Letters
2017: Year of the Handknit Hat
Dear Ann,
Life is full of surprises. Yesterday morning (actually afternoon), after sleeping the sleep of the just or perhaps just the exhausted, I opened the door of my apartment to get the Sunday New York Times off the doormat. I may have shrieked when I saw it.
A mass of pink knitted hats on the front page, in a story about the Women’s March on Washington and the sister marches held nationally and around the world on January 21. (Scroll to get to the part about the hats.)
Knitting. On the front page of the Times. Part of the story.
Women do not all agree about the marches. And women who marched do not agree on all issues, including whether knitting and wearing pink hats with cat ears was a good idea.
Apart from the politics, it’s meaningful to me that the act of knitting, which so many of us do every day in obscurity, played a part in a major news story. The visual history of these events is indelibly marked by the creative energy of our craft. The work of our hands was on the national stage on an important day.
As a knitter who made a pile of hats, I was hoping that they wouldn’t get lost in the crowd, that all the work of all those knitters and crocheters would not be diluted or fail to make its visual impact. On Instagram, and at my local yarn store in recent weeks, it felt like knitters and crocheters were making a lot of hats. Were we really, though?
(Unattributed Internet photo.)
The hats did not get lost. At the Washington march, it was moving to see so many handmade hats, a coral sea of all the shades of pink. Families and friend groups could be distinguished by hats that were not identical but obviously were related, whether through a stitch pattern or a distinctive handpainted yarn. There were Tunisian crochet families and basketweave families, and the occasional plush-fleece sewn-hat family. Fun fur yarns that had languished in Rubbermaid bins for decades suddenly found themselves front and center. The hats did not match, by any means. They were improvised, grass-roots expression.
It was also a day for signs.
(Instagram photo by @kellymosheroutdoors via @hrhjbc.)
Everybody is not a knitter.
Yet.
Time to get to work.
Love,
Kay
Just writing this in the airport, on my way home from DC, after participating in the March.
I loved every minute of it. The breadth and scope of Democracy in action was awesome, inspiring, soul-filling. And one of the loveliest surprises was the vast sea of pink hats.
I made 18, six were knit, and the other 12 were sewn from fleece a day before I left. My hats marched in San Francisco, Napa Valley, Los Angeles, New York, and on the heads of my group in DC.
When I knit the first ones, I told my husband we would see a few here and there. But, they were EVERYWHERE! Those hats extended the boundaries of the March from the Mall, to all over DC, and for that matter, all over the world.
When I wore my hat on the street in the days following, complete strangers would smile warmly and give me a thumbs up. And now, those hats will be forever synonomous with the power of speaking up for human rights. Heartfelt thanks to the gals who came up with the idea. And deepest congrats to all of us who marched. We made history.
XOClare
Yes! I knew I was knitting and so were several others. I used yarn that had been my mom’s and my aunt’s so they became part of the march too. There were anecdotes about yarn stores running out of pink. I sent hats off to D.C. and more to Wisconsin, but had no idea whether there would really be enough pink hats to make a bold showing.
Oh! How wonderful to see it all!! I was in Boston with my husband (also wearing a pink hat), my sister, my daughter and her fiancée, all pink hatted, along with so many thousands and thousands more.
I hope their conspiracy theories won’t catch on, but deplorable people are already questioning the origin of the hats, i.e., that they were mass-produced outside the USA, paid for by George Soros, whatever. https://twitter.com/MichaelCohen212/status/823248828103061504 The power of knitters and sewists is real. I only made one and proudly wore it in DC.
Because all of Donald’s and Ivanka’s clothes are made in the US o.0
CHALLENGE TO ALL OF US – Take all of this energy and make a real difference. Our local shelters for the homeless need volunteers. Think of the difference we could make in these people’s lives if we gave our help at our local shelter and $$. Please donate food and good used clothing which is so very much needed especially at this time of year.
This is not just about marches but utilizing our efforts on the ground to make the lives better for those that not only can’t afford that cup of coffee or lovely skein of yarn but don’t even have their own bed to sleep in.
Let’s not deteriorate into right and left and name calling. Perhaps we’ve talked enough about what we did. Now it’s time to do something positive for those less fortunate. Can you imagine the results?
ARE YOU IN?
I supported the Pussyhat campaign and I supported of the women’s rights issues and social just justice issues of the women’s March platform I also helped organize a small effort to gift hats, baby blankets and animal backpacks to refugee children in hopes of putting a smile on their little faces. We were told by more than a few women to make a “real” difference and use our time for a more worthy cause. Fortunately, others disagreed, including several incarcerated women who used their skills to make some of the most lovely and creative baby blankets and purses i have ever seen. We were able to send more than 160 hand knitted and crocheted items to refugee children and their moms. Perhaps assuming the many women & men who put their time and love into this project don’t also participate in many charitable endeavors that move them and telling them instead to make a “real”difference doesn’t seem patronizing to you?
Finally, I read a comment here that did not make my blood boil!! You are sooo right!! All those women who knit 20 silly hats with vulgar name, but did not bother to knit even one to donate to a local shelter! Who paid hundreds of dollars to come to DC to complain about the democratic election result, but spared nothing to help real women and children in local homeless shelters. Who feel self righteous and enlightened while applauding the old whore who dreams about “blowing up the White House”, while grabbing her crouch…but never ever raised their voice in defense of horrendous treatment of women in countries with sharia law, supported by one of the even organizers… To shame!!! We, women are better than this!!
Thank you, Gin…! I believe in making my little bit of the world a better place, one person at a time.
While we’re knitting, we could also knit hats and mittens for people in the shelters who need them.
Kudos to you, Gin…yours is the first voice of reason that I have heard throughout this whole escapade…people forget..WE HAVE RIGHTS…bought and paid for by the lives of men and women who were doing the work of our Nation…not parading about in “pussy hats”…..
I have no words for this!!!
me either;) we certainly rock! outta my djt!
You do now. They’re called “alternative facts”, thanks to Kellyanne Conway.
Did you know that there is a vintage kid’s Golden Book entitled “Alternative Facts”? Someone sent it around FB yesterday! Whoa, can’t make this stuff up, folks. 😉
Bingo.
Alternative facts, indeed. Like the Trump/Spicer statement that his Inaugural had the biggest showing ever. Those of us in DC know that for the lie it is.
Lies, on Day One. Sad!
I didn’t knit a hat (its mid summer here in Oz) or get to a march, but this is awesome and I’m so proud of knitters everywhere!!
I know there was some controversy about those hats, and many questioned whether we should be making them, but the image of all that pink is so powerful.
By final count I think I made 30 hats. I was knitting right up until we started to move down Constitution Avenue in Washington DC. Gave away the final unblocked hat to a girl in her teens. Moments later, someone came by and gave a hat to her mother. These marches have given me hope that we WILL organize against legislation that harms our planet and our fellow humans. Looks like that battle will be health care first.
I love that as a card-carrying Knitter, you had to note that the hat was unblocked. Right on!
I did not march but knitted two last minute hat’s when asked by non-knitter co-workers to knit them a hat. My cute hat’s were part of the march in Nashville.
I made only one hat and mailed it to Reston, Virginia, but it gave me a connection to those who marched. I’m glad I could take part.
Live this!! Thought of you all with every pink hat I saw and that was a lot. Way to go knitters!
Love ❤️ not live!
Actually, you were right; “live this” is what it will take to keep the momentum rolling!
Love this. Beautiful connection between the act of creating something small and tangible with the act of creating unity and collective power as women.
I live in Canada. In solidarity and dismay, I made two hats to send to a friend in Maine who was going to the Washington March. She already had made her own, but promised to find someone to gift them to. Then I discovered that there was a March in our provincial capital, Fredericton. In the end I couldn’t go, because my husband took sick. But I was thrilled by the sisterhood I witnessed around the world. And even happier to see that this is a beginning of an international movement. The new 10 Things to Do in 100 Days is quite properly focused in the US. But I note that there is something similar stirring here. That knitting was a unifying factor in all this is just great. But, at 68. echo a sign I saw: “I can’t believe I am having to protest this f$&@ing shit AGAIN!!!”
We had democratic election and 60 million people, including 30 million women voted for president Trump. So I think we will somehow manage our country’s politics by ourselves, without sanctimonious lectures from Canada, thank you very much. Maybe you should take care of your own country first. Last I’ve heard you have a leader who cried rivers when bloody Dictator Fidel Castro dies. Did you marched then?
Inna, try a little sugar in your next cup of coffee, it may help. Have a good day!
The sign………So true, protesting this stuff all over again since the 60’s and 70’s.
Amen encore, Sister! And I love that so many of my American family joined the marches in many places!!
Amen to that, sister!
Amen, indeed!
I made 14. Two were knit, then I had to switch to crochet- the need for speed! Some went to D.C. and some stayed in St. Paul, where 100,000 people turned out. I too wondered, would our hats have an impact? But the Pussyhat Project was a roaring success. And now we must keep working.
I have to admit to not being sure that those hats were a good idea – the colour and the focus on that particular issue when there were so many to choose from – but they certainly made a hugely powerful statement. A staggering contrast to the Inauguration.
Kay— We were so close. I was on Independence Ave. in front of the Federal Building too. We were in front of the Westboro Baptist Church display (ridiculous).
I loved making the hats. I sewed 3 and knit 3. I had 2 extra that I passed off to strangers who needed it.
The hats were powerful! I have never see so much handicrafts on display. Hopefully, people who picked up the needles will keep knitting hats (and keep fighting)
Let me know if you want the Rosie the Riveter in the pussyhat picture that I put up on IG.
*I* want to see Rosie the Riveter in a pussyhat! Will you please post a link here?
Absolutely! I put some of my favorite signs on my blog as well…
http://louhaney.blogspot.com/2017/01/womens-march-on-washington.html
OMG, I love that!! I would buy a print of that.
I also wondered if the hats would just be a quaint footnote to the day. But no! They were front and center and impossible to ignore. What a great day for knitting, knitters and women everywhere!
I knit a hat for myself and one for my niece, who shares my politics. I fed ex’d it to her, knowing that she likely would not march because she was very pregnant and due any day – but she could wear it in solidarity. She had my great-nephew on MLK Day, and posted a picture of him on March Day wearing the hat, with the title “future feminist”. I cried.
I knit pink hats and sent them to my son in NJ for his family to wear in DC. He reported that at a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike (not normally a very warm, fuzzy place!) they instantly bonded with other pink hat wearers. I think the ease with which we recognized each other was wonderful.
Here in Concord, I, a solo marcher, (11 members of the family were in DC, leaving Gram home alone to be the local representative) walked into a restaurant and immediately was welcomed…..people squeezed over to allow me to join the group. It was amazing to be included, just because my pink hat made me recognizable as “one of us!”
I knit one of THOSE Hats and when my daughter called me and shouted “look at all the pink hats!!!!!”,I was filled with joy!
Yes time to get back to work,I am not done!❤
The visual impact of all these knitted hats has been exciting—what a great idea it was! When I wear it on the street I get comments. When I wore it running I got beeped at, and someone flashed me a V sign (peace? victory? vagina?). The hat even played an important role in SNL’s opening Putin \skit last Saturday—be sure to check it out!
I didn’t knit a hat but I loved seeing them for all of the reasons you list here. A lady on metro gave one of her seem fleece hats to my friend saying it was a repurposed Cinderella blanket. Best symbolism ever.
This is fantastic!
I LOVE this!!
We were there too in that beautiful sea of pink. The hats I knitted for ny two grown daughters and myself included three stripes of green, white, and violet to pay homage to the suffragettes. They got us the vote and now we can use it.
yes! I loved wearing my hat and it was amazing to see all the hats in every shape and variety.
and yes, we need to keep the momentum going. Check out the Women’s March site for the “10 actions to do in the first hundred days.” website here: https://www.womensmarch.com/100/
Thank you Kay for putting our thoughts into words. It was a good tired. We were all glad – and proud that we went and were heard.
The hats are brilliant for so many reasons, including that photos from Saturday can never be used as Alternative Facts for any other event.
Oh, yes! I hadn’t thought of that! Another layer of brilliance!
One seriously huge benefit I didn’t foresee (who could have imagined?) was that the DC hats would prevent aerial photographs from Saturday (very obviously sea-of-pink!) from being used as an Alternative Fact “proof” of Friday’s imaginary record-breaking Inauguration attendance. Not that anyone in a position of authority would ever do such a thing. Period.
What a great point!
As we got to D.C. on Friday, we began seeing the hats. One, two, three. They were like a secret handshake, a way of signifying common purpose. Then Saturday! But perhaps my favorite sight was that of a young girl, curled up and asleep in a restaurant with her hat as a pillow. One more note: a friend who is educated in these matters made a good observation: the pussy hat has reclaimed the color pink as a color of power.
Be sure to see the SNL starting video on youtube from Saturday (with “Putin”). A pink hat is hilariously there!
Oh how I loved all of this! I wish I could have gone but I stood right there with you. The pink hats were the perfect thing, the icing on the “cupcakes” ( pun intended) those pink heads showing a sea of pink to camera … just added to this group of women standing together yet again to fight for ourselves.
I’ll be happy when I can read favorite blogs without the assault of politics.
Let’s all count our blessings.
After reading your comment, I went back and re-read the post. It is all about knitting, and Kay noted that not everyone agreed on the hats, the need for them, and the reason behind them. This time knitting was “part of the story,” and the story was about politics.
Agree Kimber
With you, Kimber! I often look to this blog as a welcome respite from such matters. Looks like it’s been assaulted. So disappointed.
I share your sentiments Kimbers61.
Kimber,
Fear not, we are not turning into a politics blog after all these years. Sometimes life and knitting intersect, and the knitting angle to this story was too strong to ignore. All knitters are welcome here. That is a core value.
Kay, I just saw your reply, after I had commented. (Note to self: scroll first, then type.) You said it much better than I did! Thank you.
I think that the knitting angle is a very beautiful one. It was even represented on SNL! My current disability keeps me from the MDK walk in the park, let alone a huge march, but knitting a hat for a co-worker who would march was well within my capability. It also calls to mind how our colony ladies used their knitting in the revolutionary war to smuggle messages wrapped in balls of yarn. So knitters contributed to our freedom early on.
F eeling rather lonely in my knitting these days, however. My 2 Saturday/month knitting group has stopped formal meetings, and will only meet infrequently in the park when the weather gets better. So, it’s even more sweet for me to have this MDK connection with all of you.
I do not consider the demanding and maintaining of the right to equal treatment and respect and support as “political”. I do not believe that making sure that basic human and civil rights are held in place negates admitting to other blessings. I have excellent health care through work and I count that as a blessing, but I demand that my sister who does not have that blessing is provided the medical attention she needs when she needs it. I make a salary that is comparable to my male colleagues because my work place has made every effort to equalize gender imbalances, but I demand that my sister who does the identical work as that man in the identical cubicle next to her be reimbursed for her labor with the identical compensation. I have plenty of heat and clean water and good food (I admit it, too much of the latter), but I require of us, as moral human beings, that my sister, and your sister, and their children, and their families, do not find themselves hungry, cold and abandoned on the streets.
This is not politics. This is humanity loving humanity.
Kimbers61: I do understand that feeling, and I am grateful every single day for the blessings in my life. For 4 yrs I avoided writing specifically about politics on my own blog. But after 8 Nov, I found I couldn’t write *anything* with any honesty if I didn’t first write about the impact of the election on my heart. I will be happy when I no longer feel assaulted *by* politics. Meanwhile, isn’t it pretty wonderful that we can be kind to one another even when we disagree? I think that’s what makes MKD one of my favorite blogs.
Kimber, we still have freedom of speech. Thank you for your input. I also am thankful to live in a country where we can celebrate our differences, celebrate that we are not clones of eachother and still know that deep down inside we are all human and all wish to be accepted for who we are, as we are. I think for many, that is what the march was all about. Even the pussyhats were not identical, but lovely expressions of the maker’s individulaity. Love to you, Kimber, and love to all the the women who marched and wore their lovely hats.
You are living in a time when politics is assaulting you.
Yes.
Amen Amy!
Nailed it, Amy.
Thank you, Amy! This is what democracy looks like.
+1 to Amy!
Wasn’t it awesome! I too, made Pussyhats: 4 for three generations of New York – marching friends, one for the friend I marched in New York with, and one for myself. My daughter, who went to D.C. for the March and to play at a protest concert benefiting Planned Parenthood, had pooh-poohed the significance of the hats (even when I sent her your shot of Patti Smith, with whom she’s performed, wearing one). But as I got to Grand Central, I got a text and photo from my daughter with the words everyone likes to hear: “You were right!”
Have to confess to feeling somewhat let down yesterday after the exhilaration of the March. But the bonding that was experienced on Saturday has to be preserved and used to fight this administration, its policies, and its alternative facts.
And from a purely knitterly point of view, I used up all the pink Jaeger Luxury Tweed that never worked as the sweater it was intended to be. You gotta love a stash busting Women’s movement!
I struggled with the anxiety spiral of wanting to participate but being very afraid of crowds (even nice crowds!) of people. Knitting hats gave me a way to support marchers, both friends and strangers. I ended up mailing one to Reston, three to a friend from Ohio who travelled to DC and gave the extras to ladies she shared a cab with, and my last three to friends of friends from here in Jax who rode a bus up to DC. I got overcommitted at the end there, so my mom knit one too! I have no pink yarn left in my stash!
I was there in my pink pussy hat with my friends all in theirs as well. It was a powerful statement to the collective power of women and a tribute to the power of handmade. I hope the story of the origin of the pussy hat gets told.
I have had a few discussions here in England on ‘the hat’. Some people disagreed on the name of it, that it was tasteless and took away from the more serious meanings of the march… it became only about the hat for some…. whatever. I couldn’t attend a march but I wish I had, I hail the power of women and the show of strength… weaker sex my .. hat!…
And I rejoiced at the sheer number of knitting people out there. I was there in spirit if not in hat.
I had issues with the name too until I remembered that the tasteless name comes from a direct quote from our new President. We didn’t choose vulgarity. Instead we applied it to a cute, stylish, trendsetting accessory.
Yes tastless. But unless you have never gone to a movie like Magic Mike or gone to a shower and ogled the stripper or called a man’s parts by a slang term you might want to tone down the disgust. And do you think some of the men in your circle don’t reference women in much the same way?
I’ve heard plenty of women talking about a man the same way and then get offended when tables are turned. Is any of this a good thing? No. But don’t pretend he’s the only one, male or female, that did it. Look at the entertainment industry.
“And do you think some of the men in your circle don’t reference women in much the same way?”
“Referencing women” in this way and actually bragging about assaulting them, are two very different things. You are intentionally normalizing his behavior. Sad!
We say pussycat, so why can’t we say pussyhat?
Even Melania once wore a pussy bow
Love everything about this!
I made one hat for myself, with yarn I had on hand. I wish I’d made two more because I met two lovely young women who asked where I got my hat, and wished they’d heard of the campaign (because they thought it was great). I saw knit caps modified with rubber bands (to make ears), and all manner of pink hats as stand-ins in my chunk of the NY march. I’m still in recovery mode, but the photo I took of myself is now hanging on the wall of my cubicle to remind me of the day.
I found out about the hats only a couple of weeks before the march. I knit one and then had ‘orders’ for 3 more. I could have made several dozen if I had started earlier.
As always, I was a bit late to the party. Knitted one for a friend marching in Raleigh, knit most of my daughter’s hat on the Megabus from Durham and finished it in the hotel room then started mine. I knit mine as we walked to the March and as we marched until my hands got too cold then finished it that night and wore it proudly in Dv as we bopped around. I’ve never done this kind of knitting before and although I am not a pink person it was so lovely to see that sea of hats and their wearers. I felt so blessed to be a part of it and am grateful to MDK because I wouldn’t have known about it without your post.
Five of my hats made it to DC from my farm in Iowa. The marchers who wore them proudly posted great photos of themselves in their hats, so I know they were happy to have them. Yes, we have more work to do. Scrolled through your fun Instagram photos, too. Thanks for posting!
I knit 7 hats and took an additional 2 sewn by a coworker’s 5th grade daughter. One hat stayed with me, one went to my mom, and I was able to hand out the remaining seven to my fellow marchers during the day. It was wonderful! Two people tried to pay me (one asked me if I had a scarf she could buy – nope, sorry), and already twice while wearing it since then I got excited greetings and chat about the March. Such a great experience. 10/10, would do again 🙂
The important thing now is to KEEP WEARING your hats!
I agree. We need to continue speaking out and one way to do that is by simply wearing the hat. I have worn mine off and on since the March, and it is astounding the looks of support, the thumbs up, and the instant conversation I get from total strangers, because of it.
Silence and polite abstinence from any conversation that touches on politics is not the answer. And anyone who advocates for that….who disses a post that touches on it….is perpetuating divisiveness and submissiveness.
Please, Kay and Ann, don’t be intimidated into silence by these posters who diss honest and open conversation. Like the March, there are more of us supporting you than not. I love this blog (and you and Ann) because of the glimpses we get of your lives and your points of view. Without that, it would not be MDK!
As part of open and honesy, as a response to my earlier post i certainly dont agree with his comments and actions. Please read carefully and don’t pick 1 word out of a post without getting the full meaning. I believe everyone has the right to not be objectified and abused. To think otherwise is ridiculous and sad.
Yes! I plan to knit a couple of more, you know, just in case.
I knit about 8 hats, then realized how much faster sewing would be, and sewed about 80 more. I gave a couple of dozen away to friends and coworkers who planned to march, then handed out the rest to anyone without a hat on my bus to DC, then the buses parked next to ours, then the last few to people I passed on the sidewalk on the walk to the march.
Hats and all shades/hues of pink were spot on!!!!! Proud to have seen them in San Jose, Costa Rica
I thought the hats were dumb at first. Thought their silliness would detract from the message. But decided that I needed to take the risk and wear one because I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to support knitting playing a visible role in something I cared so deeply about. Talk about intersectional — for me, this was a big intersection. So I ended up making four. I have never been so happy to have been so wrong!
I knitted 2 and attended a march in Chicago. I WANT more than anything for this to be a moment of change for women. We need to get involved, find a cause and start being the change we want. If we spend the next 4 years wringing our hands, nothing came of the marches. IF the millions that marched find causes and start working for change, the hats will have made a difference.
Let’s keep knitting pink hats and put them everywhere! On street signs, statues, fence posts, …
That’s a great idea!
Google for the Boston Commons, where the ducks and ducklings of “Make Way for……” are all sporting pink hats! My son found it online and sent it to me:)
Now that’s what I’m talking about! Love it!
So much to love about the hats, the marches, the movement for sisterhood & inclusion around the world, the unity… all of it. <3
My eyes keep welling up.
Props to the chick who can’t knit! 😀
Wonder how many other marchers offered to teach her? ;-D
I made four hats, one went to DC and three were here in Atlanta. They were too big but they still looked great among the sea of pink and happy faces. What a wonderful experience!
Chicago’s 250k strong march was well represented with hats everywhere even though it was unseasonably warm. Seeing the sea of pink in the aerial photos makes me verklempt!
I was in NYC with my daughter. I made 5 hats. Gave away 3 at the march. And yes we have reclaimed pink as a color of power. It was a most amazing and awesome day. We must continue the fight. Thank you to the woman who proposed the march and the woman who created the hat!
Yeah, what you said Kay. I sent a few hats out there on friends heads. I wasn’t able to march but spent the day watching live feeds. Many times throughout the day I shrieked to my family “Look at all those hats!” I got all teary about it. And friends still want hats now after the march to wear as a sign of resistance. I’m happy to keep knitting them.
I made nine hats, 8 that I drop to one of our local yarn stores (Harps and Thistle, Cuyahoga Falls, OH) so they can distribute it to people going to Washington. The ninth one I wore at the Cleveland March in OH
Yes!!! My seven hats are in there somewhere. What a great day!
I was not at the march, but in my local grocery store in my small town, did see a woman wearing a crochet pussycat hat! Hope everyone keeps their hats on for the winter!
I knit hats for my friends and I who marched in St. Louis. I am ready for the next fiber project. Kerchiefs in cotton or linen to wear all spring and summer as we “get to work”. Who has ideas? Lets go ladies, activist crafting!!!!!! I love it
Best Knit(s) in Public Day ever !
The hats, and everyone who knit them, crocheted them, sewed them, wore them, stood close to someone wearing them, WERE GLORIOUS!
I marched in Santa Ana, CA in a sea of pink pussyhats and folks with a positive, determined message. I arrived early and was in line at Starbucks, talking hats with another woman who said she didn’t knit but her daughter found several “ridiculously long” pink knitted scarves in a store, so they cut them up into 20″ lengths, sewed a few seams and …… hats!! There were between 13,000 and 20,000 marchers by various estimates. Best moment: Marching past the historic Old County Courthouse and having a just-married couple walk out the door to behold thousands of of energized people who broke into applause and cheers. What a wedding day memory for them!
The hat I made lasted all of six hours before I gave it to a (male) friend who loved it. It, too, was unblocked.
I work at a Monarch Knitting in Pacific Grove, CA…..by the Wed before the March….we were pretty much out of pink yarn…..I knit hats for everyone I know and several to just hand out….I got home Sat with not one hat to call mine…..I’m casting on a hat for me….just as soon as we get a yarn shipment in….need pink yarn!
My daughter and myself were in NYC this weekend for dance workshops…The march was right outside our hotel and was so proud (and teary-eyed) to be able to witness and cheer the marchers with her. Now its time to call our senators and congresspeople again and say “How do you like me now?”…
Such a great sea of pink worldwide. I had an extra hat that I took along with the sole purpose of finding a young girl to give it to. Hadn’t even had time to tell my teenage daughter of the plan when I handed it over during the first 5 minutes of our metro ride to the Minnesota Capitol. I gave it to a 7-year-old who was telling her mom that she wished she had one of those hats (not just a pink hat) for the march.
I also received an apology from a friend in Virginia who was worried that the hats were too cute and would hurt the message. After attending the DC march, this is what she wrote: “I was wrong. The hats were a masterful symbol of feminist solidarity. It’s all in the wearing, isn’t it?”
All in the wearing — and in the making.
A symbolic number must go to the Smithsonian Institution for posterity. Our pink pussyhats will rank with the smiley face and the peace symbol. Let’s wear and use them often.
I do knit; however, since my wrist has been acting up lately…I sewed pussyhats!
i made 2 hats for me and a friend at the Oakland march –and it was so exciting and energizing to see how these hats are becoming a symbol for a movement. rock on ladies!
I loved the messages I got from my hat recipients. They look just like America–different ages, sexes, ethnicities. All united in pink hats with ears!
My best friend marched in Portland. She wrote to me after the march, asking for a hat! She says she intends to keep on marching, so as soon as the pink yarn gets restocked, she will have her hat.
Made 51 hats. And have post march request for 4 more. Think we should wear them again on Valentine’s Day. To show love for all!’
I loved seeing the pictures of police officers in pink hats.
Couldn’t March, could knit!
What an extraordinary day. I was in DC (my hometown, yay!), at Independence and 4th with my 17 year old daughter and two of her friends. I knit a few hats for friends, and was so amazed at all the pink hats worn by both men and women. The crowd was amazing, the police were amazing, the National Guard were amazing. Incredible day.
I would love to hear an official accounting from the yarn industry regarding the effect pussyhat knitting had on the pink yarn supply.
As you said, how wonderful that something we do in obscurity helped to make such a visual impact!! As I was saying to my husband, when the pussyhats first came out I thought that it wouldn’t matter and the march wouldn’t matter. How happy I am to come around and participate in both! Knitting (and crocheting and sewing) are such balms to the soul, and joining in a peaceful group is a balm to the soul as well!
It was an awesome and global day!❤☮
It was actually the pussycat project that got me thinking about travelling to Washington for the March. I knitted 8 hats myself, mostly in red (to go with the toques of my Canadian contingent), and got so much pleasure from giving them to friends, friends of friends, and even total strangers. I also loved the transformation of a traditionally female craft into a subversive act!
This is one of those days I regret reading the NYTimes online. That’s a page to frame!
Pink is the new white.
Fulfilling requests for more hats and sick of pink yarn.
Women are preparing for the next round. You don’t have to agree with all the positions. But I love that all these women are exercising their right to speak their mind. Even the ones I don’t personally agree with.
I marched in Kansas City Mo with 10,00 friends. I knit 9 hats for myself and family ranging in age from 3 to 74. Seven hats stayed in Kansas City, two went to Baltimore. There were a lot of hats, some knit, some crochet and some improvised. They had such visual impact. I loved it. This morning when left for work a neighbor was wearing a hat while walking her dog! My husband wants one as does my 71 year old sister. They both just had knee replacements, but since the march are fired up to make phone calls. The person who first thought of the hats is a genius. The photos are a sea of hats. It makes me so happy (and I need that now)
I had the exact same thought about the 7 (or was it 8?) hats I knitted – was a little worried they would be lost in the crowd. Ha! I’ve loved seeing all the photos from Saturday in all cities and how the hats are a big part of the story. JanuaryOne hit the spot when she said (on Instagram I think) that she felt like she was knitting with anger, frustration and determination. I could not knit anything other than the hats for 2 weeks and I knitted up until an hour before the SF march started. Lots of work to do in the coming years, but never before has knitting been such a direct outlet.
I wish I’d picked up on this sooner. I’d have loved to be represented by some hats.
I was unable to march but proud that the hats I knit made it to the D.C. March. Yesterday, I had 6 friends/family request hats and I will happily knit them. We cannot let the momentum stop. It is exciting that our craft has united so many of us. Knit on!
A favorite picture I took of the Minnesota event was a woman on the city bus going to the event at 9:30 Saturday morning, knitting like crazy. “I wish I had finished this last night.” Song of knitters everywhere. Cops in hats. Kate McKinnon in one behind Putin on SNL. So wonderful!
I know someone who said there was a lot of hat knitting happening on her plane to DC.
By themselves, my three hats were not meaningful. Alongside tens of thousands of others, they were important. All together.
I saw SO MANY pink hats at the St Paul, Minnesota march. I know at least one of our local shops was having a tough time keeping up with the demand for pink!
I kept hoping this would be A Big Deal. I knit, I talked about it, I sent a hat to a friend who marched and sent the rest to DC. I watched the news, hoping to see a few hats. Everything was pink! And the signs! Marches around the world! All of us wanting the same things and desperately hoping to keep what we’ve fought so hard to earn.
It was A Big Deal and I’m so glad I was part of it, in my own way. Thanks to everyone who made hats, wore them, marched and joined in. We will make a difference.
Defiant yet jubilant. Knitting. Part of the story. Yes, to all that! It was the sea of pink that I was dreaming of and hoping for, even in my small town. We had 1,600 marchers in a town of 10,000. (46,000 in this rural Oregon coastal county, but still…)
It was awesome! Pink hats with cat ears all over the world. Even Antartica– pale pink with gray ears!
I knitted three hats, one for myself, which I wore to the Boston march, and two for friends. I finished the third hat, for the friend with whom I marched, at eleven pm the evening before. Now I’m starting a fourth hat because yet another friend requested one. I also saw a woman knitting away on the subway the morning of the march: she made me feel better because I thought my hat was last-minute!
I thought it was wonderful to see that the symbol of this march was a handcrafted hat. Crafts have been downplayed for so long as “women’s work” and not worthy of the tag of “art”, so for me it was an incredibly moving sight to see a sea of pink hats. Whatever your politics, it must have been a proud moment for knitters to know that your work has unified a crowd.
I love this post. Especially the last photo.
We at The Yarn Mission are working hard to get everyone knitting. By being actually welcoming to everyone. There’s a lot of racism in the fiber community. All you need to do is read the things women of color are writing about the women’s march, and the comments/tweets etc. coming from us white women. Fifty-three percent of whom, by the way, voted for the trash fire occupying the white house. Some of the work needs to involve a big mirror and a lot of listening.
AY-FREAKIN-MEN and thank you for saying it. The most heartbreaking thing to me was hearing about the acts of racism (or simply witnessed and standing by doing nothing) by white women wearing pink hats. If we’re going to be so visible, we have to do better – by ALL women.
Thanks for commenting, Jeanne. I’m always sad about how few POC I see at local fiber and craft events here in Portland, OR.
Excellent points. Racism is in ALL of us unfortunately.
Loved seeing all those pink hats!
And my brand new glasses are the same as that woman’s. But they look a lot better on her. So for now they aren’t public glasses (unless I do the whole wash my hair do a little something to it & add make-up liberally. Maybe I should have gone as my normal shulbby self when I picked the frames.
I taught a woman to knit on the bus to DC and shared one of my hats with her. It was a see of pink, so amazing!
Lots of pink hats in Bangor, Maine, too!
My family and I participated in our local march, sister to the big event in D.C. My husband sported a hat knit from in a raspberry shade of pink, my daughter a blush shade and mine was stripes in both of their colors.
It was an incredible and moving event!! And we got lots of compliments on our cunning hats. 🙂
Love this I made my own and posted it on facebook now I have 5 people who want one gotta get knitting
I was overwhelmed by the pictures of city after city protesting. It was beautiful and other countries joining in was especially moving to me.
The amount of hats there was not only amazing but set an example – in that they were not only handmade – but free. Unlike the sociopath who won the electoral college – his hats were sold for $15-20 each. Here – no one had to buy a hat and no one company had a profit motive. Maybe some people bought pink yarn (I’m sure most used their stash!) but the sales were spread (I assume) across all sorts of yarn stores.
In short – the profit motive was absent here which (to me) let the focus stay on the message. There was no one place to buy these hats. They were made – individually and uniquely. I love it.
Sociopath? Unbelievable rhetoric. I thought this was supposed to be polite discussion as mentioned further up and not name calling.
You are defending a known liar and bully who has given new meaning to “name calling”. Were you as outraged when he perpetuated the birther lie about Obama for his entire presidency? Or when he inspired the “lock her up” chant for Hillary Clinton? And when he did not stop his Inaugural audience from yelling that same chant he invented, even when she had the grace to attend his ceremony?
All things (and history and facts) considered, if you google the definition of “sociopath”, you might actually find that Elle is not far off the mark.
Again Clare you’ve not read the meaning. I was discussing the hope by many posting that these were to be positive not name calling. Sad. U seem full of anger.
I knit pink hats and marched in DC with my daughter…..truly awesome day! My 7 year old granddaughter wants me to knit her a hat so guess I’ll pull the pink out again.
THANKS!!!
Love love love the “I can’t knit” hat – her heart is in the right place!
Thank you for the reminder to grab the front page of the Times before I put out the recycling! It was an amazing day and hopefully just the beginning. I continue to wear my hat (even though it doesn’t go with the rest of my winter ensemble) and have gotten smiles and positive feedback in the days since.
In DC for the March I ended the day seeing a tall, male Metro worker wearing a bright pink hat (knitted) as he kindly helped a few confused people through the gates. It was a day when kindness among a massive crowd was most evident. Maybe because there were so many knitters represented?
I boarded the train to Philadelphia at around 7:25 on Saturday morning with my pink hat on my head. My husband also had a pink hat on his head – his without ears. We were alone with our hats, no one on the train had any visible signs of pink. At one point, someone said something about our knitted hats, but for the most part – no more comments. As we arrived in Philadelphia and began our walk to Logan square – more and more hats appeared. Women, men, children, babies – so many glorious hats – a visible sign, no one could deny what kind of gathering we were at. No one – not even the President. I thought I had knit my last pink hat. I was wrong – we have many more hats to make – many more.
Proud of our knitting community. Proud of we in the elder generation, proud of our young women. When there’s a cause, we knit in sync. Thanks for highlighting!
so cool!!!!!!!
I knitted a dozen hats for friends and for the DC march. I just completed another, post march. Someone thinks they may need it going forward. I will happily knit one for anyone that requests one. Also, I need another one, as I gave mine away.
Thanks for saying so eloquently what I have been thinking about this project: “Apart from the politics, it’s meaningful to me that the act of knitting, which so many of us do every day in obscurity, played a part in a major news story.
I was so moved by the photos of all the hats. Thank you!
The pictures are amazing. I was with you in body in Austin, TX. We are so proud of the about 30,000 women and men who marched. AND I live in Chicago where the estimates of participants was about 3,000,000. It was uplifting in difficult times in my homeland, which on a day like that, I recognize as my own.
Saturday was one of the best days ever because I attended a follow up Huddle. I passed on the last (or not) of the 30+ pink hats I have knit (keeping the cashmere for myself) and joined an amazing group of women ready to change not just our country but we are ready to take on the world. Two women were talking about learning to knit as a direct result of the march. Needles ready, let’s go!