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Accountability Post
Feb. 10th, 2018 06:39 pmI’ve been trying to do something to resist the Trump administration every few days.
I have taken to knitting RESIST headbands / hatbands since the nice thing about hatbands is you can put them on a warm hat in the winter and a sunhat in the summer. I knit the bands out of this pretty dark green shiny bamboo-based yarn and then use duplicate stitch to put the lettering on in white.
This morning I took one to the listening tour that Joshua Williams, one of the Democratic candidates for Jimmy Duncan’s House seat, was having this morning. One of the organizers had commissioned a RESIST / PERSIST hatband (which was technically challenging since RESIST takes up 24 columns and PERSIST takes 29 columns, which meant I had to knit the full band with an odd number of stitches to be able to get the centers of the lettering exactly opposite each other.).
I turned the band over to its new owner, we fitted it on his hat and it fitted okay (and looked great if I do say so myself), I collected my money, used part of it to buy a large hot chocolate with whipped cream, and stayed to hear Joshua and listen to the dozen or so people who had turned out to meet him.
I like Joshua just fine and I think he’d make a good representative but I’ve also been impressed with the other Democratic candidate, Rachel Hoyos, and I’d like to hear some more from her before I make up my mind.
When that was over, I hurried back home, collected my purse and a water bottle, put on a rain jacket, and set off for Knoxville. I stopped at Loopville, where I used most of the rest of the hatband money to buy another ball of the shiny green yarn and a small skein of dark wool yarn for fixing my Ireland sweater (which has a tiny moth hole I am pretty sure I can fix with duplicate stitch) and some stitch markers which I think will solve my problem of not having enough good stitch markers (my old ones are mostly some plastic cheapies that are too big and change my gauge and also have a flat side that makes them really hard to pick up when I drop them on the floor). The new ones are steel so I can pick them up with the magnetic clasp on my watch if necessary and they are painted in bright colors so they will be easier to spot when they fall. There are 60 of them (!) so I shouldn’t run out anytime soon, and they come in a fairly heavy round cardboard box that should hold up to use as long as I keep it dry and don’t outright crush it.
I cast on stitches for another hatband while sitting on the yarn store couch (I want a band for my summer hat and one for my winter hat so I don’t have to keep swapping them out) and then it was time to set out for the true act of resistance for the day, so I got back in the car and drove to Bolanger Park, where I joined seven or so other members of Swing Left Knoxville to canvass one of the State Legislature districts that we think is flippable.
It was raining. Fortunately Charles brought his camper van and extended the awning on the sidewalk side so we had a dry spot to stand while discussing tactics and plotting our courses. A couple of people bowed out because of the rain, but I had come 45 minutes drive for this, so I was in. I partnered with Jenny, who is new, having come to her first (phone bank) event last Monday, and who was also determined to Do Something today, and we canvassed for about an hour, until we were thoroughly wet and my hand was stained blue from the effect of the rain on our inkjet printed handouts. (I carried them upside down between houses so the clipboard would protect them from the rain, but of course the wet clipboard made my hand wet and entropy took its course eventually.). We knocked on 15 doors I think, and got 5 or 6 pledges to vote and 2 people agreed to help with phone banking so we called it a win and went back to the van.
I think we were the last ones back. Charles was talking about going out for hot soup, which sounded great but I was cold and wet and went home instead, with the heater going full blast most of the way back. I changed out of my wet jeans (what was I thinking wearing jeans in the rain and also the synthetic long underwear top was great but I should have worn an extra layer and also I need to re-waterproof my raincoat before I go out again) and ate the maple/bacon/croissant thingies that Kip made for dinner and now I am mostly warm except my feet.
I hope you all had a good Saturday too.
I have taken to knitting RESIST headbands / hatbands since the nice thing about hatbands is you can put them on a warm hat in the winter and a sunhat in the summer. I knit the bands out of this pretty dark green shiny bamboo-based yarn and then use duplicate stitch to put the lettering on in white.
This morning I took one to the listening tour that Joshua Williams, one of the Democratic candidates for Jimmy Duncan’s House seat, was having this morning. One of the organizers had commissioned a RESIST / PERSIST hatband (which was technically challenging since RESIST takes up 24 columns and PERSIST takes 29 columns, which meant I had to knit the full band with an odd number of stitches to be able to get the centers of the lettering exactly opposite each other.).
I turned the band over to its new owner, we fitted it on his hat and it fitted okay (and looked great if I do say so myself), I collected my money, used part of it to buy a large hot chocolate with whipped cream, and stayed to hear Joshua and listen to the dozen or so people who had turned out to meet him.
I like Joshua just fine and I think he’d make a good representative but I’ve also been impressed with the other Democratic candidate, Rachel Hoyos, and I’d like to hear some more from her before I make up my mind.
When that was over, I hurried back home, collected my purse and a water bottle, put on a rain jacket, and set off for Knoxville. I stopped at Loopville, where I used most of the rest of the hatband money to buy another ball of the shiny green yarn and a small skein of dark wool yarn for fixing my Ireland sweater (which has a tiny moth hole I am pretty sure I can fix with duplicate stitch) and some stitch markers which I think will solve my problem of not having enough good stitch markers (my old ones are mostly some plastic cheapies that are too big and change my gauge and also have a flat side that makes them really hard to pick up when I drop them on the floor). The new ones are steel so I can pick them up with the magnetic clasp on my watch if necessary and they are painted in bright colors so they will be easier to spot when they fall. There are 60 of them (!) so I shouldn’t run out anytime soon, and they come in a fairly heavy round cardboard box that should hold up to use as long as I keep it dry and don’t outright crush it.
I cast on stitches for another hatband while sitting on the yarn store couch (I want a band for my summer hat and one for my winter hat so I don’t have to keep swapping them out) and then it was time to set out for the true act of resistance for the day, so I got back in the car and drove to Bolanger Park, where I joined seven or so other members of Swing Left Knoxville to canvass one of the State Legislature districts that we think is flippable.
It was raining. Fortunately Charles brought his camper van and extended the awning on the sidewalk side so we had a dry spot to stand while discussing tactics and plotting our courses. A couple of people bowed out because of the rain, but I had come 45 minutes drive for this, so I was in. I partnered with Jenny, who is new, having come to her first (phone bank) event last Monday, and who was also determined to Do Something today, and we canvassed for about an hour, until we were thoroughly wet and my hand was stained blue from the effect of the rain on our inkjet printed handouts. (I carried them upside down between houses so the clipboard would protect them from the rain, but of course the wet clipboard made my hand wet and entropy took its course eventually.). We knocked on 15 doors I think, and got 5 or 6 pledges to vote and 2 people agreed to help with phone banking so we called it a win and went back to the van.
I think we were the last ones back. Charles was talking about going out for hot soup, which sounded great but I was cold and wet and went home instead, with the heater going full blast most of the way back. I changed out of my wet jeans (what was I thinking wearing jeans in the rain and also the synthetic long underwear top was great but I should have worn an extra layer and also I need to re-waterproof my raincoat before I go out again) and ate the maple/bacon/croissant thingies that Kip made for dinner and now I am mostly warm except my feet.
I hope you all had a good Saturday too.
