Contribute – 100 Million Knitted Stitches

via Craftivism

 

Did you know that there are 100 million women missing in this world?

When I came across this statistic, I couldn’t believe it. The facts tell a different story. If you take the natural distribution of male/female, there are 100 million women missing from our planet. Why?

Because baby girls are selectively aborted
Because baby girls are killed
Because women are killed
Because women aren’t given an education
Because women do not get the same medical care as men
Because women die in childbirth
Because women are trafficked and sexually exploited

And all of this 100 years after International Women’s Day was first celebrated on 8 March.

100 years of International Women’s Day, one million women missing for every year.

To highlight the inequalities that still exist across the globe and are responsible for 100 Million missing women as well as the continuous gap of women being represented in decision making positions in the government, the workplace and the media, there is a great Scottish-based initiative which tries to create a debate and… a massive blanket, with 100 Million knitted stitches; one for every woman missing. The great thing is that everybody can contribute to this, by knitting a simple square measuring 15 x 15 cm (6×6 inches). 100 million stitches is an awful lot though, as little as one stitch per missing woman does sound, so a lot of helping hands are needed.

So then, I challenge you my lovely readers to support this initiative. How? Simple. Sit and knit a bit. Knit a square, or two, or many. Ask your friends and colleagues to do the same. Blog about it. Follow on Facebook or Twitter. Organise a Sit and Knit a Bit evening – in your home, in a cafe, in a community centre. And while you do all of this, or some of this, remember the 100 million women missing from our world today. There are so many ways to support this, do head over to the website to get inspired.

Please send your completed squares and stories by 8th March 2011 to Jetson and Janssen, c/o Tramway, Albert Drive, Glasgow G41 2PE. If you have any questions, you can email here. If you blog about it, please come back to this post and add a link to your post in the blog hop below (and the blog hop code to your post, to link them all together).

 

I will definitely be doing this — and I have the perfect hot pink plarn to knit for it too!!

Flickr Friday: Lichenscapes

T, originally uploaded by knitalatte11.

I’ve been visiting Resurrection Fern a lot lately — I feel really inspired and connected to the work that she creates and her posts. Today she has posted these amazing lichen macro photographs. Head over to her site to see all of them — definitely worth a look. It’s so nice to come across people like her online — those who are truly great artists, makers, and people, and who I otherwise might not have heard of if they didn’t share their work and lives online. Gives me some hope for the world, where at times lately I have been struggling to find some. So, go over and follow her blog too. Her quality posts, day after day, will make you happy.

Crush: Jack White

Make a guitar!!! I’m totally doing this, as soon as I get an amp. Love it.

Etsy Wednesday

Yes–I think I’m going to start doing an Etsy Wednesday post. I can’t help but be obsessed with that glorious site. I did a treasury last night about Wishbones — over Thanksgiving I tried to find the wishbone in the turkey — got my kids all hyped up for it — and then I never found it (I made soup w/the carcass and everything!) So when I randomly saw a wishbone item on Etsy I thought I would search deeper — never expected to find so many things — and never thought wishbones could be so beautiful. I did the treasury last night and it already has over 1,300 views, so check it out!

Make a Wish by Lucky Bluebird Art

 

Wishbone Pin by carlygk

 

 

Set of 3 Wishbone bowls by mquanWARE

 

 

View the entire treasury here

 

I’m always finding so many interesting things it just blows my mind. Also worth a look is the other Etsy treasury I just curated, unique art prints for your walls that I’ve had on my favorite list for awhile, along with some new finds. These are the kinds of things I do instead of watching TV :)  I’m glad to see that so many professional artists, makers, and designers have Etsy shops now. It’s such a great platform for reaching a large audience who are already in tune with the whole buy handmade mindset.

We will conquer the world!

Gifts for the Hard-to-Buy-Handmade-For

This time of year I’m always perplexed about how much money is spent on holiday presents that are essentially cheap pieces of crap. The holidays have become so overtly commercialized, and most of the stuff people buy is from a big-box store and made in China. It’s just gross. Bad for the environment, bad for people, and actually makes for bad gifts. (not convinced? read this)

So I always try to buy handmade gifts, or when that fails at least “smart gifts” (will explain more below) for my friends and family. As far as my kids go (ages 7 and 8), it is getting harder every year to do this. There are a lot of handmade baby and toddler items available, but not so much for the school agers. Another group that can be hard to buy for are the teenagers/young adults. But there is hope! Here are a few cool things I found:

Mandala Wooden Puzzle by PuzzleOne

This would make a great gift for a wide age range of kids. I have something similar that my kids received as a gift when they were 3/4, and they still play with it–plus it’s still in such great shape my new little one will enjoy it too!

Socktopus by blackbirdfashion

This is another great gift for a wide age range of kids. I’m getting this for my 8 year old son for Xmas. He collects sock monkeys so this whimsical version will be perfect. They also had a punk rock sock monkey–I’ll save that for when he’s a teenager :)

I Spy Bag by aebaby

I LOVE these toys! I’ve seen these capture the attention of toddlers up to 3rd graders!

When buying handmade for your school-aged child or grandchild just isn’t enough-buy them “smart toys” instead of the plastic junk. Art supplies, science kits, musical instruments, books (the Klutz books/kits are always awesome), etc.

Another hard group to buy for are the teenagers and young adults!!!

Bunny Loves Kitty Pendant by Gingerdead

I have items by this artist at The Eclipse Gallery, and you can click the link above for her online shop. I bought one of these necklaces for my 16 year old niece for her birthday and she loved it.

Circut Board Geek Shirt by nonfictiontees

Getting clothes as a gift is definitely NOT lame when they’re like this.  There is a huge selection of handmade clothing for all ages on Etsy.

Vulture Silkscreen Moleskin Journal by The Crafty Hag.

Every teenager (and adult for that matter)  needs a journal to vent into and sketch in. I have a good selection of this artist’s journals, magnets, pillows, note cards, and more at The Eclipse Gallery–or click the link above for her online shop.

Smart gifts for teens and young adults could include books, art supplies (for example, a screen printing kit would be an awesome gift for art types), or gift cards to a cool handmade shop in your area.

If you live or are visiting Northeast Wisconsin, stop by The Eclipse Gallery for a wide variety of handmade gifts–we have something for every age–from birth to 100.  Buy Local and Buy Handmade this year!

doppelstitchr — new piece for my niece

I visited my sister last week and found a bright, shiny, purple, plastic bag there — so of course my immediate thought was, I need to KNIT THIS!

I love knitting plastic, especially cool colors, with big needles. Luckily my best friend Steph came over with some needles to borrow….

so I tagged my niece Natalie’s swingset :)

this was literally the first I had made in a couple months, due to my horrible morning sickness….so this really got me out of my creative rut and now I’m back on a roll, yay! Not to mention I’m in my 2nd trimester now and feel loads better :)

Process Quilts

I finally had time to take some better (still not the best) photos of my latest textile series, Process Quilts. They are VERY difficult to photograph. The concept started last summer when I was collecting ‘blister packs’ from purchased items because I felt there was something I could do with them art-wise rather than throw them away. So I took another one of my collections, found objects, and started placing them in the blister packs and sewing them onto brown paper. I created several of these which I called “cycled thoughts” (you may remember this if you’ve read this blog for a long time).

During Advanced Textiles class at UWGB last semester (Fall 2009), I decided to create more of these and utilize them as quilt squares for a large, non-traditional quilt series. I had three themes, using my found object collection, broken toys from my kids, and consumer waste. The instructor, ultra fabulous Alison Gates, and the rest of the class were very helpful in critiquing and developing the concept. Here are the results:

Process Quilt: Bought + Broken, 60″ x 38″

Detail

Process Quilt: Bought + Spent, 53″ x 45″

Detail

Process Quilt: Bought + Found, 52″ x 36″

Detail

I used machine stitching and hand stitching on the quilts. I used old blankets for the batting inside, and the backs are sewn-together plastic bags. I tied the quilts with recycled twist-ties.

I also created a small book for my artist statement, comprised of my process (notes) during the time that I was working on this project, which was the material for my statement–the last page being the final version of the statement. The book is hand-bound and the cover is the very first of my original “cycled thoughts” series.

Process Quilts artist statement

I currently have them installed in my home (note: I used velcro, sticking one side onto the work and stapling the other side to the wall so you can use over again, it works awesome), but am going to try and enter them into some shows, so we will see how that goes. Like most artwork, they look better in person, so I hope they can come across in a photograph.

I will continue to work with blister pack/found object materials, but in different ways–working smaller (using the little tiny blister packs from medicine, for example) and working larger (floor sculptures with the large plastic cases from big items). All of the work will then be in a 407 Gallery show at UWGB on April 19-23, 2010, titled Flotsam and Jetsam.

Also, to see all the photos I have, and in better quality, visit my Flickr here.

For X-mas

Sorry to have been neglecting this site lately–I wish I had time to post about these new quilts I’m making–if any of you remember my Cycled Thoughts series, using found objects placed in blister packages–these quilts are a more thought out interpretation of those, sewn together and then quilted — I’m very excited about them and they are probably the largest artwork I’ve ever done. But more on that later….

 

Right now my family has really been struggling–we are under so much stress and I’ve been feeling very defeated. One thing that has been cheering me up has been making these whimsical Christmas tree ornaments. They are only $12 and can be found at The Eclipse Gallery in Algoma or online here (with free shipping!)

 

If you live in the Northeast Wisconsin area do try and stop by the gallery — especially since the 50 Artists, 50 States, 50 Mediums show is only running through December 31st–and I think it is a must see :)

MOMA acquires A Book About Death postcards

The recent show, A Book About Death, organized by Matthew Rose and exhibited at the Emily Harvey Foundation in NYC proved to be a great success! It was an open call for artists–many of my mail artist friends were involved, and the image above is the front of the postcard that I sent in for the show.

It was really a tribute to Ray Johnson (his original Book About Death), and a “global exploration of death”. Each artist contributed 500 postcards to the show, which created an “unbound Book About Death”. Visitors to the gallery were then able to select some or all of each postcards to create their own book about death.

The reason I claim that this show is a success is because MOMA (New York) just acquired a complete set of postcards from the show! So in a small way, I can say that I’ve been “collected” by MOMA, and that makes life pretty good! I think the artists involved in the show are excited about this–because even though mail art operates mostly outside traditional establishments, isn’t it true that we all want our artwork to be seen, we all have a voice we want heard, and isn’t it nice to be recognized a little?

Buy Handmade: Odd Bird Designs

Odd Bird Designs of Canada just sent me a delicious box of pendants, earrings, rings, pins, and barrettes for The Eclipse Gallery! I am really loving them. Check out the rest of the selection on our website.

Vintage Straw Purse!

Very tempted to buy this myself, but I thought I’d share it with you….

And their ETSY.

zine giveaway!

to apologize for not updating my blog as often as i would like, i’m giving away one limited edition Wandering Uterus zine, volume three. see a couple posts down for more info on the zine.

comment below to enter the contest, and i will be picking one winner at random.

you have until sunday, may 24th. spread the word! thanks :)