Purple wristbands and other stuff

Charity knit-alongs are a staple for knitters. Children In Common, Afghans for Afghans, Critter Knitters, Wendy's Mouse-A-Long, Project Linus, etc.

QueerJoe has been blogging about how much he'd like to combine his love of knitting with his conviction to LGBT causes. I'd be interested in doing the same. Knitting for kids and animals is a no-brainer. But what about other populations? Well...

Here's a chance to knit for WOMEN!

Sam, a Phillyknitter, is working as a volunteer for the Philly contingent traveling to DC in April for the March for Women's Lives. Sam had this idea and shared it with PhillyKnitters. Since she does not have a blog, I'll share the idea with you:

purple and gold wristbands for marchers

Fun, easy, quick, and cheap. Even the newest knitter can do this. And you can do it in your community. A million women are anticipated to attend the March. How cool would it be for you to outfit a few folks from your community with purple and gold wristbands!

There are 60 buses leaving from Philly- not counting the privately rented buses from the colleges and universities as well as people going on their own. Sam's idea is to make enough wristbands for her bus- probably about 50. A few other PhillyKnitters are helping out and will be outfitting their buses.

I encourage you to find out if there is a group organizing attendees from your community- tell them about this effort- to show unity by wearing purple and gold wristbands! Get your local yarn store interested. Share this idea with your knitting buddies. Talk it up on your blog. Leave me a comment and let me know if you are making wristbands for women from your community so I can let Sam know how her effort is growing. If you want to contribute your bands to the Philly gals, send me an email (link in the sidebar), I'll send you my address, and I'll do a handoff to Sam. All wristbands must be received by Saturday, April 17th. I'll be out of town the following weekend- thus not able to MARCH myself- but I want to make sure I have plenty of time to hand off to Sam.

Be creative with your wristbands- stripes, stars, or solid purple. There's a wristband pattern in Debbie Stoller's SnB book if you feel like you need one or want some help with the star (should you chose to add one).

For each wristband sent, you'll be entered in a drawing for this:

A copy of Debbie Stoller's Stitch 'n Bitch book. See, just because I said she didn't own the term does not mean I don't think it's a fun book!

So go on, start knitting!

Stitch 'n Bitch:
I had a blast hanging out with the PhillyKnitters yesterday. Where else is it funny when someone yells, "I need a crochet hook, STAT!"

This is what I did:

Last night, while watching The L Word, I did this:

It's the beginnings of Daisy! The picture does not do the color justice. Michelle has named it "salt water taffy" and she is totally right!

The L Word Weekly Review:

Lowlights:
* Candace. Yuck.
* Tonya. Quadruple yuck. I mean seriously. And I've read the spoilers so let me tell you, it only gets worse with this bitch! The spoilers at The Planet calls her a starf*cker and there is no better word for her.
* Too many Bette/ Candace scenes. It took so much away from the fun stuff.

Neutral but made me laugh:
* Shane asking if "Jenny's was a regular latte?" Well, it had better be, because that girl can't get any more non-fat than she already is!

Highlights (where do I even begin!):
* Closer to Fine. And the whistling. And the idea that they were singing it the whole blessed trip. Priceless!!!!
* Coming out stories
* Alice's mention of Tallulah Bankhead in reference to her mom's "coming out" story- our kitty Lulu was named for a book character who was named after Tallulah. Convoluted, eh?
* Dana calling the tennis player first-love "Ralph"
* "Does that thing come with batteries, Dana?"
* Tina's coming out story- adorable
* The moment when Jenny realizes she is telling her coming out story
* Jenny's attempt at drunk-dialing Marina
* Alice shoving Jenny and then vaulting herself back into bed. This may have been the funniest moment of the season. Possibly more funny than the Jenny/ Dana making out scene.
* Dana's love of Mr. Piddles
* Shane being so gooey about Cherie Jaffe. Poor little Shane. I'm afraid our favorite coke-snorting stylist is going to get hurt!
* 100 footer- you can tell she's a lesbian from 100 feet. (I sometimes lament not being more publicly recognizable- but I don't wish to be a 100 footer!)
* Bette's from North Philly before it was a war zone. And as a Philly gal, I'll tell ya, it is a war zone. My mom teaches pre-k there and my grandmom lives there- she insists her neighborhood is safe when she closes her door. Her door, by the way, is not bullet-proof so she is not safe.
* the use of "The Weakness in Me" by Joan Armatrading. Brilliant song. Listen to Melissa Etheridge's cover for free on her website. It's awesome and was even better live. This song is perfect for this bad situation Bette has gotten herself into.

Amazing episode!

Comments

[Michelle]

You are my favorite blogger!

If my hands start feeling better, I promise to knit some wrist bands...I may try to go to the march...so I will rock them in DC!

Your L Word wrap up was great. How much did I laugh when Alice literally propelled herself into bed? I was almost as bad as you howling at Friends!

You are my favorite blogger and person in the whole world.

Kiss kiss.

[annie]

I love the idea of knitting for charity. Did you read the post on Margene's site (zeneedle) from a few weeks (days?) ago where she mentioned the types of projects a knitter should always have? One is challenging, one is easy and portable and one should be for charity. She had heard this from a talk by oh-I-can't-think-of-her-name now. Vague enough?

Anyway, great idea.

[Rachael]

I loved the Closer to Fine part - fabulous! And dear, I LOVE your Rogue! Possibly my fave one I've seen so far! For some reason, I've given up my passion for it, but this does a lot to jump-start me back up! It's perfect. And that color could not be better.

[jessie]

hi - was blog surfing and just sort of found my way here.

I saw someone post somewhere about knitting wristbands for the March a week or so ago, and my roommate and I have diligently started knitting gold & purple wristbands. I have about four so far - my aim is to make about 16 - I live in a "theme house" at college, and mine is the Womyn's Concern's House - most of us are making it to the March, and I thought it would be great if we all had wristbands. Drew University is bringing at least 100 people there - I don't think that my roommate and I can do 100 in a little over two weeks, but we're knitting our hearts out to get as many out there as we can. Just wanted to share the story with you :) (PS - we're in Northern NJ)

[jessie]

One more thing-

I posted the pattern that I used to make the wristbands in my blog - if you want to link to it, so that knitters could have another resource for the wristbands:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/gilneas_quilts/18835.html