This has been a distressing week in the US (one of far too many of its kind), and you know I feel so strongly that every one of us needs to be informed and engaged and to work for peace. (Boy have my thoughts on how advanced these past three years.) But we also have to take care of ourselves and keep up our strength, which means being present with the people we love and also allowing ourselves to disappear into our knitting or sewing for a minute, to catch our breath and boldly face the world again.
I’ve got a mixed bag of links for you today, for your edification and/or enjoyment; I’ll see you back here on the other side of what I hope will be a comparatively peaceful weekend—
— Squam’s diversity-and-inclusion panel from last month has since been posted online. It’s long, so maybe watch it in chunks if you need to, but I hope you’ll watch
— I love every word of this interview with Oaxacan weaver and natural dyer Porfirio Gutiérrez: No one told us we were artists (via)
— Podcast eps I’m eager to listen to: The Dressed interview with Joy Bivins on the history of the Ebony Fashion Fair and the debut of Ceci Knits the World
— I’m in MDK’s debt for linking to Lorilee Beltman’s brilliant video about how to memorize the Kitchener Stitch — I always have to remind myself which way it goes and will never need to again!
— … and also for asking Jillian Moreno the question I’ve always wanted to ask someone: the difference between fingering-weight yarn and sock yarn
— Remember that wrapped hoop earring tutorial? Anne updated it on her own blog — and look at this lovely espadrille project
— Why the American shoe disappeared, and why it’s so hard to bring it back
— and totally fascinating use of a sock blank
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On an unrelated note, I want to acknowledge the loss of Toni Morrison this week, which feels especially sharp within this particular news cycle. I don’t really even have the words for it, but I loved this passage by Tracy K. Smith from one of the many NYT tributes I’ve read in the past few days:
“… the living monument of Ms. Morrison’s body of work assures me that the language of peace, justice, safety and stability must enter our imagination as they always have — not through the language of policy, but via our willingness to regard one another as worthy of attention and love. Such ideas must be sat with, moved through, married to our vocabularies for love, desire, loss, resentment, remembering, healing and hope. And those vocabularies are the primary terrain of the artist.”
I’ve been saying lately it’s been too long since I’ve read any of her novels. Time to dig back in …
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OMG THE PIVOT!!!!!!!Thank you for sharing this Kitchener stitch video, I have to look it up every time and it makes me so sad, but now I wont! Happy Friday!!!
I’ve always done the pivot, but can especially never remember the starting combination — or feel confident I have the rest of the order correct. I love that I’ll never have to question that again!
I really enjoyed your thoughtfully curated collection of articles this week. The pivot changed my sock knitting life. I dream of traveling to Oaxaca and that was reaffirmed this morning. I need more time for the Squam article. Thank you Karen. I finally made it to Fancy Tiger Crafts in Denver and bought the pattern Pants #1. Inspired to make linen pants by your sewing.
Oh fun!
OhMyKnittingGoddesses! I had no idea of the difference between fingering and sock yarn and, like the author, use them all of the time. Its like a light bulb went on in the yarn info compartment of my brain. Yahoo!
Thank you for the link to the Oaxacan weaver article – it reaffirmed my love of the Zapotec people and weaving culture. I was fortunate to be able to spend a few days with a weaving family in Teotitlan del Valle in February, 2018, and fell in love with the land, the culture, and the people. I look forward to returning this winter.
This made my heart sing!
I hope to get there someday and take one of the weaving/dyeing workshops.
The Squam link is malformed – it should be http:///www.squamartworkshops.com/one-day-one-conversation/
Thanks
Whoops — thank you. Somehow it had an extra http:
thank you for these links–very educational and inspiring.
i absolutely LOVE the article on Porfirio…
2 great shoe companies, globally large, still manufacturing and sourcing in USA: LLBEAN, and Cydwoq..and there are many more small local companies to suss out and support..
Cydwoq (https://cydwoq.com/) you may not have heard of, but they make *every* pair handmade, beautifully, and they are strong! and will even custom make them according to your feet. :)
Thank you for sharing the Squam link. I found that panel discussion to be extremely interesting and helpful and much more productive than the conversation that’s been happening on social media.
I was very moved by the piece on Porfirio. Thank you for finding and sharing. It gives me hope.
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