I am not sure what political side you're on, but if you swing to the left you might want to knit a vajajay and send it to your congressMAN. Yes, your lady business in worsted weight.
There is a group called Government Free VJJ that is rallying for the cause of women's rights. What do these good women stand for? I quote from their site:
We are women, we are strong, we are smart. And we have a sense of humor.
We do not need government interference with our doctors or our healthcare.
We do not need government probing our vaginas to help us make decisions about abortion.
We do not need government to give us guidance about whether or not to take birth control.
We do not need misogynistic pundits calling us sluts and prostitutes.
We are half of the population and we will not be treated as children or a disenfranchised minority.
Tell your male government representatives:
“Hands off my uterus! Here’s one of your own!”
Government Free VJJ encourages us knitters to pick up our pointy sticks and some pink yarn for the cause. They have free patterns listed on their site as well as directions on how to send your finished mysterious lady part to the right person.
Courtesy of Government Free VJJ
Don't just sit back...get crafty and political! Gloria would want you to....
The past few weeks have been a roller-coaster of emotion and concern for Alex and I. The political climate in Madison, Wis. (where we live) has the city's residents either polarized, mobilized, or paralyzed. Whether you have been pounding the pavement with picket signs or slavishly following the news updates on your computer... it has become all-consuming and frankly, we've said it a few times already, exhausting.
The Japanese earthquake horrors and tsunami today have sort of woken me out of the political fatigue I was feeling. A natural disaster of that magnitude has made me step back and put all things into perspective. I need to find my center again. I need to find my quiet.
Thinking about the peonies blooming soon is helping bring the happy.
Alex's post from Wednesday about knitting basics is on-track with where my focus needs to lie - back to the building blocks of my creativity. I want to simplify by thinking about the construction of things (like the baby-room draperies I need to make), and breaking down projects into manageable bits.
With that said, I'll share one of the most basic (and misunderstood) fundamentals of handwork. The button. I am shocked by how many times have I been asked to sew a button for someone who thought it was some complicated adventure. It's so basic, and actually quite fun. I found this funny video tutorial created by Esquire magazine specifically targeted towards men. Even if you've sewn a hundred buttons in your lifetime I think you'll find it worthwhile.
So, I'm going to keep it short and sweet today. There are many crafting projects on my plate that I will be sharing with you very soon. But, for today, I am keeping it simple.
As you're all aware, Madison, Wisconsin is the epicenter of a huge U.S. political battle. It consumes those of us who live here. Everyone wants to talk about it - whether to commiserate or to dissect the minutia of all the political wranglings. Frankly, it's exhausting.
This was the scene on Saturday:
I've coined three terms: "rally fatigue", "rally stress", and "rally anxiety." I'm thinking about trademarking them... (j/k) Over the course of the last two weeks, I've bounced between these three states of being - none of which are particularly pleasant. Then, on Friday night (2/25), I got to add "rally inspiration" to my list of terms.
You see, Friday night was the first meeting of the Knit-In/Craft-In for Democracy. As we all know, I can't resist an opportunity to knit in public with a group so, of course, I went. One report counted 92 people in attendance on the 2nd floor of the north wing of the Capitol. Most were knitting but some were crocheting, or spinning, or sewing. On person had set up a make-shift craft "table" with bits of paper, glue, pipe cleaners, and such - like you'd see in elementary school art rooms. It was awesome.
photo courtesy of Carrie Ouradnik
photo courtesy of Thea Dingo
photo courtesy of Carrie Ouradnik
People chatted and laughed. They talked about their knitting and about the rally. There was an air of camaraderie and of doing something "important" - even though we were just doing what we'd probably be doing at home, in front of the t.v. The "event" lasted until about 9:30p.m., at which time many protesters were bunking down for the night so it was the right time to leave. We dispersed as we'd arrived, with hugs and words of gratefulness and support.
From that first, three-hour gathering, the Knit-In/Craft-In has expanded. People convened again on Sunday February 27 starting at noon and are encouraged to keep coming every day, starting at noon, until the end of the "siege."
Carrie, a friend from my knitting group, (aka CraftyPuppyLover on Ravelry) provides this account of the end of the day:
"They were supposed to close down the capitol and start arresting people that didn’t leave at 4. So a few of us stuck around, and were planning on peacefully leaving once we were personally told to by an officer...and that never happened! My VERY unofficial guess is that there were about 200+ people that stayed behind, and the officers all just stayed calm. (edit: I have seen this number as high as 600, it's probably in the middle somewhere)
At around 7pm we got the word that there would be no arrests and that everyone was free to stay the night! Kelda Roys was SUPER AWESOME and escorted me upstairs once we figured no one was going to be arrested. She was also the person that was escorting others around to make sure that we could all get things like water, gatorade, and pizza into the capitol to feed the protesters.
I left around 7:45, I felt like I was there long enough to have my “body counted” and so that people could stay the night. The last thing I heard was that they were going to let in more food and eventually move everyone down to the ground floor so that the 1st floor could be cleaned, and that no one would be forced to leave."
I think that, when it's all said and done, the thing that inspired me was the peacefulness of it all. Throughout this ordeal, there's been no violence - even though there's been horrible anger. And we crafters are not known for being too unruly so we fit perfectly into this non-violent protest. Ghandi would be proud. Let's hope it stays this way.
One last note: as I was leaving on Friday night, there was a documentary filmmaker shooting video of the knitters. Here's the video she produced:
