Not only did I finish this baby blanket, but I made a little wash mitt to go with it. Both still need to be washed and blocked, and the blanket needs its ends woven in, too. Those are my first two FOs of the year, and I think Imbat will be finished by the end of the week (or at least the knitting of it and the pattern writing).

We have a new yarn shop in town and I was able to go to one of their sit and stitch sessions and chat with the owner. She used to own a shop on the west side I would visit when we were staying with a priest family with whom we are friends. It will be great to have a LYS here after about five have not stuck around here. I really hope she succeeds and thrives.

We finished Rainbow Valley and started Rilla of Ingleside. Reading these books have sparked all sorts of discussions on Protestantism in the Americas at the turn of the 20th century, Canadian and American history, and the run up to World War I. I think they want to read the Cheaper by the Dozen books next. Also, I have finally finished Desert Queen! The book and the woman were fascinating, especially to me, but I have to admit that I did not like her. I did enjoy watching her learn and grow and seeing how her opinion was modified by her greater knowledge of the people and culture of the Middle East. We are still dealing with the problems that she both foresaw and aided in creating now. Her disdain of women reminded me of why I despise that saying about well behaved women rarely making history, though. While there is an element of truth in that, as it is truly extraordinary people, both men and women, who mark the world so indelibly, well behaved women are busy making society and culture.

Now, I have returned to Bearing God: The Life and Works of St. Ignatius of Antioch the God-Bearer, whose life has come up at church this past week and his teaching and legacy come up in various theological discussions and articles we have been reading. His influence is so important to the Church, and I really want to know him better.

There is something I am frustrated about, though I have tried to keep my blog and social media largely free of political discussion. My apologies to those of you who follow me to avoid that. I am a woman of color, ethnic minority, daughter of immigrants, raised in relative poverty. Ostensibly, it is my voice that is supposed to be highlighted, though I have never wanted artificial, token propping up, which implies or assumes that my work is not good enough to stand on its own without the help of young, "socially conscious" saviors to lift me from my savage ignorance and incompetence. However, because I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and do not simply form an opinion on a person or organization based on what the mob currently thinks, I am in the cross hairs of these same people who think that minority voices should be magnified.

I try not to pay too much attention to small changes in my followers on social media, follows fluctuate, and maybe someone is no longer interested in my work or now likes it more. However, it was hard not to notice the large drop off of the last week or so, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why, as I hadn't said anything political, nor had I said anything controversial. I attributed it to it being January, and people cleaning up their feeds. Then a post from a publication came up in my feed, and I saw that I didn't really agree with what they were putting out, so I went to unfollow them. Someone had linked to them in the last couple weeks of January, and I followed to see what they might have to say or contribute. Then, I realized that this was likely the reason for the drop in my followers. I have already had evidence of people screen shotting my social media activity to prove my racism (snort), and I have had a young, white, privileged woman tell me that I didn't understand the experience of minorities and immigrants in this country. I have not wanted to dignify their venomous, petty, attacks with a response or acknowledgement. Let me make this clear, though. These are people with nothing better to do than sniff for blood in the water and go on the attack. I don't have time in my day to keep track of the activities of people I don't care for or know. I just don't. I'm not sure how they do. But I am tired of their nonsense. Since none of them were my customers or supported my work, it is not a big loss, but I am tired of all of these white saviors somehow thinking that this brown woman is too stupid to know her life and needs them to tell her how life is. What happened to holding space and sitting in discomfort to listen? I will still give people the benefit of the doubt and explore their words and actions myself to form my own opinion, regardless of the sharks. The funny thing is that sometimes I draw the same or similar conclusions, but because I am unwilling to toe the line and cast off anyone the crowd hates, and instead take the time to evaluate each person or situation myself, I am somehow a traitor. I may regret this free expression, but for now it stays. Thank you for reading my frustrated ramblings. We will go back to our normal crafting and reading after this.

Linking to Unraveled Wednesday.

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Labels: Blog Info, Books, Design, FOs, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Knitting, WIP, Yarn Along

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 9:24 AM