November 2006

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Peace on Earth

This month I'll be featuring Knitting for Peace in my charity knitting column. Below you'll find a review of Knitting for Peace: Make the World a Better Place One Stitch at a Time by Betty Christiansen and Practicing Peace in Times of War by Pema Chödrön. Betty's written some great articles about charity knitting that I've read and I couldn't wait to get a copy of her book. I was not disappointed when it arrived. When I started writing about charity knitting online, I was thinking that at some time I would convert my stuff into a book. But with Betty's book out there and selling well, I may leave that project on the back burner for the foreseeable future, but I'll continue to work on this blog (with some new features and a new focus next year).

But back to Knitting for Peace. At first I was thinking about knitting to promote peace politically and I still am interested in that. But this past week, I've been overloaded with work and I got a cold. While crunching on editing jobs, waking up in the middle of the night worrying about knitting deadlines, and just feeling overwhelmed by everything on my calendar for this fall, I let myself get over extended and my immune system couldn't keep up. Last night, instead of knitting on a Kitty Knits project or reading a crochet manuscript I have to edit, I gave in to my own need for peace and stared a new lace shawl. Since I've learned to knit lace, I've discovered that it is the most peaceful and relaxing form of knitting to me. Whether it's simple dropped-stich openwork or more complicated lace patterning, the rhythm of the stitches and texture of yarn and finished piece gives me more rest than any other knitting I've ever done. It's weird, because lace knitting is "supposed" to be hard, and to require intense concentration. Maybe the concentration forces me to forget about the other things on my mind. I don't know, but for whatever reason, I find it peaceful.

I was attracted to Practicing Peace in Times of War by the title as it was sitting and calling out to me on the new books table at my local bookstore. I looked at the back flap and recognized the author from an interview she did with Bill Moyers on his recent Faith and Reason series. This little book contains six essays edited from speeches the author gave. Each one contains grains of truth that can help us stop reacting in fear and anger to situations around us and instead to embrace patience and refrain from acting (or reacting) rashly, thus stopping the chain reaction of violence that seems to be swallowing our world. Although I am not a Christian (and Chödrön is a Buddhist, as a commentor pointed out), this book seems to reflect the core teachings of Jesus when he advised his disciples to "turn the other cheek," "go the extra mile," and when he encouraged them to realize that the person who needs the most help is our neighbor, not the person we feel most akin to.

Although I strongly believe that anger can be a positive force for change, it must be channeled through a more rational and peaceful place in our hearts, or we will be part of the problem instead of part of the solution. We should never lash out in anger without counting to ten, as our parents taught us. It sounds childish, but it truly gives us power over the rashness of raw emotions. Like the Vulcans (yes, I'm a sci-fi junkie), we must learn to control our emtions instead of letting them control us. That does not mean that we supress or ignore our emotional side, but rather that we refuse to be led around by feelings that change depending on what we eat, what color paint is on the walls, the type of music on the radio, the hormonal cycles in our bodies, the weather, or what's on TV or in the papers. There is a popular bumper sticker that says, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." I think there is some truth to this expression, but we must sit back and look calmly at what makes us angry, so we can figure out what we can do to change the situation that makes us angry--to stop the poison at it's source, rather than to induce vomiting after the poison has already been swallowed.

This little book has the potential to change your life (and mine) if we simply read the text and allow its messages to sink into our hearts.

And while we are practicing patience, we can use our knitting to channel those emotions into concreate projects that can visibly help those in need. This is the core of Betty Chrstiansen's book, Knitting for Peace . Because I want to get this post finished, and because I can't really say it any better than this, I am going to quote a review by armchairinterviews.com from Amazon:

For as long as people have been knitting, they have been knitting for other people. Often called "charity knitting," "community knitting" or "knitting for others," knitters have been bonded by a desire to make the world a better place, "through handmade gifts of love and peace."

In Knitting for Peace: Make the World a Better Place One Stitch at a Time, Betty Christiansen has interviewed knitters across America to find out how knitting was helping people around the world. She sets out to find the stories behind the movements and to collect them into this unique volume, sharing how "we can, stitch by stitch, inch the world in a more positive direction."

In each of the first four section--Peace and War; Peace on Earth; Peace at Home; and Peace for Kids--Christiansen delves into the organizations making a difference through knitting. She explores their history, how they are being part of the change they wish to see in the world and how knitters can assist their efforts.

Some are organizations such as Lantern Moon and Peace Fleece, companies making a difference by providing employment, income and self-reliance for producers. Others are aid organizations such as Afghans for Afghans, an organization providing warmth to families in Afghanistan. Scattered throughout are patterns appropriate for knitters to make and donate to the featured organizations.

The final section, "Knit for Peace," provides helpful hints for finding projects not covered by the author, for individuals and for groups. Knitting for Peace has projects sure to appeal to everyone and is the perfect gift for the compassionate knitter on your gift list. Since a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Knitting for Peace will be donated to charity, this is the gift that gives twice.

This month's other posts include:

• An essay by Alison Hyde about how knitting helped her find peace in a very stressful medical situation.

• A pattern for an easy but gorgeous lace scarf by Alison Hyde.

• Lessons on blocking lace and an easy stretchy bind off technique.

Enjoy!

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Knitting for Peace - a guest post by Alison Hyde

Having abruptly lost part of my sight (a problem that thankfully turned out to be reversible), I was scheduled for one of those eye appointments that you know will go on and on, and I brought a knitting project on big needles for dilated eyes to be able to deal with. Note to self: next time shoot for a greater contrast between yarn and needle color, though.

Towards the end of the afternoon, the retina specialist looked at my quick lace scarf, which had grown 35" since I'd gotten there, and remarked that he had learned how to knit when he was younger. He'd done one row on a scarf. His mom hadn't ever taught him how to turn it at the end of the row, so that was all he'd done, but he was awfully proud of his one row! He struck me as suddenly quite shy in the moment he said that, as he smiled at the memory, and it wasn't till later that I put two and two together and realized he must have somehow felt he was being a complete amateur in the presence of an expert: I'd already told him about my left-eye vision loss in terms of how it had affected my knitting, that I did a lot of knitting, and (as if I needed to somehow justify that fact) that I was writing a knitting book.

How funny to have a doctor treat me as the expert. To be so shy about his pride in having learned and tried something new. It held all kinds of echoes for me of how reticent we patients can be about telling doctors, the experts who know so much more than we do about our own bodies even when they've never even met us, about our symptoms, a little afraid of being dismissed if what we say doesn't fit in the parameters of their expectations.

Hey, it's okay. We all start at the beginning. And I bet it was a great row.

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Pattern: Easy-Eyes scarf for carry-around knitting - by Alison Hyde

This is the perfect scarf for peaceful knitting. The stitch pattern is so simple, you'll likely memorize it even before you start knitting.

Cast on an odd number of stitches in a yarn and needle size that you like together. The sample shown here and on my website, spindyeknit.com was made with Soft Baby from Rowan. I cast on 13 stitches using size 11 (6.5 mm) needles. I made a second version in a variegated color of Suri Dream from Knit Picks that shows the versatility of this easy pattern, but unfortunately blogger ate the only photo.

Exact guage is not important, but the fabric should be light and airy, not tight and stiff.

Row 1 and all wrong side rows: Purl.

Row 2: *K2tog, yo, rep from * across; end k1.

Row 4: K1, *yo, ssk, rep from * to end of row.

Bind off loosely and block to open up the lace.

(Note: See this month's knitting lessons for a stretcy bind off and tips on blocking lace.)

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Lesson: Stretchy Bind Off

This easy bind off is perfect for lace, sweater necks, and the cuffs of socks or mittens that have been knitted from the toe up or fingers down. I use it all the time because I tend to bind off tighly and using a larger needle doesn't seem to help very much.

To work the stretchy bindoff:

K2, *insert the left needle into the front of the 2 sts on the right needle and knit them together--1 st remains on right needle. K1, repeat from * until all sts have been bound off.

Fasten off last stitch.

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Lesson: Blocking Lace

Everyone wants to know how to block lace, as if it's some deep, dark secret or incredibly difficult like rocket science. Actually, it's quite easy. If you've never blocked lace before, you can try this on a swatch if you're a little nervous.

Blocking Wool or Other Natural Fibers

You need:

Blocking wires and/or rust proof pins. I use both, depending on the project and my mood. You need hundreds of pins if you are using them exclusively. You need about ten or so if you are using them to secure blocking wires in place.

A blocking board or flat surface with straight lines. I use a cutting board made for sewing. It is cardboard, folds up neatly for storage, and has a 1" grid printed on it, making it easy to get straight edges.

To block a lace scarf or shawl:

1) Soak the finished item in tepid water until it is thoroughly wet. This could take a half-hour or more, so be patient. When you first put the item in the water, you'll notice that it floats. That's because so much air is trapped inside the fibers. When it gets saturated, it will sink below the surface of the water and become a darker color.

2) Place the item on the blocking surface, and stretch it into shape. Use the pins to secure the knitting in place, or put the blocking wires in the edges and use the pins to secure the wires in place.

• If you're using pins, start by pinning the corners, then place pins at the center of each side. Then, keep dividing each section in half and adding more pins until the edge is straight and even.

• If you're using blocking wires, run the wires through the stitches at the very edge of the piece.

• If your item has a scalloped edge, secure each point with the pins or wires. If your item has a straight edge, you need to pin or run the wires through almost every other row. Basically, you need to secure the item in enough places so the edge is smooth and straight, instead of jagged and sloppy looking.

3) Leave the item to dry thoroughly--overnight in dry areas and for at least 24 hours in wet climates. Even though it might seem like it dries faster, leaving it for a longer amount of time ensures that it is completely dry and helps to set the block so the item won't shrink up after you unpin it.

Here's a picture of a scarf being blocked by the Oomingmak knitters in Alaska. You can see that it has been stretched a good deal to open up the lace pattern and to help the fabric drape softly. You can also see how many pins it takes to make a straight edge!

Blocking Acrylic

You need:

Blocking wires and/or rust proof pins, a cotton dish towel or a piece of cotton fabric, and an iron.

In Arctic Lace, I mentioned that you can't knit lace with acrylic yarns because they won't keep their shape when blocked. This is true if you follow the procedure above.

However, when I went to the Boise Lace Knitting retreat a couple of months ago, one of the other attendees, Pat Stevens, proved me wrong. Here's her technique for "killing" acrylic yarn to give it a gorgeous drape.

Wet your knitting, spin it out in a washer. Lay a sheet on the carpet. Pin the piece exactly the size you want. (I stretch my lace shoulder warmers pretty hard.) Lay a wet cotton dish towel or piece of fabric over it. With a hot iron press down all over the thing. Don't iron just press. I press until the top cloth is very dry. Then I leave it overnight to finish drying. It's that easy. I really press it a lot, it's the steam heat that makes the acrylic look and drape like rayon. You may want to knit a large swatch and test it out.

Edited to add this note in response to a question a reader sent me in email: Acrylic yarn gets "killed" by the application of the heat and it will remain dead after future washings and retain its new shape. You should only have to do this treatment once, as far as I can tell, whereas you normally have to reblock lace knitted in wool or other natural fibers after each washing.

Here's another tip that just arrived in my email from Renee' Wells, whom I also met at the Boise Lace Knitting Retreat (Renee' teaches some great classes on Japanese knitting and if you ever have a chance to take one of them, don't miss it!):

This can also be done dry. Sometimes I place the item on a towel with a wet cloth above. Press and then gently stretch the item into the new shape. You can pick up the cloth between wettings and see where more pressing is needed to even it out. The advantage to this method is greater stretch. You must be careful not to let the item hang over the ironing board it you are trying it there. The weight will skew the shape. I often kill acrylic baby blankets, they morph into lovely exotic feeling fibers! No longer just acrylic! And the mums that receive them use them over and over because they do hold their new drape.

Blocking Fitted Garments

To block lace for a garment, pin the pieces out to the specified dimensions. Do not stretch or pin ribbing, or it will loose its elasticity.