When I saw the front-page headline I had an immediate burst of OHMYGOD, assuming it was well-meaning outsiders making sweaters for oppressed people, or something.
Nope. It’s local activists, who have been there from the beginning, knitting as a comfort activity, a space for activists to gather, and a way to open conversation with outsiders. It’s organic, and it comes from the people who have a stake in the game. Awesome.
The women who participate in the Yarn Mission view it as a form of activism, but it is one that helps relieve stress. They cannot escape structural racism, but coming together to knit offers solace in a community exhausted by police brutality.
…
“Knitting can help you feel productive,” she adds. “When so much of what we do as activists is pursuing social and racial justice, it’s easy to feel like we’re not accomplishing anything. For me, the feeling that I’m finishing something is really critical.”
This month is the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To mark the occasion, the National Museum of American History has spearheaded #DisabilityStories—an international conversation on Twitter and other social networks that will take place on Wednesday, July 15, 2015.
We wanted to highlight this story from the early days of motion pictures and an example of the rich history of the nation’s Deaf community. It comes via Popular Electricity from March, 1914. The story is about a series of films made by Gallaudet University (then Gallaudet College) and its first president, Edward Miner Gallaudet. (The school itself was named for Edward’s father, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a pioneer in the education of the deaf.) The University is still
the world’s only university with programs and services specifically designed to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing students, here in Washington, D.C.
While I haven’t been able to find the original film mentioned, Gallaudet does have a video archive of many historic films, including “The Preservation of Sign Language.” The 1913 film advocated the continued use of sign language at a time when oralists (such as Alexander Graham Bell) were pushing deaf and hard of hearing people to learn to lip read and speak through mimicking the breathing patterns and mouth shapes of oral speech. The film was included in the National Film Registry in 2010, selected for its “culturally, historically, or aesthetically” significance.
That looks like…. hmm. a pound or so of fluff? (i’m bad at estimating, but that looks like it’d work out to about two grocery bags, which i thiiiiink is about what a pound of roving usually fits into?) which i usually get onto three or four bobbins, so… 600 yards of two-ply? or so? depending on the thickness?
and yeah, angora rabbits will lie there happily on your lap and rejoice in the feeling of all that extra fluff being removed. apparently they love it.
A Hogwarts student that uses their wand as a knitting needle, and everything they knit is imbued with magic.
A scarf that can never be lost. Waterproof gloves. Socks that keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. A christmas jumper with moving patterns.
MAGICAL KNITTING
This is why Dumbledore was interested in knitting patterns
i want this
But what are you doing for the other needle? Does it matter if only one needle is magic? What about dpns? Circs? Crochet? Little attachments to turn the end of a wand into a hook?
But x2: spells that solve tension issues. No more rowing out. Spells that tighten up that last knit stitch in k2p2 ribbing. Shrink resistant wool? Blocking without the faff? Spells that pick up a dropped and laddered stitch? Spells that neaten the last stitch before a colour change. SPELLS TO WEAVE IN ENDS, GUYS.
And: yarn that doesn’t snap. Or repairs itself when it does. No more changing over to new balls of yarn – ends that just spiny themselves together flawlessly. Variegated yarn that changes colours. Yarn where intarsia designs appear after you finish knitting them.
Kimchi and Justice 