Flint Knits

Heyyy, I made a cape for my dog!

Puppy Cape! Constructed on the fly, with undyed muslin and a fabric marker.

Crush joined about 6,000 other demonstrators (mostly human, some dogs) at the Rally for Working Families at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing.

Her sign (”Snyder is a wiener”) refers to Michigan’s new governor, Rick Snyder, who, well, is a wiener. And also to her status as a wienerdog (GET IT? Wiener! Hooray, political punning!)

Related: One hundred years ago today, in New York City, a fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory killed 146 workers, mostly women aged 16-24.

One year ago this month in Gazipur, Bangladesh, a fire at a factory that produces knitwear for H&M killed 21 workers and injured 50 more.

Today, garment and textile workers continue to be some of the most vulnerable, super-exploited women in the world.

As U.S. and state policymakers like Snyder bust unions, empower corporations, and continue to chip away at workers’ rights, historians Nan Enstad and Joshua Freeman, and journalist Jeff Weinstein all explain how looking back at the Triangle Shirtwaist fire can help us understand our current political climate. Specifically, understanding the history of the fire gives us insight into the stakes of this ongoing debate about what Enstad calls “the relationship between the power of the corporation and the safety, welfare and dignity of people.”

Some anti-sweatshop “craftivists” believe that making one’s own clothing in this context is a political act, a material (no pun intended) disengagement from and protest against the global garment industry. In the future, we’re definitely going to have some discussion here about this idea, and also about the politics and economics of “ethical consumption” when it comes to yarn, fiber, and textiles.

For now, I’d just like to propose that, if we want yarn and clothing and textiles that are not made in deadly, near-slavery sweatshop conditions, it’s not enough to “vote with our dollars,” or to buy the right stuff from the right stores, or even to not buy anything at all. We also need to come at it from the other side, not as consumers, but as direct, outspoken advocates for workers’ rights and fair, safe, just labor practices.

Links:

• Nan Enstad, “The Triangle Fire and its Lessons“
• Joshua Freeman, “Remembering the Triangle Fire“
• Jeff Weinstein, “The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: The Ways That Tragedy Counts“
• Cornell University Triangle Factory Fire web site (amazing, comprehensive resource)
• New York University’s Grey Art Gallery, “Commemorating the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire” exhibit
• Watch online - PBS American Experience episode, “Triangle Fire“

Lots of people I know have been expressing the sense that we’ll look back on this moment as a kind of turning point in U.S. and global politics. I feel it too. And I wonder, did my parents and my older friends feel this way in the late 60s? The early 80s? I was active and angry in the mid-90s, during the age of DOMA, DADT, AFDC, NAFTA, and the WTO, among other less-acronymmy horrors, but it didn’t feel like this to me, neither as devastating nor as promising.

Thinking, learning, and teaching about politics is my job and my passion, so I’m overloading on all the news exploding out of struggles in places like Wisconsin, Libya, Washington, Michigan, Egypt, and my local Planned Parenthood clinic. It’s a lot.

My Theory? Is that, in the 21st century. when shit in the world goes especially crazy, pageloads at places like Cute Overload and ZooBorns go through the roof.

I don’t know if that’s actually true. The theory is 100% untested, and 100% based on my friends’ Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter streams, which are a steady back-and-forth between hard political news, smart progressive punditry, and precious baby animals snuggling and riding skateboards and stuff.

I would like to step up and do my part to keep that balance, to maintain our collective sanity, to restore our energy and refresh us to go out into the struggle once more.

Friends, I give you: CRUSHMOUSE.

pattern: “To Humiliate the Dog,” by Amoena Di
yarn: Plymouth Suri Merino
[raveled]

Mods: My gauge was smaller than recommended, so I cast on 56 stitches instead of 48. To keep it on Crush’s wee head, I used a 3mm needle for the ribbing, and a 4mm needle for the stockinette. I also added a row of single crochet stitches to the ears (SC, SCincrease across — this will give you 22 stitches at the end instead of 15). I attached pieces of felt to the inside of the ears using embroidery floss and a blanket stitch.

I hope The Crushinator helps to brighten your day and feed your weary soul! If not, I strongly recommend checking out ZooBorns. That shit is irresistible.

First, thanks for all the support during The Crushinator’s recovery! Willie pattern sales paid for all of her vet bills, and she’s nearly back to normal now. The surgery was a success and, after several weeks of keeping her virtually immobile, she’s free of the cast and back to her old self again. Hooray!

Let’s celebrate with a new pattern for sale, yes?

Ella Funt is a cardigan for babies, named in honor of Ramona Quimby’s stuffed elephant in Beverly Cleary’s beloved Ramona books.

The body and sleeves are knit separately from the bottom up, then joined in one piece for the yoke. If elephants aren’t your cup of tea, the pattern also includes blank yoke charts that can be customized with the creature or motif of your choice.

SIZES: Finished chest circumference = 19 (21.75, 24, 26.75) inches
to fit ages 3–6 (6–12, 12–18, 18–24) months

GAUGE: 25 sts and 34 rows per 4 inches in stockinette stitch

MATERIALS:

• 300 (400, 525, 625) yards of sport or heavy fingering-weight yarn in main color (MC)
• small amounts of coordinating yarn in 3 other colors (colors B, C, and D)
• US 4 (3.5mm) circular & double-pointed needles, or size to get gauge
• 6 (6, 7, 7) buttons, 3/8 inch in diameter
• 2 stitch markers
• scrap yarn

Big thanks to Minty, Ashley, Carrie, Julia, Kelly, and Sarah for test knitting and editing help!

Cost: $6 US

Thanks to all the knitters who bought the Willie pattern, to all the folks who posted and facebooked and twittered (tweeted? twatted?) about Willie, and to Shepherd Susie’s generous contest (which has been extended until Monday! go enter! win a half-share in Juniper Moon Farm’s 2011 yarn/fiber CSA! and while you’re there, check out the Lamb Cam, welcome several new lambs to the flock, and see more baby-animal cuteness than you can shake a stick at), we’ve already raised $1465.45 toward Crush’s vet care. That’s almost half the total bill. Unfriggingbelievable. As I said in the Juniper Moon Ravelry forum, we might have saved Crush’s leg without this help, but I honestly don’t know how.

And in case you doubted that generosity begets more generosity, I’m thrilled to report that all the attention paid to Willie has also bumped up sales of the wurstwärmer pattern. Today I made my second monthly donation of wurstwärmer proceeds to the Michigan Animal Rescue League: $105, for a total of $235. That buys a whole lot of food for shelter animals while they wait for new homes.

Crush is doing just fine — thanks to everyone who’s asked about her recovery and sent their good wishes. Her leg was put back together with pins and wires, but the result is delicate. The hard part comes now, when she doesn’t get to play or run or jump or tug or go for walks for the next 6-8 weeks. Needless to say, I am VERY OPEN to suggestions of activities that will wear her out in other ways.

I’m working on several different patterns during all this quiet rest time, including something extra-specially-gruesome for Halloween. (Yes, Halloween. I start planning that shit on November 1, friend.)

Before the gruesome, though, let us have more cute. Another baby sweater was at the test-knitting stage when it was bumped aside so I could work on Willie. This little number is coming soon:

ETA: Shepherd Susie of Juniper Moon Farm has started an incredibly generous contest. If you buy the Willie pattern and comment on her blog, you’ll be entered to win a 2011 share in the farm’s yarn CSA.

Remember Crush? Also known as The Crushinator? My badass puppy and the muse who inspired the wurstwärmer pattern?

Well, on Thursday night, Crush’s favorite puppy sitter took her to the store and had her chillin in a shopping cart when, like a puppy, she jumped out.

And broke her leg.

Badly.

Today, Crush had some pretty complicated surgery to stabilize a pretty complicated fracture (it went through the growth plate, which on a 9 month old puppy, is still all squishy and vulnerable). Did I say the surgery was complicated? I meant to say it was EXPENSIVE.

And so while Crusher was grogged out on morphine waiting for her moment on the operating table, I spent the weekend working like a dog to whip up a wiener-themed pattern to put a drop in the Puppy Surgery Fund bucket.

I give you … Willie!

Willie is a round-yoked cardigan for babies and kids, with a lovable wiener dog that wraps around the lower body. The body and sleeves are knit separately, then joined in one piece for the yoke. If you don’t love dogs, Willie also looks fetching in stripes and solids. Worked up quickly in chunky yarn, this cardigan makes a handy last-minute gift, and a fun introduction to intarsia knitting.

SIZES:
Chest circumference 20 (21.5, 23, 24, 26, 28) inches, to fit ages 6m (12m, 18m, 2y, 4y, 6y)

MATERIALS:

• YARN: Louet Riverstone Chunky (100% wool, 165 yds) or other chunky weight yarn 1 (2, 2, 2, 3, 3) skeins main color (MC); 1 skein contrast color (CC); 1 skein Willie color (WC)
• US 9 (5.5mm) circular & double-pointed needles, or size to get gauge
• 6 (6, 6, 6, 7, 7) buttons, 1/2 inch in diameter
• 2 stitch markers
• scrap yarn for holding stitches and embroidering dog collar
• tapestry needle

The pattern includes instructions and charts for sizes from 6 months to 6 years. If you haven’t tried intarsia knitting before (that’s the kind of colorwork where you have large chunks of color — like argyle! or a wiener dog!), this is a great first intarsia project. KnittingHelp.com has an excellent video explaining the technique.

Cost: $6 US