Empowerment through Knitting

Women in Bosnia are knitting themselves to a better life. Bosnian Handicrafts is an organization helping Muslim, Croat and Serb women to empower themselves by knitting. The organization employs the women and gives them emotional support and hope. The group has entered the international marketplace - its products are sold at www.bosnianhandicrafts.com and in shops around the world. By purchasing a handknit garment from Bosnian Handicrafts you are empowering women across the globe.

What we can learn from these women is that it is possible to re-knit your life. Start anywhere. You don't have to have a clear idea of who or what you are going to be, but you have to create something for just for yourself. Like the knitting project that somehow went bad, frog it and knit the yarn into something new and exciting. Figure out what it is right now. This second. Try on lots of things to see what fits. Some things will, and some won't. It's like finding the perfect outfit. It fits. The interesting thing about this process is that while it seems as if you are searching for something in vain, that there is no method to your madness, something amazing is taking shape. The little things that seem insignificant begin to create a pattern. Just like the yarn that begins as a ball and turns into a magnificent one-of-a-kind creation, stitch by careful stitch can knit yourself a new life.

Grandmother Spider: An Archetypal Knitter

"The weaving way holds beauty"
"The weaving way holds power"

There are many Epic Knitters in mythology, literature, art, but Grandmother Spider was one of the first and most prolific.

Her tale, like her web is spiral, bringing more elaborate worlds and possibilities into manifestation. Her story, her web is the spiral of life. Her ability and joy in creation is woven deep into the hearts and destiny of mankind. We can all learn from spider how and what to create in our sacred roles of Creators.

Spider is the Grandmother of Creation. The center of each creation you weave must be strong and well anchored; the center must hold if a world is to rest upon it. The center of what is human is our ability to perceive beauty and the divine. A strong delicate shimmering world of light, beauty, truth and justice is ours for the creating. Spider lives in this inter-dimensional shimmering center.

Like her, the patterns you weave can be changed instantly. You can choose to be limitless, to exist in a formless realm where you can spin tales, worlds and patterns of your own. She tells us that humans live, between form and formlessness; our potential is unlimited. Grandmother Spider creates always in a circle; circles always in spirals, reflecting even within her tiniest creations the grandeur of infinity and the secrets of life. Within the patterns of her webs are the maps of creation, the cosmos, and the laws of the universe.

Grandmother Spider teaches, when we begin with something small but well chosen we are actually making the momentous magic that will lead us from the familiar darkness of potential and uncertainty to a new and newly ordered reality. The secret of the universe lies in those awkward places, those meek unexamined crevices where the mother of the world is in her element. Legend has it that if you find a spiderweb and rub it into your hands you imbue her magic in your hand. Bring that magic to your knitting and watch it shine.

Haute Heads Pattern

This pattern is especially great if you are an advanced beginner - ready to branch out beyond scarves, but still a bit intimidated by a circular project. It can be done, really!
GAUGE: 14 sts and 18 rows = 4" in k2, p2 rib, slightly stretched
US 10 1/2 (6.5mm) knitting needles or size needed to obtain gauge
DIRECTIONS:
Cast on 56 (60, 64) stitches (56 = small, 60=medium, 64=large)
Work 29 (32, 35) rows in k2, p2
Row 30: *K2 together, p2; repeat from * to end - 42 (45, 48) stitches
Row 31: *K2 together, p1; repeat from* to end - 28 (30, 32) stitches
Row 32: *K1, p1; repeat from * to end.
Row 33: *K1, p1; repeat from * to end.
Row 34: *K2 together; repeat from * to end - 14 (15, 16) stitches
Row 35: *K2 together; repeat from * to end - 7 (8, 8) stitches
FINISHING:
Break off the yarn, leaving a 20" tail. Thread the yarn through a yarn needle and thread needle through live stitches, drawing them tight and sliding them off the knitting needle. With the right side of the hat facing you, and using a mattress stitch, sew back seam invisibly from top to bottom. Weave in ends.

On A Thread

Every person is linked to the Goddess by an invisible thread, a thread which is unique for each one of us, a thread which can easily slip from our grasp and , search for it as we may, elude us. It is only when we have lost our thread that life seems purposeless, lacking in significance and meaning.

Still on our threads but beyond reach are angels which at supreme moments we feel we are able to contact. They are the intermediaries between us and God. To be on our thread is to be in touch with the Self, and the angels and other figures to which are the archetypal images of the Self. So long as we are in touch with this thread it is as though our individual Guardian Angel is hovering above us guiding our steps. The moment we lose our thread, we feel lost, purposeless and unsafe, disconnected from the magic that envelops us.

Being on one's thread means knowing what one knows, having an ability to stand firm on one's own inner truth. It is when we are in our vital thread that life happens around us in a way that befits our individual destiny, for we have not interfered. Life happens more fully around those who are on their thread. Women on their thread do not cause, but allow. A woman on her thread walks in the middle of the road, neither held back by the past nor hurrying toward the future, neither lured to the right nor to the left, but allowing the past and the future. Life blossoms all around her.

Athena: The Great Knitting Goddess

Athena is the original Knitting Goddess, the Goddess of Wisdom and Crafts.
She is associated with the sun, with her clear and brilliant mind. She is connected to the light of knowledge and the power of the strategic mind. As an archetype, Athena, is the pattern followed by logical women, who are ruled by their heads rather than their hearts. She is one who always "Keeps her head." She is cool headed and impervious to the slings and arrows of emotions.

As the Goddess of Crafts she made things that were both practical and esthetically pleasing. Her knitting skills required that both hands and mind work together. That she knew how to strategize her stitching and untangle herself from knotted yarn. That is why we call Athena the Great Knitting Goddess.

Athena, with her watchful eye makes sure our knits are lined up with our knits, our purls with our purls to make those cute little "V" patterns in our stitches. She guides us stitch by stitch to create something unlike no other with beauty and love. As a strategist she navigates us through those *$@$! complex patterns. .if only I could knit a fairisle sweater, do a buttonhole. . When we call upon Athena we access our ability to create even and perfect stitches.

As she is patroness of weaving, the spiraling snake head on her shield is the connection to the ancient, life giving power, and protective of yarn. The spindle, the most ancient symbol of the triple goddess and of fate, in addition to the masculine magical spear she carries. Her spear is the symbol of the battle, but of thr spritual warrior who can meet any challenges with grace and joy, while the spindle she carries allows her to skillfully weave all aspects of herself together. From Athena we can learn to weave together all aspects of ourselves, the dark and the light, as we weave and knit our yarn.

With the Athena at your shoulder, you will create projects that will endow you with power, beauty and strength. Ware her. . We are one!

Acts of Power and Love

"Let the beauty we love, be what we do." Rumi

Athena's spear and spindle in the imagery became a symbol of how I could use my talent, my art as an act of power and love in the world. Her strategy and craftiness were qualities that I could embody in a creative act. Centered in her feminine power and open heart, Athena holds her spear with focus and launches it in the air with centeredness and balance, letting it fly. Her spear soaring through the air and hitting the target straight on, like the arrow of Eros striking a lover's heart. The connection, the striking of the heart is love. The world is nourished by the love in the art, the beauty it beholds.

Thus, the idea of creating love and beauty through knitting was born. With a passion for sticks I decided to create a knitting foundation, HAUTE HEADS. Inspired by Debbie Stoller, the fabulous creatrix of Stitch n' Bitch, I began to create fun, elegant and irreverent solutions to "No Hair Days".

Zen and the Art of Knitting

I picked up my knitting needles and began to knit without ceasing. The energy was rising through my hands as I began to feel a sense of peace emerge, the clouds in my brain dissolving. The gentle click, clicking of the needles, the warmth of the bamboo, the soft, fuzzy nurturing feeling of the yarn through my fingers soothed my ravaged brain cells. I was in a timeless, meditative state for what seemed like minutes, but was an hour. It became clear to me that the process of knitting was a radical act of love and peace. The act of sitting peacefully, mindfully was pure love. What else is knitting but love? Love of the creative act, the art, the beauty of the textiles, the love of the recipient. It is in the small acts of love, each like a pearl on a strand, create a live well lived. The Buddha said that one person meditating can change the world. Let it begin with me. Knit, knit, purl, purl. . .

Empowerment through Knitting

" I heard the news today, oh, boy. . ." the Beatles tune echoed through my mind as London was being rocked by bombs. As I sat in front of my computer, numb from the headlines "We all thought we were going to die" my brain began to fog. No amount of caffeine could assuage the headache exploding in my head, a metaphor for the horrific explosions felt across the globe. The symptomology suggested that this was just a hairline fracture in the facade, the something deep, complex was to emerge from the foggy depths.

The image was of Pallas Athena, the awesome Goddess of Wisdom and Crafts, Strategist and Father's Daughter. She sprung from my head as she was born from her father Zeus's head, struck by a double-edged axe, opening a way for Athena to emerge. Athena, fully armored, the visor of her helment pushed back to reveal her beauty, a shield with intwined snakes emblazoned upon it over her arm, a spear in one hand and a spindle in the other, a dark eyed owl upon her shoulder. She was the goddess who presided over battle and strategy in wartime and over domestic arts in peacetime. Athena had the fearless ability to weave the world together with strands of wool into a united tapestry. I called in her wisdom, strategy and foresight as a guide. The strands of yarn lead me into her realm, as Ariadne had led Theseus out of the Minotaur's labyrinth with her red yarn. I then knew what I had to do.

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