News Article Addy

Click below to read the first news article published about Red Sweaters in the March-30 edition of the Long Island based newspaper, "Newsday".

YARN ART Red badges of awareness

Thanks to Judith Bernstein for the interview and article!
-nina

New Photo Album

We switched over to a publicly viewable photo album. Now everyone can enjoy the individual Red Sweater photos without having to log into Yahoo. Just click on the Runway tab, then the image of the sweater.

Or click this url: http://www.redsweaters.org/gallery/RedSweaters.

Now "Hand Made"

By popular demand, we will now be accepting machine knit sweaters!

We will be refering to all of the sweaters as "hand made" rather than "hand knit". This will encompass hand knitting, crochetting, and machine knitting.

If there is another fabric making technique you'd like us to consider, please write and let us know!

Also, you can use any weight of yarn you choose. But you will have to edit the pattern accordingly to keep the correct size of sweater, and you may need to use a different size needle.

Remember that you can use any shade of red as long as you stick with the Red Heart 100% acrylic brand, and the word "red" appears in the yarn color name.

Thanks to everyone who voiced their opinion about machine knitting!
I'll update the site with these new changes by the end of this week, and I'll upload a machine knitting pattern by Sunday.
-nina

Our First Public Appearance

There will be a short story about Red Sweaters in the March 30 edition of Long Island based newspaper, "Newsday". The article is written by Judy Bernstein who heard about Red Sweaters through one of my knit list postings. So exciting! I'll post a link to the story as soon as I have it.

Until then, you can get acquainted with Newsday Online, just click here.

Knit-Out Review

I met Susan and Alice near the library in San Francisco for our first Red Sweaters Knit-out. Susan handed me a bag full of completed sweaters (thank you!!) and then we walked over to the "Eyes Wide Open" exhibit.

Susan knit while she walked around, and I tried to find a place to sit and knit, but it was difficult. Turns out an open-aired art exhibit isn't necessarily the best place for a knit-out. Poor planning on my part. But it was nice to see the exhibit and to meet some Red Sweaters volunteers.

We're already planning our next knit-out, but I think we'll choose a more knitter friendly place for the next one :)

-nina

First Knit-Out

This weekend we are going to have our first Red Sweaters Knit-Out. Please join us!

We're going to meet in front of the San Francisco Main Public Library around 3:00pm on Saturday, March 26.

The "Eyes Wide Open" exhibit will be on display at Civic Center Plaza, and since there are so many parallels between that project and this one, we thought it would be fun to go and see their exhibit and knit there for a while (weather permitting). If it's raining, we can always knit in the library.

Hope to see you there!
-nina

USE ANY SHADE OF RED

By popular demand and due to the overall inavailability of Cherry Red,

YOU CAN USE ANY SHADE OF RED "Red Heart" YARN THAT YOU CAN FIND.

The rules are:
1) Must be Red Heart Super Saver Medium Weight (look for it in 3oz or 8oz skeins)
2) The color name must have "red" in it

For example, Cherry Red, Fire Red, Ranch Red, Hot red. But not burgundy or claret (i think those are both too purple..)

Sorry to everyone who spent days looking for the right color!!

In the beginning, the reason I chose to use the same shade of red for each sweater was to maintain the symbolism of blood - that it is the same color in everyone's body. But blood changes colors - whether it is fresh or dried blood. So, really, the symbolism is in tact so long as we continue to use the same fiber. Same stuff, same color, just different shades. The installation as a whole will look more interesting this way, too.

-nina

Sweater Pictures

I added some pictures to our Yahoo group area. I took a picture of each of the 11 sweaters I have so far. Just click on the "Photos" link when you log into the RedSweaters group page.

Here's a teaser for those of you who are not yet signed up to the list:

Your thoughts?

I added some content to the Thoughts page. I'll add more to it as we go along!

I hope that once I start to receive sweaters, people will send small paragraphs about why they contributed to the project. I want to post some of those on the Thoughts page as well.

-nina

First Gathering

There is another art installation touring around the country that has many similarities to the Red Sweaters project. Someone on our knit list told me about it. It's called "Eyes Wide Open".

They display one pair of boots per soldier killed in the war. They also have a memorial wall of names of all the Iraqi civilians who died as a result of the war. Our projects differ in that Eyes Wide Open is an anti-war piece, while Red Sweaters is not taking sides on the war, but instead spreading public awareness of it. Also, Red Sweaters involves many volunteers from different backgrounds and view points, while Eyes Wide Open involves only the American Friends Service Committee.

That said, I think it will be very interesting to see another art installation inspired by some of the same things that inspired Red Sweaters - war and death.

I'm trying to organize a knit-out for Saturday, March 26 at the Civic Center Plaza where Eyes Wide Open will be on display. We can spread the word about our project while showing support for other similar ventures.

Any takers? Join our Yahoo! group to stay in the loop about exactly when and where we'll gather.
-nina

Another pattern idea

Get out your DPNs... the No Seams pattern is on the way... Look for it next week...

Here's the tree

A few people have asked to see a picture of the tree... Here's a snapshot from below the tree looking up into the sky... I'll take some more pictures from a distance later this week (I need to get a new battery charger for my camera...)

2 new patterns

Today I uploaded the 4 piece pattern and the crochet pattern.

The 4 piece pattern is a bit easier than the original pattern because there is less shaping (no need to put stitches on hold). The only downfall is that you have to do more sewing.

The crochet pattern worked up faster (for me) than the knitting pattern. Probably because the crochet stitches are larger than knit stitches, so there are few stitches total in the garment.

I hope both patterns are easy to follow. I'm not used to writing patterns for other people to read :) I've only ever written them for myself.

The death toll rose... But so did our participants. We now have 30 people signed up to our Yahoo! group.

I've heard from a couple of people that they have completed 3-5 sweaters each, so hopefully they'll be sending those in soon and I can increase our "current number of sweaters knit" tally. 1513 dead, 30 people knitting, that's about 50 sweaters a person. I think we need more help!

-nina

Updated Inspiration page

I updated the Inspirations page. I hope this explanation of this project is more clear.

-nina

Great Feedback

I've gotten a lot of good feedback in the last few days. It's really helped me to understand what this project is and what it isn't.

Right now I'm working on re-writing the Inspiration page so that I can share my newfound clarity with everyone.

I think the main confusion is that it is not clear that Red Sweaters is going to be a piece of art. I don't want to classify it as anything more than that. It is an art installation inspired by war, death, and knitting. This idea has inspired many people to consider other projects and other things that Red Sweaters could be. That is a great reaction to the project, and I encourage everyone to follow their own inspiration to participate in other war-related projects or to start their own. For now, for this project, I want to see my vision come to life. I'll need the help of many for that to happen.

I have some good stuff to add to the Thoughts page (the interactions that lead to the re-write of the Inspiration page), but first I need to get persmission from the people who have emailed me so far.

Keep it coming!
-nina

What's it to ya?

My co-worker just had a great idea - submit a few sentences that explain why you chose to participate in this project along with your sweaters.

This project is going to mean something different to everyone involved. I'm really interested to know why you want to participate - what does it mean to you? When the project is done, we could publish a book with everyone's thoughts about their Red Sweaters.

What do you think?
-nina

So many details...

We've only been promoting the site and project for 2 days, and we've already doubled our ranks. We currently have 15 people signed up on the RedSweaters email list. That means we each only need to knit 100 sweaters and the project will be done! Fortunately, we have more people interested in helping that have not signed up to the list. So we actually have more than 15 people involved already. We're off to a great start!

My goals this week are:
1) create a 'rectangle only' pattern for those who are most comfortable knitting scarves
2) create a flyer that anyone can print and hand to people they see knitting on public transit or coffee shops or their local S'n'Bs
3) spread word about the project wherever I can!
4) upload pictures of the 5 sweaters I've completed to add to the Runway (gallery)
5) create a crochet pattern

Please let me know if you have trouble finding the yarn. I can help you with that. I just bought a ton. I can snail mail you enough for 2 sweaters. Or if you're in the bay area, I can drop it off at your house.

...more tomorrow...
-nina

Up and running!

Hello, knitters!

It has taken a couple of weeks, but I think we are finally ready to launch the website! Yippie!

I'm going to post here a couple of times a week to keep everyone informed of upcoming stitch-n-bitches and updates to the site, sweater pattern, and the overall project.

We also have an email list with Yahoo! groups. It's a great way to stay in touch daily, and I encourage everyone to join! Just go to the Yahoo! groups website and join the redsweaters group.

Whee!
-nina