Playing Safely: the condom amulet project

How often is it that you cross paths - even electronically -with someone who shares mulitiple interests? I don’t remember when, but somehow I crossed paths with Naomi, the Little Red Hen. I think it was a few years ago, when I was looking for another infusion of redworms for our composting box (we’ve been feeding worms for over nearly 15 years); Naomi’s Knit One Red Worm project collected knitted redworms (!!) to promote vermi-composting. After reading her “Creativity in the Third Age” essay, I knew I’d caught sight of a fellow traveler. My hunch was confirmed after discovering our shared commitment to “knitting in public” as a route to promoting “public knitting” (for public purposes) - Naomi’s documented plenty of public knitting in action, and I’m a “walking knitter“, clicking away as I wend my way through town and task, sharing and teaching whenever possible. Eventually, Naomi found me through my own knittivist project, the TikkunTree.

Naomi’s latest effort is the Condom Amulet project, which promotes HIV and safe sex education for women over 50. Naomi and others (including 60 members of the related Ravelry group) have been knitting artful, playful, and practical pouches for precious cargo - the condom - important protection for older women who find themselves dating in a dramatically different sexual world, the age of HIV.

I’m delighted to be able to contribute to the Condom Amulet project … here’s my Seashell Amulet Bag, inspired by the pearl oyster shell. This is a rather dressy amulet bag, a bit of jewelry in fact, that might encourage more of us to carry our own protection with us. Please do make one for yourself and for a friend! (just don’t use my pattern commercially).

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Seashell Amulet Bag
Copyright Tikkunarts 2008 (this pattern is available for personal use only)

Finished size: approximately 3 1/2″ wide x 3 3/4″ tall (not including the 10″ handle)

Materials

• Yarn: Silver metallic cord – I purchase mine from KnitPlace on ebay: Silver Metallic Sport Wt Yarn 5 Oz cone 600 Yds ($9.85 + S&H)
• Needles: Size 1 dpns (2.5 mm)
• 1 removable stitch marker
• tapestry needle
• one condom (though the bag will accomodate 2-3)

Directions

Row 1. cast-on 13 sts on one dpn, kfb on all sts (26 sts).

Divide and redistribute the sts so that they are on 4 dpns, as follows: slip the odd sts to a needle in front, the even sts to a needle in back, and then split the sts onto 2 additional needles. When you have done this you should have the following: needle 1 (7 sts), needle 2 (6 sts), needle 3 (7 sts), needle 4 (6 sts). Mark first stitch.

Row 2. * [k1, p1] 6x, kfb *, repeat between ** (28 sts)

Row 3. * k1, p1*, repeat between ** to end of round

Rows 4-6. repeat row 3

Row 7. * [ssk] 3 times, k1, [k2tog] 3 times, p1 *, repeat between ** (16 sts)

Rows 8-9. * k7, p1 *, repeat between **

Row 10. * k2, [kfb] 2 times, k3, p1 *, repeat between ** (20 sts)

Row 11. * k1, kfb, [k1, p1] 2 times, kfb, k2, p1 *, repeat between ** (24 sts)

Row 12. * k2, p1, [k1, p1] 3 times, k2, p1 *, repeat between **

Row 13. * kfb, [k1, p1] 4 times, kfb, k1, p1 *, repeat between ** (28 sts)

Row 14. * k1, p1*, repeat between ** to end of round

Row 15. * [k1, p1] 2 times, [kfb, p1] 2 times, [k1, p1] 3 times*, repeat between ** (32 sts)

Row 16. work all sts as they come (knit all knit sts, purl all purl sts)

Row 17. * k1, p1, kfb, p1, k1, p2, k1, p2, kfb, p1, [k1, p1] 2 times*, repeat between ** (36 sts)

Row 18. Repeat row 16

Row 19. * kfb, p1, [k1,p2] 4 times, kfb, p1, k1, p1 *, repeat between ** (40 sts)

Rows 20-21. Repeat row 16

Row 22. * [k1, p2] 2 times, [kfb, p2] 2 times, [k1, p2] 2 times, k1, p1 *, repeat between ** (44 sts)

Rows 23-25. Repeat row 16

Row 26. * k1, p2, kfb, [k1, p3] 2 times, kfb, p2, k1, p2, k1, p1 *, repeat between ** (48 sts)

Rows 27-32. Repeat row 16

Rows 33-36. Purl

To finish: BO purl-wise to the center of the back of the bag. Work an I-cord loop on 2 sts for about 2″ (or longer if you plan to use a large button closure), then continue binding off to last st. Work an I-cord handle on the last 3 sts. A 10″ length of I-cord should be sufficient for a purse or belt loop. Make the I-cord longer if you want to wear this as a neckpiece. Cut the cord, leaving an 8″ tail. Tie off the remaining sts, and sew securely to the pouch and weave in all ends. Sew on button.

Insert condom into pouch, attach to your purse, belt or body, and socialize safely!

Orange: Beijing 2008

Be the change that you want to see in the world. Mohandas Gandhi

There’s been a lot of orange on my needles this past week since I crossed paths with Ravelry’s Color Orange group. Not that there hasn’t been plenty of other projects to work on or finish. But the Color Orange campaign’s goals really grabbed my attention and inspired me. According to the website:

We are launching the project The Color Orange to highlight the violations of the human rights in China on the occasion of the Olympic Games in Beijing August 2008.

The idea is both sophisticated and simple: We want to introduce The Color Orange as a symbol of the protest against the human rights violations in China. The strict censorship can ban the use of obvious symbols of human rights, but the use of The Color Orange cannot be banned.

So we will encourage sports people and spectators to make vast and creative use of the color for clothing and all sorts of accessories. It can be anything, like an orange hat, camera bag, tie, pen, paper, dress, suit, bag etc. Even pealing an orange will be considered a poignant statement.

So what could I contribute? These knittivist projects are usually terrific opportunities for creative thinking and knitting, and the chance to create visible expressions of solidarity with human rights victims and activists especially motivating.

Returning to the knitnotwar 1,o0o peace crane seemed a natural starting point. I rustled up a couple of birds with some satisfyingly orange Araucania Nature Wool, which felted quickly and beautifully. I’m not sure how they’ll be used in Beijing, especially the one I “stiffened” into a rigid sculpture after a soak in my “ceramicizing” recipe (a mixture of white glue, water and acrylic medium).

I looked for other symbols relevant to the issues and venue. Knitted chains have been on my to-try list for a few years (inspired by Knitty’s Marley’s Ghost and Loop d Loop’s version), and felted orange chains followed quickly. I’ve given them a name for the sake of the project: Un-chaining Tibet. Whoever gets to wear these will enact in a small way the discomfort of life without basic human rights - these are pretty scratchy.

Not wanting to subject another Olympics spectator to the discomfort of the chain necklace, I’ve made a felted medallion of Olympic rings which will get a black waxed cotton lariat. These took the knitted chain technique a few steps further, a pleasant challenge for me, and more importantly, a valuable symbolic exercise for the inter-connections among all peoples, grounded in common human rights.

None of these items took long to make - a few hours at most - so there’s no excuse for any of us with a concern for human rights not to contribute. There are plenty of ideas, and more information, on the Color Orange website, and its Flickr group is working to promote distribution of the handmade orange items.

In the meantime, I’ll be working out some knitted sculpting techniques, so that I can contribute a couple of orange figures from the website, who are literally appealing for support for the campaign.

Knitting Machine

The effort to complete most of knitted haggadah for our seder has certainly kept me busy, but there have been other projects pressing me around the edges. My sister’s birthday shawl is growing ever so slowly, but a floral lariat for my sister-in-law (based on the How Does Your Garden Grow pattern by Marnie McLean’s mother, Roxie Day) is nearly done. I’ve never been one for flowery stuff (unlike my sister-in-law), so this project has been a chance to study and try some techniques for felted flowers.

I’m only hours away from completing my last brioche beret for the season, for a musical friend. I’m overdue to finish my contribution to the Knit A Condom Amulet project, an effort to promote HIV and safe sex education for women over 50 - I’m working on a “peace pouch” based on leaves from the TikkunTree. This is an ongoing project led by Little Red Hen, working towards Knit in Public Day 2008, and well worth taking a look at.

So, I have to admit that I’ve felt like a knitting machine this past month or so. That said, it was a wonderful surprise to stumble across the real “Knitting Machine” (Tricot Machine), a Quebequois music duo, and their delightful, amazing knit-animated video …

Whether this is the result of commitment, addiction, or the miracle of knitting machine technology, the 700 knitted panels in this piece animate “sweater music” in a way that has to stimulate a knitterly response. Ideas of mobile knitting are crowding mine. (More information about this video is available here).

Why is this knit different from all other knits?

Even the eye of Horace couldn’t see through the Darkness

This week is the Jewish festival of Passover (Pesach, in Hebrew), commemorating the Exodus from Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites from slavery, as narrated in the Hebrew bible (the Five Books of Moses or Torah, known to Christians as the Old Testament). Throughout the centuries, in all lands, Jews have gathered on Passover to retell the Exodus narrative and eat unleavened bread or matzah (”flatbread”), the holiday’s primary symbol (of the hasty departure from Egypt). Most of us are familiar with the story: we’ve all seen Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments, right? We know about Moses and the burning bush, his threats to Pharoah to “let me people go” before each of the ten plagues inflicted on the Egyptians to persuade them of the superior power of the Israelite god, and watched the Red Sea part to enable the Israelites’ escape, and then engulf the Egyptian army, right? In their haste to leave the Israelites baked their bread before it had risen, producing matzoh, or “unleavened bread”.

The Hebrew name for the festival, Pesach, refers to the scriptural account of the sacrificed animal that offered the Israelites protection from the fatal final plague. The holiday is also known as the Festival of Unleavened Bread (since that’s the only bread to be eaten during the week), but it also gets its English name from the scriptural account of the tenth plague, when God “passed over” the Israelite homes and killed the firstborn Egyptians (a more faithful translation of the Hebrew narrative describes God hovering over, or guarding, the Israelites … passing over to them rather than from them).

As members of the Reform Jewish community, my family’s celebration of the holiday consists of a family Seder (or two, if possible) - the ritual meal in which the narrative is retold (and even re-enacted symbolically), and a week of matzoh and Passover-friendly cuisine. As the oldest sibling in my family, I made most of our family seders when my sons were small. Now my youngest sister has taken this on, and we all contribute to the meal. This year there were seventeen of us at the table, from three states, aged 5 to 75, and including one Holocaust survivor. It was a very special seder.

I’ve been “knitting” Jewish holidays for the past year or so, producing knitted fruit (knitted etrogs and grapes) for the autumn harvest holiday of Sukkot, and a knitted dreidel and menorah for Hanukkah; these were part of a series of Patterns for Peacebuilders I’d initiated to publicize the co-existence and peace-building efforts taking place between Israeli Jews and Palestinians. I’d planned to create a pattern for Elijah’s Cup, used during the Passover seder to welcome the prophet heralding the age of peace. But as I researched the background of the cup, I decided to expand the project and “craft” my own seder – to explore the ways in which holiday traditions and meanings are created (and to have another way to delight my youngest niece-let at the seder table – it’s always a challenge to keep children at the seder table given the length of the service and meal).

So this year, in addition to my usual contribution of freshly-ground horseradish (maror), gefilte fish, and chocolate-coconut macaroons, I studied and knitted the principal symbols of the seder:

• Maror (bitter herbs), representing the pain of slavery (I knitted the top of the root, which we use on our table)
• Charoset, a sweet paste made from dried and/or fresh fruit, nuts and wine, signifying the mortar used by the Israelites in their labor for the Egyptians
• Karpas, another bitter vegetable (typically parsley, as I knitted), the humility of servitude, which is dipped in salt water (slavery’s tears) before being eaten
• a roasted Shankbone – the Pesach (sacrifice) before the 10th plague; and
• a roasted Egg - a symbol of spring by Reform and Conservative Jews (or a symbol of mourning for the loss of the Temple in Jerusalem by traditional Jews

I completed a silver cup for the prophet Elijah (and plan a cup for Miriam for next year), and a plate of knitted matzoh. Researching the ten plagues and sorting out how to execute them was the principal challenge of the week leading up to the first seder - as I worked my way through them I explored materials (including plastic bag yarn, or “plarn” - for blood, lice and hail) and techniques (including felting for the origami-knit frog), and strategies of representation, from the most playful (the hail-cloud), or costume (mask of darkness), to realistic (afflicted cow and locust).

Along the way, I played with other elements of the meal, “cooking” a bowl of felted matzoh ball soup (with sliced carrots) and a plate of felted gefilte fish and boiled egg on a bed of TikkunTree leaves. A very last-minute addition (completed only minutes before we sat down to start the seder) was the kosher-for-passover chocolate cake, to celebrate the five April birthdays in the family, and the liberation of my sister’s mother-in-law from a German concentration camp.

(More photos of my “knitted seder” are available here

Spring Fever: knit addiction

In the weeks between music projects, there’s been time to explore projects large and small, to finish a few UFOs, to work out and work on so many bits and pieces of larger ideas, research and sketch a few new ones, and search through stash and baskets of scraps in order to get a few more on track. At times it’s felt a bit like suffering from knit addiction, as if the next stitch might be my last, bringing to mind that knitter’s favorite, The Last Knit.

What’s been on, and come off, my needles these past few weeks? For the first time, I’ve been knitting bags to felt (or full, to be more precise). Some friends who recently learned to knit asked to make bags together, so this was my opportunity to reach into my ideas folders. Inspired by a couple of examples from Tink Knits (the Penny Bag, Silver Leaf Satchel and Pebble Beach Bag), and Noni’s many bags, I’ve started two.

The first is one of Noni’s “Rather Large” carpetbags, in Araucania Nature Wool, celery green, olive green and gray green.  It may be that making one of these bags requires knitting addiction even more than ordinary commitment, to persist with the hours of stockinette, working in circles over and over, as the bag grows to gargantuan proportions.  Fortunately, it did felt to a reasonable size. I’m on the fence about decoration, unable to decide whether I want to disrupt the calm of the stripes with a (more or less bold) flower. But if I do go the flower route, it will be peonies or chrysanthemums.

A second bag is on its way - a medium-sized black carpetbag (Knit Picks Wool of the Andes), to be felted and embellished with a mosaic of the international coins my father has given the boys after his travels. (What else does a grandfather do but empty his pockets of those leftovers?). The idea of gilding felted knits is especially appealing, and I’ll be working out a way to extend this special Tink Knits technique to a special project, as well as on some leaves for the TikkunTree.

Other projects are in various stages of design and preparation … especially for Passover. Much more to come, if I can keep the machine running.

Monkey Business

My son is to graduate from university in a few weeks’ time, so there’s plenty to plan for, and to celebrate. This soon-to-be-graduate has a “thing” for monkeys in general, and for sock monkey stuff in particular ever since learning about Mr. Johnson (adult content alert! - this website has changed content since we first stumbled across it, meriting an R-rating at this point).

So I’ve been working on some special graduation presents for my own “monkey boy” (doesn’t every family have at least one “monkey baby”? ) …

I hope to finish the final stitches on the binding of his Monkey Wrench quilt … it’s only been in progress since his high school graduation

I’ll try to provide a soft landing for the inevitable bumps in the adult road he’s about to travel, with a pair of Sock Monkey Slippers (inspired by the pair of sock monkey scuffs he saw online).

These slippers (a simple variation of the ever-popular Fibertrends Felted Clogs pattern by Bev Galeskas) are the third pair I’ve made for this son. I think I could make these in my sleep!

He’s my educated monkey, so I’m trying to replicate Mr. Smart the Educated Monkey mechanical multiplier so that he has a back-up tool in his kit when he takes those job interviews (every software engineer needs one of these, surely). (There’s more information about this nifty little piece of Americana here), and more about its place among the machines of computer history here). He had a terrific passion for any and all manner of building toys when he was little, including Legos, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, so I’m looking for a special effect with this project (something like this, perhaps?). And I hope he thinks that some of our time together was, as the advertisement said, MULTE (Many Useful Lessons Taught Enjoyably).

Finally, we’ll settle him into a comfy chair, covered from tip to toes in quilt and clogs, to toast his achievement to the accompaniment of a Michael Jackson medley, performed by the inimitable duo Bubbles (the monkey) and Damon Scott. If it was good enough for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, it’s good enough for my monkey.

This stage of life is very sweet.

Spring-ing Forward!

Spring has its own momentum and direction … growth, very much forward! The pear tree in the back garden has sprouted fuzzy buds, daffodils and crocuses are scattered about in neighbors’ tree wells, and babies have appeared everywhere in the city, in cloth carriers, prams, carseats and carriages. It’s amazing what a couple of days above 50 will do for the morale and foliage of a mid-Atlantic city.

Now that the tea cozy is done, I’ve had my eye on other corners of the house, where UFOs continue to languish. Some are lined up for a final push before the warm weather. First tackled was my younger son’s Cobblestone Pullover, which came off the needles (a second time) a week ago; he’s happy as can be with it, which makes it worth the effort (both times).

My older son’s graduation from university is approaching, so I’ve leapt into the work of his projects: the binding on his Monkey Wrench quilt is finally done, - this was supposed to be completed for him to take to university after his high school graduation (!!), so these final stitches were especially satisfying. Always game to indulge his preference for monkeys, I’ve finally started his “graduation sock monkeys” - a pair of felted sock monkey clogs he’s been asking for for a few years now. I tested mixing cream and brown Cascade 220 on a pair of baby moccasins (the Little Turtle Knits pattern is now available in 100 Knitting Projects; the booties are on their way to the Pine Ridge Reservation collection), and located some marled brown worsted (Dune Twist) from KnitPicks. Using the Fibertrends felted clogs pattern (I can’t even count how many of these I’ve made in the past four years), these clogs are inspired by a pair of sock monkey scuffs he saw online. Perhaps most importantly (since graduation is in early May), they are flying off the needles in the evening; one clog is knitted, the second in progress. I grin with each stitch, just thinking of how tickled he’ll be when he finally gets these. And there will be enough time to make another pair if these don’t work out, or if his brother claims them first.

Last Friday was both Purim and Knit for Peace Day. This felted fortune cookie pattern was converted to use for a felted Hamentaschen cookie, and I used every spare minute to work on a few more variations of the TikkunTree cabled co-existence leaves (more information here).

There’s been some progress on a few of the walking projects: I’ve finished the second hank on the cabled rib scarf, deeply pleased with the subtle undulating waves produced by the alternating cables and ribbing. I started this project to improve my left hand Continental technique, and really feel as if I have the hang of it at this point; there’s nothing like the repetition of K1, P1 ribbing to perfect control of either technique (English-American “throwing” or Continental “picking”). With confidence in the left hand, I’m also working another brioche beret, using only Continental techniques. This is the third of Nancy Marchant’s Ying Yang Beret I’ll have made this season, again with contrasting skeins of Noro Silk Garden, and equally enjoyable to work on.

Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to avoid starting a new project whenever I manage to finish a few others. So, with a sister’s 50th birthday coming in a month or so, I’ve finally made a start on a shawl for her. My sister has a glorious waterfront view of the Atlantic coast from the back of her little house, and I’d hoped to work the seascape into her shawl, by using either the Morning Surf pattern’s horizontal drop stitch, or a similar vertical drop-stitch lozenge design. She doesn’t wear wool, and wanted something a bit more durable than silk. So I’m using the last three hanks of hand-dyed rayon boucle I have from Mystical Creations Yarns (before the business shut down). It’s a gentle combination of cream, gray, green and burgundy, that produces gentle zigs and zags according to the disposition of the alternating sets of decreases in the Stormwater pattern (either SSK’s or K2tog’s) that came with a hank of SeaSilk I used last year for a similar scarf for my mother.

Time for Tea - finally finished!

I don’t know how long I’ve been looking at the vinyl bag that held this project, tucked under a stool in my kitchen “studio/office” … five years? ten years? Yes, it’s come out from time to time, as I “borrowed” the circulars or double points holding it in limbo for another more pressing job. I even made a bit of progress at one point, beginning the decrease for the top.

It’s hard to imagine what kept me from finishing it, along with the other stranded colorwork projects I began so many years ago (the Kaffe Fassett sawtooth vest and diamonds tunic remain unfinished as well), when my boys were little and naptimes were devoted to knitting or quilting. Work, returning to school and graduate school, the boys’ middle and high school years, discovery of Kureyon and felting, clogs and cables, all conspired to keep this cozy unfinished.

But no longer - what began as the materials that came in a Classic Elite kit: a booklet (copyright 1994!!) for Whimsical Tea Cozies, Tea Box Covers, Trivets and French Pres Coffee Cozies, the “recipes” for inventing stranded designs to accomodate various sizes of tea and coffee pots, a vibrant photo of examples, and eight balls of colorful wool & mohair blend yarn, has at last achieved final form.

So yesterday afternoon, with a steaming cup of our favorite new tea discovery (Rishi Tea’s Organic Pu-Erh Ginger blend) at my side, I tackled the top of “the cozy”.

I’m not sure it’s perfect - the chevrons I’d planned inside the “petals” don’t read well, but the final bobbles and loop are very, very satisfying. All ends securely woven in, I expect I’ll line it for added protection and effectiveness on the Brown Betty. Perhaps most importantly, it’s finally finished, and waiting for company to appreciate it’s wit.

Charts and general guidelines for the “recipe” to follow shortly (they’ll be edited in to this post).

That Cable Feeling

Unable to shake this new passion for cables, I’ve indulged myself completely, and learned that cables can also engage my ongoing interest in peace in the mid-east. How can a knitted cable possibly function ethically or politically? I’ve managed to work cables into some TikkunTree project leaves - here, the use of two colors and intertwined stitches express well the necessity of co-existence between Israel’s Jews and Palestinians.

For patterns (and a bit more discussion of the “politics” of these knitted leaves), try here.

Twists & Turns

Cables and diagonals have been flooding my knitterly imagination and knitting bag lately. Daily rehearsals and/or concerts have meant a fair amount of walking and waiting time, therefore progress on a number of small projects.

On the cable front: my Chevalier Mittens are done, in all their diagonal cable glory! A very, very satisfying knit, leaving me with a taste to try the matching hat. My reversible cable scarf, inspired by the reversible ribbed cable in Vogue’s Stitchionary 4 (p. 157), is inching along. I’m working with 50 sts to produce 4 undulating cables bounded by slipped selvedge sts. The Cascade Dolce is lovely to work with, yielding about 14″/hank, by it does pill (leaving silver gray alpaca filaments wherever I work).

Encouraged by the arrival of a copy of Cat Bordhi’s New Pathways for Sock Knitters early in the week, I tested the Coriolis Sock pattern (also available on DIY) for this week’s gathering of the R.S. Tikkun Knitters group. Remnants of Paton’s SWS used for a couple of pairs of Keep Away Felted (Turkish) Slippers (pattern here) were all that was necessary to execute a pair of these interesting little test socks (I used a Turkish cast-on to start them).

 

While the design is ingenuous, I expect that novice sock knitters will find the directions difficult to follow, especially if they are working on dpns. Cookie A’s Thelonius Socks and Millicent Socks redistribute the increases of the ordinary heel flap and gusset in similar (and intriguing) ways. Plenty to think about working on when the weather turns fair (my favorite time to work on socks, keeping the wool out of my lap).

It seemed the Cobblestone Pullover would be finished last weekend, but a last try-on before completing the neck opening disclosed the need to lengthen the yoke just a bit on the 43″ size to accomodate my buff boy’s chest and biceps. So, the frogging will have to wait until this coming weekend.

For a lark, I also set aside a bit of time to knock out a knocker, or rather a nipple, for The Nipple Project. The Nipple Project is a collaborative project which will be part of the group exhibition “Enclosed, Encased & Enrobed” next June at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in The Artist Village in Santa Ana, California. (More information and examples of some of the creative contributions are found here). My contribution is made with a few yards of the seemingly endless cones of sportweight silver metallic cord purchased from KnitPlace Yarn Store on eBay for my silver dreidel and menorah patterns.

(additional photos will be edited in once the camera battery finishes charging)