Stash Sorting and Social Change

Cool mittens to knit in the Stash-A-Long

The Book I'm reading now is Knitting for Peace by Betty Christianson and Kiriko Shirobayashi. This book is just great.
Bug suggested it way back before Christmas, so I went to check it out. At first I was attracted to the patterns in it, but then began reading the stories. A favorite so far is the one about Afghans For Afghanistan. What really struck me in this story of this wonderful group is the measure to which they have to go through to pack and send the donated items in order to get them to the intended recipients in Afghanistan. This isn't just send them a bunch of hats and scarves and then send them off to somebody and we're done.

No.

The folks at AfghansForAfghanistan are so careful in the timing of when to send the goods. The boxes are triple taped to make sure the items inside are safe and recipients on the other end need to be lined up just so, in order to get our knitted goods properly disbursed to those who most need it.
AND, please, they request, no acrylic things or scarves - they need warmth. Wool warmth. Hats, blankets, sweaters, vests, socks. Bright colors are a no no as well.

So I'm sorting my stash during my stash-a-long now and sorting out:
the acrylics (good for PREEMIE needs)
wool (needed for the Afghanistan), and
any interesting cool for the Rad Beanies project.

Also, I loved the Peace Fleece story. I knew about their cool work with the folks in Russia during the really scary times in the 80s, but there's more to them. But with the scary shit happening in the Middle East, Baghdad Blue has been introduced. They call this blue shade vibrant, "as bright as the desert sky." All proceeds of the Bhagdad Blue yarn, 100%, goes to two organizations in the Middle East: Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salaam , a community in Israel where Palestinians and Israelis families live together every day struggling with the realities of war and peace, and Seeds of Peace, a Palestian-Israeli summer camp based here in Maine.
And the price is really really nice: $7.50 for 4 ounces!
Yeah, $7.50 per 4 ounces for 70%wool/30% mohair (worsted).

At Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salaam, they not only live together, but they provide an oasis for those who can learn that the Palestines and Israelis families can cohabitate. They practice and preach this. Marty spinning wool of Beit Sira Village, West Bankin the home of Zacharia Zumbaty


So I've decided that I would "tweak" the Stash-A-Long rules. Since, I'm not the great sock yarn fiend, it's not hard at all to go without buying any until the September, 2007 deadline.
Instead, I've decided to exempt the purchase of any yarn that would help others in remarkable need. This would include buying yarn from Peace Fleece, Thrift Shops or things like the Lime & Violet sock yarn that Lisa Sousa worked up.
Alright.