Red Sweaters

22-May-2007 Site Maintenance

2007-05-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I did a little site maintenance today. I updated the Runway (thanks to Lauren at the Curiosity Guild who counted up the sweaters and typed up the names for me), fixed a few broken links, and added some more things to the Promotions page.

If you happen to see the Red Sweaters project mentioned somewhere, please email me to let me know. Very few people actually contact me before they mention this project, and most of them describe the project incorrectly! Everyone is tired of hearing me say "this is not a memorial", but I feel compelled to do so everytime I see someone else write about Red Sweaters without talking to me, and they get it wrong.

Anyway - people are still dying, we still need more sweaters. Please keep sending them in. The sweater count is pretty accurate right now, I only have about 5 or 6 unopened packages and they are small packages. Not like the boxes I used to get in 2005 with as many as 80 in one box!

The Red Sweaters are going to leave CCSF in September and will need a home after that. If you have space available, please let me know. The sweaters can travel outside of California, and do not have to be exhibited in a tree.

Thanks
-nina

Red Sweaters still in action - CCSF, photo shoot, book appearance

2007-02-21T20:08:00.000-08:00

The Red Sweaters are currently on display at City College of San Francisco. Here are some details about the exhibit from the curator, Katherine Connell:

The sweaters are up and getting lots of attention. They are part of the
exhibition "Yarns of Rebellion, Women Needling History." We've installed them
in a 5 foot high case, in piles, with strings of sweaters coming off the top
and appearing to pour into the ajoining case. The sheer amount of stacked,
knitted red is powerful. Thank you so much for lending us the project. The
exhibition is in the second floor atrium of the Rosenberg Library. It is
accessible M-F, 7:30 am-8:45 pm, F 7:30-4:45, Saturday 9-4:45, Closed on
Sunday. The show is running from Feb'07 - May'07 (possibly extended til Sept'07).

Also, the sweaters were recently part of a photoshoot by a local photographer, Claudia Goetzelmann, who is doing her own project of a similar vein. She was inspired by the widows of the dead American soliders, so she is doing a group of photos of wedding gowns with the red sweaters in the background to call attention to some of the people who are directly affected by the war, but may not be at the forefront of our minds. No news yet when or where these photos will be on display, but I'll post again when I know.

I recently received an email from someone writing a book about Knit-a-longs, and the Red Sweaters project may be featured in there.

I am still receiving sweaters, but have no time to open the packages and count them up and update the website. I'm looking at some vacation time in April, so maybe then...

-nina

Representing Iraqis

2005-04-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

I have been asked to represent the Iraqi death toll in this project. Here is a relatively short explanation about why we are not currently incorporating that figure into Red Sweaters - you can find the long explanation in our Yahoo group.

1) While many people choose to make sweaters to honor the soldiers, that is not the main focus of this project. This project is meant to encourage thought about war in general, current events, and politics. It is not intended to be a memorial. Therefore, I do not feel that I have dishonored or down played the Iraqi role in the war because the project is not about the war, it was inspired by the war. I chose the number of American deaths as a goal for this project because it is an important number directly relating to an important current event - and it is a goal I knew I could achieve. It is the inspiration for the piece, and that particular number inspires people to join the project.

2) It would take at least a year to accumulate enough sweaters to represent every Iraqi casualty - the number is currently well over 20,000 and climbing. I'd like to finish this project sooner than that. I will consider adding sweaters for Iraqis later on, after we have reached our goal of (currently) 1547 sweaters. I just don't want to get too far ahead of myself at this early stage in the project. We'll meet our first goal, then talk about the next.

I strongly encourage you to participate for whatever reason moves you. If you want to acknolwedge, honor, or memorialize a soldier - that is great. Do so knowing that your contribution will be joined with others who are knitting for other reasons, with the common goal of spreading awareness.

-nina

Promotional Tools

2005-04-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

I've added a new section to the site - Promotion.

In this new section, you will find 3 different promotional tools and directions on how to use them. These tools are also available through the Red Sweaters Yahoo! Group without instructions.

1) Business cards
2) Flyer with tear off URLs - post on public bulletin boards in coffee shops, grocery stores, book stores, etc.
3) Pattern flyer - to hand out to other knitters - includes some project info and the Basic Hand-Knit Red Sweaters pattern.

Please use these tools to help us spread the word about this project!
Thanks
-nina

News Article Addy

2005-03-30T09:34:00.000-08:00

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

Special Thanks

2005-12-19T21:10:00.000-08:00

Special thanks to the 4th grade students at Highline Elementary School in Aurora, CO for participating in this project!

Teacher Bruce Lilly and a parent volunteer Sheila Sanchez taught the children how to crochet, then helped them to make a red sweater. Lilly writes, "I have a classroom
full of future crochet lovers thanks to this project. They also have a more personal understanding of the casualties in Iraq."

Thanks guys!
-nina

KnitNet Article

2005-05-18T15:20:00.000-07:00

KnitNet, an online knitting magazine (www.knitnet.com), published an article about Red Sweaters in their Spring'05 Edition. You do not have to be a member to read the article - just follow this link, or click on the "new or just visiting" button off their main page to see a sample!
The article is in the "Notes in the margin" section, about halfway down the page. Enjoy! And thank you, Sharon Airhart, for the article.

Coming soon - an article (or blurb) in a major knitting magazine!! (ever hear of Vogue Knitting?!)
-nina

Help with Machine Knit Pattern

2005-04-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

Please email me if you are waiting for the Machine Knit version of the Red Sweater pattern and you have a Chunky knitting machine.

I realized that writing the pattern for the machine knit Red Sweater on my mid-guage machine won't work because you really need to use a chunky machine with Red Heart yarn, and my pattern on the mid-guage will be different than what you need for the chunky.

I can advise the techniques, but I need someone to help me figure out the guage - how many rows/stitches to achieve the proper size.

Can anyone help?
-nina

Mention in "Family Circle Easy Crochet "

2005-08-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce a new article about the Red Sweaters project! You can find it in "Family Circle - Easy Crochet" magazine. (Not to be confused with "Family Circle - Easy Knitting (and crochet)".

However, there is one line in the short article that I want to clarify, as it isn't quite correct.
"But Rosenberg found her inspiration: mini red knitted and crocheted sweaters, meant to represent the human form and honor each American soldier who has given his or her life in Iraq."

It is misleading to say that the sweaters "honor each American soldier who has given his or her life in Iraq" because it makes the project sound like a memorial and as though honoring the soldiers is the only purpose for the sweaters.

While the sweaters do represent lives lost, this project as a whole is not a memorial or a protest. My main purposes for this project are to spread public awareness, encourage thought, and inspire discussions - not to memorialize the deaths - just to draw attention to them.

Each volunteer who submits a sweater has their own personal reason for doing so. Some knit in honor of soldiers, some to protest the war, others to show support for the soldiers who are still fighting. The article limits the meaning and purpose of the project by saying only that the sweaters honor the soldiers who sacrificed their lives.

I welcome all volunteers, for whatever reason you choose to participate (including to honor soldiers or protest the war), as long as you know and understand that this project as a whole is not a memorial or protest.

Thanks for your understanding and contributions!
and for the article!
-nina

3 weeks til showtime

2005-12-11T11:59:00.000-08:00

Hi,

I updated the sweater count today. We still need just over 200 sweaters to tie today's number of American casualties.

Please send in the sweaters that you have complete. I am going to hang as many as I have on New Years Eve and New Years Day, and need all the sweaters I can get between now and then.

I also need help getting the sweaters ready for display. If you are in the bay area and can help, please email me! All you have to do is tie some knots :) But I have a special way of tieing them, so no need to send in your sweaters pre-tied together.

Thanks for your contributions!
-nina

Quiet Time

2005-04-25T00:24:00.000-07:00

I have a day job, and we are very busy right now. I don't have as much time to update the website or reply to emails as I'd like. Please, don't take it personally. I'll reply to everyone as soon as I can. That includes email replys, and replys to the notes you enclose with your submissions (I love those notes!).

Thanks to everyone who has submitted sweaters so far. You're all helping to make this project something really special, way beyond what I ever imagined.

This blog and the yahoo group will be pretty quiet for the next 2 weeks (well, I won't be posting much, anyway, who knows about the other 104 people on the list :)).
Break the silence with your needles!
-nina

Our First Public Appearance

2005-03-29T18:51:00.000-08:00

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.

I took some time off

2006-01-17T22:27:00.000-08:00

After working on this project for 10 months, I took a little break after we hung more than half of the sweaters.

I still plan on hanging the remaining 600 or so, and I still plan on adding more as the death toll climbs.

Just wanted to let you all know that the project isn't over, I'm just taking a breather...

Please continue to send sweaters, and shoot me an email if you'd like to help prepare sweaters for the tree. It will probably be the middle or end of February when we hang the rest of the sweaters.

-nina

Size Matters

2005-05-23T22:33:00.000-07:00

Many of you are getting very creative with your sweaters! I love to see the variety.

Remember that when you use a decorative stitch, the ratio of rows/sts has to change to keep the sweater the right size. For instance, if you knit in garter stitch (knit each row), and you follow the basic pattern, your sweater will turn out short and wide. To correct this, experiment with adding a few extra rows (to increase length) or using fewer stitches (to reduce width).

Remember that the sweaters should be 3" wide, 3.5" long, with sleeves 3" long x 1" tall.

Keep 'em comin'!
-nina

Stats Dec-30

2005-12-30T21:55:00.000-08:00

For those of you who like statistics:

I estimate that 250 people contributed sweaters for this project.

I received approx. 310 packages from 36 different states and 2 countries outside the US.
I received no packages from 15 states.

California sent the most packages, approx. 80.
New York sent the second most packages, approx. 56.
Massachusets sent the third most packages, approx. 24.
The remaining 33 states sent less than 12 packages each.

I received an average of 222 sweaters per month for 10 months.
I received the most sweaters, 329, in December and the fewest, 24, in March.

Let me know if there are other stats that interest you.
-nina

Yarn Brands

2005-04-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

Some people have asked if they can use different brands of 100% acrylic yarn for their Red Sweater. While I hate to turn away any contribution (as each is made with the same time, care, and consideration), I need to stick to my guns on this issue and only accept Red Heart yarn or yarn that is so similar to Red Heart that you can't tell the difference.

I will consider the use of other yarns, but first I would need to see it, so:

1) If you want to use a different brand, first send me a swatch or small sample of the yarn. I will compare it to the Red Heart yarn, and if the texture/quality of yarn is very similar to Red Heart, I'll approve it.

2) If I do not approve your yarn, I'll mail you some Red Heart.

If you'd like more details about this issue, please read the discussion in our Yahoo group.

Thanks to all who helped me come to this decision.

Yes! Seamless!

2005-04-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

I've uploaded the pattern for the SEAMLESS Red Sweater. You can find it in the "Pattern" section.

It requires the following skills (click on the links to be taken to a site that explains the technique):

1) Knitting in the round with DPNs,
2) 3 needle bind off
3) picking up stitches.

I hope the pattern is easy to follow. Have fun! no more sewing! yay!
-nina

wow wow wow

2005-06-15T22:42:00.000-07:00

I finally counted the last few weeks of sweaters - WOW - 259!! that brings our current total to 750... but 23 more soldiers died today which makes our goal farther off.

But anyway, the sweaters are looking great! Good sizes, good colors, good yarn, good tails, good variations in textures... I'm really impressed with this lot! You guys are doing a really good job.

Just for fun, I took some pictures of the mess that is my living room. We're swimming in red sweaters. (right click on the image and select "view image" to enlarge...)

(above photo) counted, documented, and photoed - I keep all of the packaging and letters you send...

(above photo) counted, documented, waiting to be photoed

My cat, GG, really likes to help me sort the sweaters. She really... gets into.. it. haha?

:)
-nina

Big Day Tomorrow!

2005-12-28T19:16:00.000-08:00

We reached our goal yesterday. We now have as many sweaters (plus a few more) than the current number of American casualties from the Iraq War.

Tomorrow we will hang about 1500 sweaters in the tree. That is the number of casualties there were when this project started back in March. The remaining 600+ will join the installation as they are ready. I will continue to add sweaters until the total number is in the tree, and after that, as more Americans die in the war.

I'll be taking pictures all day of the installation process, and the final out come. Check back here for the link to the Installation Gallery.

Please continue to send in sweaters. We have reached our goal, but the casualty number continues to rise, and I am not going to display every single sweater that I receive. Please make sure you are using Red Heart Super Saver Medium Weight yarn, preferably in Cherry Red color, to guarantee that your sweater will hang in the tree.

Special thanks to Alice, Catherine, and Lisa for contributing so much time darning and tying sweaters together in preparation for the display!

Hope to see some of you at the installation tomorrow. Bring a crochet hook and a scissors and you can help prepare more sweaters for display :)
-nina

Life gets in the way

2005-06-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

When I started this project, I told a friend of mine that I wanted to photograph every single sweater I received. He said to me "That will not scale". Now he is saying to me "so, when are you going to give up on taking pictures of each sweater?"

Well, I have about 200 sweaters waiting to be tallied and photographed, so it is very tempting. But I do still think it is important to photo document each sweater - it's as close as we'll get to having pictures of the soldiers.

So I guess I'm writing this note to let you know that I may be slow in processing all of the sweaters, but eventually I will catch up. Life keeps on getting in the way, but I still have every intention of seeing this project through according to my original vision.

I haven't done any real marketing of this project in a long time, but the sweaters continue to roll in. So as long as I continue to receive about 50 sweaters a week, I don't feel a need to do a lot of advertising. The Yahoo group has gotten very quiet this past month, but I think that's because everyone is busy making sweaters :)

So, keep them coming, and email me if you have any questions.
-nina

Seamless oops!

2005-04-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

Someone was kind enough to point out that I had forgotten to include the directions for the back body on the seamless pattern. Sorry about that! I've corrected the pattern. The location of the file and the filename are the same as before.
-nina

........Tails..........

2005-05-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

After looking at over 300 different sweaters, I am still amazed at some of the creative things you guys are doing. And I don't mean experimental stitching - I mean the ways you all interpret the directions - specifically, the sleeve tails.

I have seen tails range in size from 1/4" to 3 feet long. I have seen tails hanging from the top or bottom of the sleeve, from shoulders, neck, and bottom. I have seen some with no tails, some with as many as 8 tails. Some tails neatly gathered into little bunches, some wrapped around the body 10 times, some secured with bag ties, others tangled loosely into a web within the envelope. One sweater has a very cute 1" loop at one end, and no tail at the other.

I know that no matter how many times, no matter how clearly I explain, I will continue to see this variety. And that's OK. It's all part of working on a project of this scale. But I'll explain the tail in detail anyway, for those of you who are curious :)

The long tail at the end of the sleeves will allow me to tie the sweaters together so they can be easily suspended in the tree. Imagine this: 4 sweaters lay on the table next to each other. Take the tail from sweater 1 and pass it through the sleeve and out the neck hole of sweater 2. Take the tail from sweater 3 and pass it through the other sleeve and out the neck hole of sweater 2. Tie sweater 1 and 3 together. Then take the tail of sweater 2 and pass it through the sleeve and neck hole of sweater 3, then tie sweater 2 to sweater 4 inside sweater 3. Continue this procedure for as many sweaters as you have, continuing to tie the odd sweaters together inside the even sweaters, and even sweaters together inside the odd sweaters. This will create a chain, or garland, that can drape or wrap or climb around the tree.

The ideal tail will be approximately 1 foot long (so there is enough room to pass the tail through the neighboring sweater and tie a knot), and it will emerge from the sweater at the TOP of the sleeve opening. That means that after you finish sewing your side seam, you need to weave the tail along the outside edge of the sleeve opening until it reaches the top of the sleeve - then secure it in place with a knot. The sweater will not hang correctly if the tail starts at the bottom of the sleeve.

I hope this explanation helps. If not, don't worry about it. I'll fix your sweater when it gets here :)
-nina

Now "Hand Made"

2005-03-29T20:00:00.000-08:00

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

Sweaters are up!

2005-12-29T13:10:00.000-08:00

Today we hung 1500 red sweaters in the tree. That is the number of American casualties from the Iraq War when this project began in Feb/March. I will continue to add sweaters to the tree until the number of sweaters is equal to the current number of casualties.

Click on the image below to see a gallery of images of the installation, or go to www.redsweaters.org/gallery

-nina

FAQ

2005-12-29T21:58:00.000-08:00

There are 2 questions that I hear most often about this project.

1) Why are you only representing the American Military Casualties? What about all of the Iraqi military and civilians?

A: As I explain in the "About" section of the website, I had originally intended to represent all deaths associated with the Iraq war. However, I can not fit that many sweaters in my tree. Instead, I chose one number that is symbolic and feasible for the scale of this project. I encourage others to carry on the project, and invite anyone to coordinate the effort to knit some 30,000 sweaters to represent the entire casualty count.

2) Why not spend your time doing something more worthwhile, like knitting sweaters for needy children in war-torn Iraq?

A: There are many volunteer organizations currently knitting sweaters, afghans, hats, socks, etc for needy people. Volunteers who contribute to those efforts are motivated by a desire to help others. My motivation for this art project was different.

My motivation for Red Sweaters was to inspire other people to think and reflect about how this war is affecting their life. This project may, for example, inspire hundreds of people to volunteer to knit those sweaters, afghans, hats, and socks. People who otherwise would not have thought to do so. It may inspire others to join rallies or listen to the news, or bike to work instead of drive, or put a "support our troops" magnet on their car, or talk to their children about war.

I feel that the donations and actions I could make on my own are nothing compared to the donations and actions from hundreds of inspired people.
-nina