After almost one year since the Women’s March in DC, I’m reflecting on my experience with mixed emotions about this hat that once symbolized our empowerment.
Tiny Hats
I’m excited to see so many people exercising their freedom of speech through craftivism. The Hide a Hat and Fight Back project from Catherine Hicks encourages you to knit a tiny little hat with embroidery floss and leave it with a note for someone to find. Such a quiet, yet strong way to express yourself and remind others to take action. Her note ends with “The cure for anxiety is action.” You can read an interview and learn more about the project over on Betsy Greer’s website, Craftivism, and you can follow along with the tiny hats on Instagram here and with the hashtag #hideahatandfightback.
And in more tiny hat news, did you see these tiny hats on the ducks in Boston Common?
The amazingly talented felt artist Salley Mavor of Wee Folk Studio has also joined the craftivism movement with her little characters now making statements. I was honored to visit her studio in Massachusetts a few years back. Many artists, myself included, now feel compelled to speak out against injustice despite possible damage to our commercial work. Using craft as our medium of expression is only natural. You can follow Salley on Instagram or check out her beautiful books here.
Carry on, tiny hats!
Knitting Together
UPDATED! Meetup postponed to Saturday, January 14 (updated image above).
If you live near Atlanta, please join us for a knitting meet-up this Saturday at Intown Quilters in Decatur. We’ll be knitting hats for the Pussy Hat Project to wear at the Women’s March on Washington on January 21. If you knit, but can’t make it to the march, you can knit a hat to pass along. It looks like there will also be a local march here in Atlanta.
We’d love to have you join us at the meet-up even if you don’t quite know how to knit. My skills aren’t great, but this is a very simple, straightforward pattern. As you can see below, all I can manage is a straight basic knitting stitch, but I’m getting the job done. You can also crochet or sew a hat. You can do it!
Protest Knitting
Have you heard of the Pussyhat Project yet? If that word offends you, you’re not alone. I had to explain it to my daughters this fall after they saw the news.
The creators of this knitting project are reclaiming the word for female empowerment and using the color pink, “Wearing pink together is a powerful statement that we are unapologetically feminine and we unapologetically stand for women’s rights.” Knitters can make the hats for themselves or others to wear at the Women’s March on Washington on January 21. Since crafts have traditionally been viewed as women’s work, knitting as protest speaks to our collective experience.
You can find the pattern on their website or on Ravelry. The pattern is simple because you just knit a rectangle, then seam it together, so no double-pointed needles to close up the top of the hat! There are crochet and sewing patterns available too. You could even re-purpose an old sweater to sew a quick cat-eared hat. I bought this yarn locally from Intown Quilters and we’ll be planning a meetup soon to knit together. Come join us!
Comfort
Spent the morning teaching the kids to knit. It seems like the right time to stay warm and gather around for a quiet activity, close to family. My older daughter made up her own knitting instructions “through the fence, around the barn, save the pig, jump off the roof and gather up the pigs”. This might make sense if you’re a knitter, but I do think that creating a story about the process helps you pick it up. She said she was saving the pigs from becoming bacon. And look what a good job she’s doing! Both girls (8 and 10) are knitting now and both doing very well.
After the tragedy yesterday, I’m left with many thoughts about our society. Thoughts about gun control, mental healthcare and isolation. I talked to my kids about the event, figuring it would be better for me to tell them than have them hear something at school on Monday. After helping them process the idea that someone could do something so horrific and then reassuring them that they are safe at school, I told them that anytime someone does something bad in this world, many more people do good. I’m sure this is statistically true, but hard to remember.