WWW: Banned from the Library?; Ricefield Collective Project launch; Knitting and Music Festival

Supporting her family and her chosen lifestyle through craft.

Following up on a story from a few months ago: The Ricefield Collective website is up and running, and hand-knit hat and cowls are available for preorder now. These items are created by members of the Ifugao people, for the Phillipines.  The Ifugao people have traditionally farmed rice terraces, and their income is dropping. The families are being forced to move, away from their homeland.  The objective of the business is to sell their handwork worldwide, to enable the Ifugao people to continue to support themselves and live in the manner they chose.

A knitting group in Northumberland UK has been asked to move their meetings to another location, after others have complained about the noise they make when they meet in their local library, and because their needles could be ‘dangerous’. Although I can’t imagine that the knitters are causing any serious trouble, I do know that any stitch night event I attend does tend to be noisy… and it’s true that I might be tempted to stab someone who interfered with my knitting… .

Singing along while you knit…

Love it: British yarn company Toft Alpaca is hosting what is possibly the first ever Knitting and Music festival, at their farm in Dunchurch, Warwickshire. The event includes a a tour of the alpaca farm, a farm to yarn talk, barbecue and refreshments, and a musical performance by singer-songwriter Lisbee Stainton. Ms. Stainton encourages attendees to knit through her performance! More info and tickets here. Sounds like a great day out!

Not knitting, but adorable: a crocheter makes a new nest for baby birds. Crochet designer Janet Taylor turned a hat into a nest for baby goldcrest birds whose own nest fell out of a tree.

Great hats, and a good cause.

Woolly Wormhead, master hat designer , has published a collection of some of her favorite hat patterns. The book, Hatopia, is being sold to raise funds for the legal support of Mutonia, the artists’ community in which she lives, in Italy. The residents are under serious threat of eviction from the community, and funds are being raised to help fight for their right to remain on the land. You can read the background on the story here.