Welcome in blankets

Oh to be in Chicago

The Welcome Blanket exhibit is open at the Smart Museum of Art in Chicago.

The crowd-sourced installation, which is by Pussyhat co-founder Jayna Zweiman, focuses on political activism to confront immigration and refugee resettlement issues.

Anyone can be part of the exhibit. I did. And I'm so pleased to be part of the project.

All that's required is to send a handmade blanket to the museum, along with a note to an immigrant or refugee. Although the first call emphasized knit blankets, the blankets only need to be handmade They can be knit, crochet, quilted, woven, whatever.

The exhibit is fluid and ever-growing. The Hyde Park Herald has posted some photos of incoming blankets here.

According to the museum's website, the exhibit opens in an empty gallery, which will serve as a receiving station to sort, document and store donated blankets. Over the exhibit run, blankets will accumulate in the gallery transforming the space from a sparse, empty space into a visually exciting installation of the handmade blankets.

Visitors to the museum are invited to spend time knitting in the gallery, as well as to attend a series of public programs focused on human rights, immigration and artistic activism.

When the installation closes in December, the blankets will be distributed through community partners including immigration organizations and refugee resettlement agencies.

 It's not too late to submit a blanket. The mail-in deadline is September 5.

Directions to participate, as well as patterns and mailing instructions are here.

And if you're near Chicago, please visit. Take some pictures and share them. Admission is free!

Getting ready for MAFA 2017

8-H 4-color double weave parallel ovals

The countdown has begun

The MidAtlantic Fiber Conference's (MAFA) biennial weekend workshop is days away and my mind is full of plans and preparations. 

In large part, that's because I'm one of the volunteers working to make this a memorable event. MAFA is an all-volunteer not-for-profit organization and dozens of people on its Conference Team has been working for two years to make this regional event the best ever. Yes, planning started when the last conference ended. I know there will be unexpected complications, but it won't be for lack of effort.

Have loom, will travel

I'm also preparing for my workshop, Weaving in a Parallel Universe, with Linda Hartshorn. I expected amplified craziness preceding the event, so I warped my loom last month. And then I prepped my loom for travel. 

Reed secured in beater.

I have a vintage 8-harness Schacht table loom with a 24 x 26" footprint. We all know that most table looms--especially the vintage variety--are portable, but portability is not their strong suit. Here's how I have made my table loom ready for transport.

My husband outfitted my table loom for transport by attaching a handle on one side of the castle. That helps with picking it up, but when it's warped and ready for weaving, there are other concerns.

For transporting a warped loom like mine, I see three primary points that need protection: The reed, the warp, and the beater.

Stabilized warp on back beam

Reed

• To secure the reed in the middle of the beater and protect the warp, I use a strip of soft knit fabric. I fold the fabric in half around one side of the beater and twist the fabric several times on each side of the reed before securing it on the other side. 
• I often use such strips of knit fabric for headers, any fabric, rope or even a bungee would work.

Warp 

• I use the soft knit fabric to keep the warp from moving on the back beam--and on the front beam if there is nothing woven to stabilize it. 
• I made a cover for my loom, but the underside is still open. I will stuff some soft plastic dry cleaner bags around the vulnerable beams. No cover? I'd use a blanket or a soft plastic sheet over the front and back beams to protect the warp during travel.

Beater

• I use two small or one medium size bungee to secure the beater against the castle. (I used one in the photo below.)

Beater secured with a bungee

Loom covered and ready to go

I'll also bring my stand, which my husband also made, and a stool that puts me at the right working height. And I'll bring a utility cart to move it from my car to the workshop location. 

And there it will stay until it's time to go home.

Welcome blankets

Welcome blanket

July 4th, roots, and refugees. 

Unless you are an American Indian, you, like me, are the daughter or son of immigrants. My family's immigration story is lost to time. No stories exist of their struggles and difficulties. But I have no doubt that they were real. 

I have no delusions that I am related to royalty or some rich and famous person and, frankly, I find most claims silly. I cannot believe that my ancestors came for the joy of it any more than I can imagine that I am a descendant of Lord So-and-So of Castle Wherever.

My ancestors most likely came to this country for opportunity, as many people still do. But currently too many people aren't leaving their homes because they want to. They're leaving their homelands and families to escape tyranny, hunger and war.

Which brings me to the current refugee crises. I don't know the answer to war, hunger, and despotic lunatics, but I can help support what is surely a difficult transition. One way is through the Welcome Blanket Project.

The Welcome Blanket Project

"The Welcome Blanket Project aims to connect people already living in the United States residents with our country’s new immigrants through stories and handmade blankets, providing both symbolic and literal comfort and warmth. At the same time, the project offers a positive, hands-on way to understand the scope of a 2000-mile border wall and to subvert it from an idea of exclusion to one of inclusion. By participating in this project, people will also come together to talk about immigration policy and how it affects real-live people."

Project leaders wondered whether, instead of thinking about a wall to keep people out, "what if lines of yarn became 3,500,640 yards of blankets to welcome people in?"

They have invited knitters to make a 40" x 40" blanket. By their estimation, a blanket that size would take about 1200 yards, thus requiring about 3,200 blankets to stretch over 2,000 miles. The project provides patterns, a tutorial, and sample 'welcome notes' online.

The project is keeping track of yardage, too. In addition to sending a blanket, knitters send a tag with care instructions and yardage used in the blanket.

Contributors are also asked to enclose a note that welcomes a refugee, shares  their family's immigration story, and offers words of welcome and advice about living in the United States. 

Blanket ready to mail

Here's what I wrote about my family:

Dear Receiver of This Blanket,

This blanket was made by Charlene Marietti, Medford, NJ

My family’s immigration story: 

My ancestors originated in Northern Europe—England, Scotland, France, Switzerland and Germany—and moved west from the Mid-Atlantic region into the Northwest Territory when it opened for settlement. Many were early Ohio pioneers who fought for freedom in the American Revolution and the War of 1812 and took advantage of offers of bounty land granted for military service.

My husband’s Northern Italian ancestors left hunger and the threat of war in the late 19th century to join paesani in western Pennsylvania. Few intended to stay, but they did. They quickly moved to Northeastern Ohio, where most of their descendants still live.

The knit blankets will be displayed in an inaugural show at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago beginning July 18 and running through December 17. After the show closes, the blankets will be distributed to refugees and other immigrants though resettlement organizations. 

My contribution goes in the mail today.