Remember these?
I posted this sneak peek twenty days ago-Jen nailed it right away and knew what I was up to.
I spent the New Year knitting cervices for my dear and talented friend Sonya Philip. Sonya has not only inspired me with her knitting on ordinary objects but has also wowed me with her new undertaking, The Felt Cervix Project-a collaborative art installation currently on display in Oakland, California.
Sonya has created a pattern for a knit cervix and is asking volunteers to knit a cervix or two or more to add to her growing pile. Why? To raise awareness about female reproductive and sexual health and in her own words, The aim of The Felt Cervix Project is about engagement, creating, and community. Help carry on the conversation. Get people talking.
I knew immediately I wanted to contribute to Sonya's project. My thoughts went back to when we first met in person, unbelievably it was exactly five years ago this month I was in San Francisco. Our friendship came fast and our conversation intimate. I had been suffering. We began talking and before I knew it I was telling her about my three miscarriages, my desire for a second child, the tumor the size of a grapefruit that was invading my uterus and seemed to prevent pregnancy, I went on and on and on and on. And Sonya? she listened, really listened, she held my hand, gave me a hug, and bravely promised me it would happen. And it did. And to celebrate, she knit him a blanket (and an owl!) and I will never forget.
Sharing our stories is a powerful thing. And I found there is nothing like knitting a cervix in the presence of many women that can really get some interesting conversations started.
It was New Years, we were at the farm, and we were at a party with about forty people. As I sat knitting, women of all ages shared their stories. Birthing stories, cancer stories, menstrual stories. It worked Sonya! It got us all talking! And that's just for starters.
The details:
I used two kinds of pink yarn. Patons Classic wool (easy for wet felting) and vintage wool tapestry yarn I picked up at the thrift store (not as easy to wet-felt, but with extra muscle, I managed).
I used size 8 double pointed needles and for the first time learned how to knit in the round. (Thank goodness for instructional videos on the web!) I was not familiar with the MAKE 1 stitch, but figured that out quite easily too.
Each cervix took me about 75 minutes to knit, and even after knitting ten of these I was not able to memorize the pattern. But that's just me. Chawne only needed an impressive 20 minutes to knit one and memorized the pattern after making two. Sonya's pattern is easy to read and well written and after learning to knit in the round I may give socks a try after all!
I wet felted them using rubber gloves which really helped speed up the process.
And I'm happy to report they made it safely to Sonya. See them in a tower here.
Do you knit? Consider making one or two or three and mail them off to Sonya. Spread the word. Help grow her pile for the installation. Get women talking. xx
