Inspiration
Amazing Janes
Dear all,
Celebrating women is one of our favorite things to do.
Our new Field Guide No. 28: Renewal has as its theme the idea of returning to a familiar thing with new energy and attention. In the case of the Field Guide, the familiar thing involves knitting. But when we think about renewal, we also think about something much broader: renewing our sense of purpose, energy, and focus.
As we wrote this Field Guide, we were working with our new yarn, named Jane. The more we talked, various Janes in history and literature kept popping into our heads, and the further we got, the more we saw that there are many Janes who have inspired us—women who blazed a trail, who saw a wrong and worked to correct it. Who never gave up, even in the face of blistering resistance.
So for Norah Gaughan’s brilliant Field Guide designs, we named cardigans for these women.
Jane Addams. A tireless advocate for better living conditions for the people of Chicago.
Jane Bolin. The first Black woman to serve as a judge in the United States.
Jane Jacobs. The writer and activist whose critique of urban planning taught us the power of a city sidewalk.
From differing eras and backgrounds, these women were steadfast in their beliefs, and worked steadily to make the world a better place. I hope you’ll take time to read their stories (just click on their names). You will be dazzled and amazed by these women!
Love,
Ann and Kay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Collective
More Janes in our history!
What a wonderful article to read this morning. I couldn’t sleep last night and am up early, I think from election anxiety. I never knew about these women before but know there are lots of us doing good things every day. May women triumph today!
Thanks, MDK. I especially needed this connection this morning. These are the kinds of posts, creative and real, that keep me coming back to MDK. And I’m about to order those skeins of Jane I’ve been drooling over, to celebrate one of those Janes!
Thanks for highlighting some of the smart, hard-working, powerful women who helped to transform this country. There are countless more. We remember them most especially today.
Ann and Kay, thank you for reminding us of these great women. We must never forget what brave women can accomplish. Most of us are not that brave, but we CAN vote to support brave women (and also men who support them). Let’s get out and VOTE!
Woo-hoo for Janes! For most of my life, I have been the only Jane in the room. When I was a child, I went on a mission to read books about characters named Jane or written by authors named Jane. I discovered Jane Austen and Jane Eyre early on. I love my name. There is nothing plain Jane about it.
I agree! I have only twice been in a room with more than one Jane. And then there were three of us in each case. (When it rains…) It is a wonderful name. Delighted to share it with so many good women! Thanks for noticing all of them! And celebrating them in yarn.
I have some great Janes in my life. It’s such a STAUNCH name. Always feel comforted to be side by side with a Jane.
Wonderful! Thank you!
Ladies, what a great article especially for today. Let us celebrate these women by using our power of the vote today. Thank you all you do at MDK to make us think about knitting and knitting the world together.
Oh, I needed something hopeful for today. Thank you!
Go Janes! Thanks for a reminder that it’s a name to be proud of.
On this very important day, Thank You for highlighting a few of the many women who have contributed incredibly to the freedoms of the United States of America.
I ordered two tea towels for the Jane Power content! I had never heard of Jane Bolin before seeing the latest Field Guide. Keep it up! LFG!!
I am a lawyer in New York and I never heard of Jane Bolin. It’s a shanda. But we can correct it.
Thanks for sharing these Janes, I confess I was not aware of them. So many women, mostly unsung, have worked so hard over the centuries to improve our lives.
My days are always made a bit brighter by the two of you, Kay and Ann. Thank you.
I voted at 7 a.m. in St. Paul. I hope we can raise up a woman today to lead the United States of America.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Say Their Name!
Thank you for this wonderful post on this day of days. Strong women are everywhere, let’s support them and move our country forward!
We need to normalize referring to strong, brave, smart, active, etc. women as “Janes”. Much like the Karen movement (don’t get me started) it should go viral. As in, “Oh, Ann and Kay from MDK? Yeah, they’re a couple of Janes.”
Don’t mess with Karen. She’s a Jane, that one.
I love the Jane’s. How about a book about the Jane’s paired with a yarn and a pattern? Oh, you got this! On this Election Day, you do my heart good. We are all Jane’s on an adventure to make this country, world perhaps; a better place. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Janet Bondanella
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I am inspired and grateful for your focus and belief in our lives … this is a difficult and this posting brought closer to my lived reality as a creative, a playful and diligent intellectual a woman who believes I matter as a woman and black woman in our country right now.
I am tired today… thank you.
Now that I’m 71 years old, the stories of remarkable women who changed our lives are creeping out into the sunlight of recognition. During our formal education we never heard word one about any woman of accomplishment when we needed someone to look up to