knitting for good!

It’s the Thrill Of the Fight.

| Betsy

Growing up in the 80s, there was a lot talk about Rocky Balboa. My dad still breaks into song sometimes and sings Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.” (No, really. Still.) One year we went to Philadelphia to visit my aunt, and we ran up the Rocky Steps and did this:

I know you weren’t there to see this historic Greer family moment, but let me tell you, we were one excited family once we got to the top. It was the mid-80s and “Rocky” was the coolest dude ever, so it was awesome. Actually, if I was in Philadelphia right now, I’d probably run up the stairs and jump around with my hands in the air, too.

Anyway, a friend of mine once noted that she had this quote (from the original “Rocky” film) on her refrigerator:

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit.

It’s been on my mind this evening, well, the “moving forward” part, not the “hit” part. Sometimes the easiest of things, like moving forward, seems like the most difficult to keep in mind. And now, as luck would have it, I’m singing “Eye of the Tiger,” too. Maybe I should take a victory run up my townhouse stairs before I go to sleep?

Thanks to all the super wonderful people that came out last night to the Barnes & Noble in Cary to hear me talk! Wow! You ladies were so awesome! I was so happy that there was someone on hand to talk about Project Linus, too! I already have Make-a-Blanket Day on my calendar for February 22 at Marbles Kids Museum!

And thanks, too, to the people who listened to my interview on The State of Things yesterday! (If you missed it, you can listen to me here. Right before I was interviewed, Laila El-Haddad was on talking about Gaza, which is definitely worth a listen.

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.

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.

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.

a book is a book is a book. or is it?

| Betsy



Ever since I can remember, books have always been my frequent companions. As a kid, books would tuck me in bed late at night and I would devour their pages until I couldn’t hold my eyes open…many times I would wake up in the middle of the night with a book on my chest having fallen asleep while trying to finish a chapter. As a matter of fact, this is one ritual I’ve never ceased, even when camping and I have to share the light with any and every moth in a three-mile radius.

Even now, I always have a book on hand in case I have a few spare minutes and my hands are tired from needlework. Some people escape in books and forget about the rest of the beat of the world, but I always have seen books as a way to obtain closer intimacy with others. By understanding the words of someone else you’re subtly asked to think as someone else, and it forever allows for new points of understanding and questioning and deepens our compassion for when we close the book and come back to the so-called “real world.”

When I was little I figured I would either work with animals or write, falling in love early with the life of James Herriot. As I got older and the sciences turned out to be my academic nemesis, I wondered what I was to do.

Decades later, I’m still not entirely sure…having at one time or another called myself a sign painter, barista, consultant, secretary, knitter for hire, feeder of sheep, housesitter, bookseller, cake deliverer….and that’s just the highly abridged list. I guess I never really stopped asking questions once I picked my nose out of a book after all.

As I look at turning 33 in two months, I wonder what’s to become of us seekers and searchers and travelers in this world of taxes and health insurance and mortgages. Maybe we’re a dying breed, maybe we just need to unionize, maybe we’re meant to ask and seek and create each day anew looking for others who see the world the same. I’m sure you know the type, or maybe you even are the type….if you are, do
let me know what you think the best course of action for us searchers is…

Above is the cover of my first book, Knitting for Good!, to be out later on this year. Many thanks to the good people at Shambhala, who helped edit and tease out the words when I was too close to them. Using knitting as both an example and as a metaphor, the book was written to help people engage with their creativity in different and new ways by using their creative interests to better themselves, their community and this world.

It is my greatest hope that some night, maybe some night soon, someone reads my own words and uses them to help better figure out how to navigate their days or rethink their own sense of compassion or just read them and understand. Whether at bedtime, or by flashlight in the wilderness, or for a few minutes on the bus, or sitting with a cup of tea, it is my greatest hope that you, too, will find wisdom in books… and then use them as a guide instead of escape.


Currently on my bedside table (there is always a massive stack which I pull from depending…):

Kiss and Tell
Creating a Life Worth Living
Regarding the Pain of Others
Mindfulness in Plain English
The Corporate Rebel’s Productivity Guide
Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash
The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper- Case Closed

Here’s to happy reading, and hoping my cat doesn’t decide to knock my tower of books over on me as I sleep.