Fringe Benefits: Subversion in Weaving & Fibers

redesigning the american flag including territories

Weaving is a very calming and meditative process that helps relieve the monkey mind of its chatter.  After a long day at school, I’ve found this to be soothing.  Starting on a piece of tag board, I wrapped the yarns into the notches for the warp.  Then I began with the colors of the weft.  I added 55 pink stitches for symbols of the 50 states and the 5 territories.  You know the ones: Guam, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.  These people pay taxes and might get a “representative” in the House that  can’t vote for laws, just observe.  There are about 4 million people who can’t vote in the presidential election. John Oliver explains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=20&v=CesHr99ezWE.

I left the fringe long on the bottom and wanted it to look like it was unraveling so I didn’t tie the sides.  America is a work in progress…1

FInal piece

Final piece: America and the Fringes

Showing the warp

Showing the warp

In process

In process

 

 

 

 

 

other weaving: the ripple effect

I started this piece after the one above after thinking about small changes we make in our everyday lives can become waves through other people and collective events.

The Ripple Effect

The Ripple Effect (hung on painted wooden dowel)

knitting a nest out of t-shirt Yarn on hand

I enjoy making t-shirt yarn as an avid knitter who likes to experiment with different materials. For this nest, I cut up three t-shirts that were somewhat old and the colors faded. Then, I knitted it on circular needles for chunky yarn, leaving a hole open at the bottom.

I left this nest of America unfinished on purpose, as things are always unraveling and being rebuilt in this country and the comfort one can find here shifts to become discomfort in a continual process.  I added two Dixon Ticonderoga pencils at the ends that are unsharpened, symbolizing the muteness of many people in our society without a voice or education.  These pencils are personally significant to me since Fort Ticonderoga fell exactly 200 years before, on the day I was born.  I’m a history buff.

FInished piece: Unravelry

FInished piece: Unravelry/Forgotten domocile

Knitting it up

Knitting it up

 

In progress

In progress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 Muriel, M. (2016, November 1). Millions of Americans can’t vote for president because of where they live. PRI. Retrieved from https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-11-01/millions-americans-cant-vote-president-because-where-they-live.