What does the Wine Country Shawlette have to do with Planned Parenthood OR the ACLU? I’m donating all proceeds from its sale to these organizations as a response to the truly horrifying things going on in our country right now. Much of the following is taken from my newsletter, from which I’ve had an amazing response so far. (If you’d like to get my newsletter, here’s a sign-up link.)
When you have a small biz, whether it’s an actual bricks-and-mortar storefront or a mostly-downloadable-goods shop like mine, it can be difficult to come out for or against something that’s potentially controversial. You feel like you don’t want to alienate part of your customer base, because small business ownership is a hard-knock life and not for the faint of heart, fiscally-speaking. But basic human rights are not controversial, and the time to do something has never been more important.
In the not-too-distant past, Lorajean from Knitted Wit started sharing photos on her Instagram of the most amazing colorways. They were created as a colorful and happy counter to the sexism that seemed to be part and parcel of one of the presidential candidates. Her message and colorplay were just perfect. She gave me a skein of her magical Pixie Plied in The Vagenda, and my equally magical test knitter, Pati, whipped up one of my oldest patterns, Wine Country Shawlette, in a hot minute.
It seemed almost meant to be that this reworking of an older pattern in a decidedly feminist colorway coincided with my desire for action, so I am using this pattern to do something small.
I’m going to donate 100% of the proceeds of the Wine Country Shawlette to two organizations whose purpose is to counteract racism, zenophobia, and anti-women policies: the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. As an added bonus, the pattern is a blast to make and one that you can easily work on while making calls to your congresspeople or taking public transport downtown to a protest.