Friday, July 27, 2012

I'm casting on a scarf today.


Good morning everyone,

I've probably mentioned before that I follow the Yarn Harlot blog by knitter and writer Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.  Stephanie is one cool woman, always expanding what she does.  Over the last months she has been training for a REALLY  long-distance bike rally, which is a fundraiser for the Friends for Life Bike Rally in support of the Toronto People With AIDS Foundation.  (www.yarnharlot.ca/blog )

In her most recent post she tells how stunned she was at the pledge response from her knitter readers.  One of Stephanie's friends makes the incredible, important statement: "It's all kindness Steph.  It's all kindness.  ...  It's more kindness in the world, and ... Can't the world use all the nice it can get? "

And then Stephanie goes on to make a statement about knitting and the importance of small actions.

"I've been telling people for years that knitting changes your brain. Changes the way you think and teaches important lessons, and that one of them is the idea of cumulative action.  Cumulative action is the idea that small actions aren't unimportant if they are combined with other small actions. It's a lesson that not everyone learns.  Some people go their whole lives thinking that unless you can do something big, there's no point in doing anything at all... and they have trouble seeing how one small action in their life could ripple and matter.  They can't see the possibility, and so the don't do what they could.  The problems seem too large for a small action to change anything.

"Here's the thing though, there are no knitters like that.  None.  Knitting teaches you that one small action does matter. That one small action, like knitting a stitch, isn't unimportant. It's vital.  One small action repeated many times is a sweater. Or a shawl. Or a pair of socks to hold the feet of someone you love, and that idea? The concept of cumulative action? It makes knitters the most remarkable fundraisers of all.  Other groups, they have to rely on the part of their community that understands that... knitters? Our whole group gets it.  Our whole group sees that one small thing - put together with many other things can create something enormous, and wonderful, and magical."

THANK YOU STEPHANIE PEARL-McPHEE for reminding me today of this.  I don't have to knit a sweater. I can cast on a scarf.  If I knit a little bit every time I get frustrated with the advocacy stuff I do, I'll probably have several scarves to donate to a local charity by the time scarf season rolls around.

Best regards to all of you!

Why's Woman

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