either. If you’re not sure what’s going on in the world military-wise (seeing that the military produces veterans), go read something on this list for a start:

*At War: New York Times blog
*Guardian: Afghanistan
*Reuters: Iraq: Bearing Witness
*The Age: Afghanistan
*United States Department of Defense

Then, armed with knowledge, go say thank you. They work to protect you (outside of foreign policy issues or whatever), at the end of the day, that’s the basis of their job. Every day. While you fight with the copier or fall asleep in meetings or fill in yet another spreadsheet. They have more at risk than a broken fingernail or struggling with formatting that makes no sense in MS Office.

Not sure how this day came to be? Here’s a quick lesson, text taken from here.

HOW IT STARTED:
In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…”

The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m.

(But there was no hoopla. The hoopla came later after all the naming of people to committees and obscure laws. In short, the hoopla began later.)

THE HOOPLA!:
The first Veterans Day under the new law was observed with much confusion on October 25, 1971. It was quite apparent that the commemoration of this day was a matter of historic and patriotic significance to a great number of our citizens, and so on September 20th, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed Public Law 94-97 (89 Stat. 479), which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11, beginning in 1978. This action supported the desires of the overwhelming majority of state legislatures, all major veterans service organizations and the American people.

Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls. The restoration of the observance of Veterans Day to November 11 not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but helps focus attention on the important purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

Completely unrelated: Knitting for Good! was published one year ago today! Exciting!

Over the Mountain and Through the Woods…

| Betsy

…To grandmother’s house we go.

The other weekend I joined several of my cousins at our grandparent’s house in the North Carolina mountains near the border of Tennessee. One afternoon, when it was quiet, I took out my camera and took photographs of a few of my favorite things. I had a second to really pay attention to my great grandmother’s organ that was in her living room in Florida (complete with songbook!), some Matchbox cars from 1955 that were my uncle’s and a crocheted quilt made by someone in my family years ago.

Taking some extra quiet time to wander through their house like it was a museum was wonderful. My grandparents traveled all over the world, there were artifacts from my grandfather’s Army tours over his 30-year career, and bits covering every decade of the last century. I used to go to their house in South Carolina and do the same thing, walk around and look at all the delightful things they were attracted to at one point in time. It reminded me that that’s part of why I love older things, because they all have a journey and story to them, all different, all magical, all lovely.

This is How We Make the Yarn.

| Betsy

Since textiles have been around forever, there are a heck of a lot of ways to produce yarn. And after being lucky enough to have seen wool processed with machines pre-WWII a few years ago, I’ve been fascinated with the different modes of production.

Here are some of the more interesting videos I’ve come across…It’s amazing to me how alien and foreign the big factories are and how unlike craft as I know it to be. With all the tactile, love and creativity that I’ve seen modern day spinners use, it’s almost like watching something from another planet as it churns out skeins in rooms devoid of people.

1. modern day mill, Germany (complete with David Hasselhoff-esque soundtrack!)
2. traditional mode of wool processing in Serbia
3. totally wierd promotional video for silk wool production company in India
4. wool production as was done in early 1900s in Germany
5. making “fancy yarn” with big scary machines

Hooray For Moms. And Julia Ward Howe.

| Betsy

The United States observance of Mother’s Day is May 10th. Remember history of Mother’s Day (I had no idea it started as an anti-war day!), that is absolutely beautiful. This Mother’s Day they are having a peace vigil in DC May 9-10, 1pm-1pm. Read more about it over here.





You can read the entire Mother’s Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe over here.


After you’ve read the Proclamation and fallen in love with the awesomeness of Julia Ward Howe, you can learn more about her from the following links:
*Julia Ward Howe dot org
*Julia Ward Howe, in Two Volumes, Houghton Mifflin, 1915.
*Open Collections Project, Harvard University
Be sure to check out the links at the bottom for some amazing work, including…
*Women’s Work in American

So when was the last time you hugged your Mother?

Oh, and local folk, I will be doing an event at McIntyre’s in Fearrington Village (Pittsboro) this Sunday, May 3rd, at 2pm! Do come by and say hi!

*I’ve made 6! 2 to go, I need to hurry as they need to be in DC by the 4th!