Peace Prize

December 10th, 2009

President Obama is in Oslo, and I have two distant connections to the evens that I thought I’d share.  First, my Norwegian knitting fairy godmother Annemor Sundbø emailed me yesterday - she saw an interview on television with a woman who had met a younger Obama, when she lost her airline ticket.  He bought her a replacement.  She has knit five pair of Selbu mittens for the entire family, as a belated thank you.  She even mentioned my book in the interview.  Second, the beautiful Oslo Radhus where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded, was designed by the uncle of my other favorite Norwegian knitter, Annichen Sibbern Bohn.  Annichen worked as a designer for her uncle’s firm, so her art and aesthetic live on in one of the most celebrated buildings in Europe.  And I get to republish her most important book.  Like I said, the connections are distant, but they’re real.  I feel honored.

In the spirit of the day, and in a rare break with the history of this blog, I’m going to take an opportunity to talk a little politics.   The state of world peace demands the best ideas of all of the world’s citizens.  If I can contribute in any way, even remotely, then it’s worth it.

It is unrealistic, always was unrealistic, to think that any modern country could bring troops into Afghanistan and receive anything other than resistance.  And fierce resistance.  Afghanistan has not been successfully taken over by a foreign power since Alexander the Great.  That’s two thousand years these people have protected their land from whom they consider invaders.  They don’t want us there, they don’t want anyone there.  In modern history, they defeated Great Britain, Russia, and now the U.S.  We were naive to think we could walk in and take control.  We have set up and maintain a puppet government that is largely ignored outside the capital city.  The Taliban have reestablished leadership in much of the country, running shadow governments along side the “official” one.

These are not opinions.  These are facts.

The war in Afghanistan is a nightmare.  The United States may have had the best of intentions in invading the country, but it was done poorly, it was then ignored, and the country is in worse condition now than it was before we went there.  We promised roads and hospitals and schools and peace, and instead we have given them bombs at midnight.  President Obama inherited a mess, and sadly, he’s going to have to clean it up.

The questions to answer are:

  1. How do we clean up the mess we made?
  2. How do we support a stable society in a country that hasn’t known one in generations?
  3. How do we encourage the peoples of Afghanistan and their neighbors to view modernity with anything other than cynicism?

It’s simple yet difficult.  We clean up the mess by supporting a stable form of organization, a form of the Afghan people’s choosing, and when we keep the promises we made, we will demonstrate our honor and begin to earn their trust.

We cannot impose a twenty-first century western style democracy on Afghanistan.  Just like Russia could not impose a twentieth century socialist system, and Great Britain could not impose colonialism.  Any peaceful solution has to come from within. I think it’s going to look a lot like feudalism.  There are leaders of small communities who command respect, if only through fear, and we have to work with them instead of fighting them, because we will lose.

The first step in helping Afghanistan build a stable society must be the recognition that there is not a monolithic  Afghan culture.  We give lip service to this reality when we refer to “tribal leaders” but we haven’t fully accepted what that term implies:  Afghanistan is a conglomerate of cultures, and we cannot expect them all to think the same way.  We cannot expect that a solution in one region will work in another, any more than we can expect Italy and Iceland to be the same.  Too different?  How about Iceland and Ireland?  Israel and Palestine?  New York and Philadelphia?  The same problem in different cultures may require different solutions.

We must also recognize that cultural borders and political borders are not in the same place in this region of the world.  And by We I mean everybody.  All governments.  Afghanistan’s internal chaos infects its neighbors, and they must adjust their ways of thinking about Afghanistan for their own security.

What if, instead of dropping soldiers, we dropped doctors and engineers into the valleys?  What if, instead of threatening to drag their wives and daughters away to indoctrinate them into Western ways, we offered free local education to enable them to be better wives and mothers?  (Can you blame them for not wanting to grow up to be a Carrie Prejean?)  What if, instead of threatening their cultures, we introduced anthropologists to help protect it from the very real, very terrifying changes that come crashing in the dark of night?

What if, instead of thinking we know what’s best, we ask them how we can help?  Because I’m quite sure that, like mothers and fathers everywhere, the people who live in the countryside of Afghanistan would very much prefer to raise their families in peace.  I don’t imagine they like bullet holes in their walls any more than I would.  I bet they’d like to tend their gardens without a gun slung over the shoulder.  I’m pretty sure they’d like their daughters to live happy, healthy, socially normal lives.  Normal for them.  Then grow up to marry nice young men and build their own happy families.

So how do we get from here to there?

The U.S. military will always ask for more troops.  Their business is war, and they do it well.  President Obama must remember that the military, however, is only a tool to be used for political purposes.  So while the military is shooting back at people shooting at them, the State department has GOT to be building relationships in the “tribal” areas.  Use the military as a shield to put the diplomatic and humanitarian pieces into place.  If there’s an area where we already have decent working relationships, then get the engineers and doctors and agricultural experts to work right away.  Today.   Build the houses and roads and hospitals and power grids and water processing facilities and communications structures.  Find crops other than opium poppies.  One success can be used as a marketing tool to convince other tribal leaders that the U.S. isn’t all bombs.  We really do want to help.

Might I also suggest, that since this is going to take a long time, maybe the federal government can offer scholarships or some financial help to today’s college students who would like to study the culture, language,  and history of Afghanistan?  We’re going to need people to work there, and they need to know who they’re working with.

And when, in a few decades, the distinct cultures of Afghanistan have had time to rebuild, they realize that the bombs aren’t going to come any more, the “tribal leaders” decide that maybe it’s not so bad for girls to learn to read and do math, because then they can learn to grow better gardens and raise healthier children, won’t that be a success?  And maybe the new generation of “tribal leaders” will discover that the government in Kabul has something to offer, that will make their lives just a little easier.  And they’ll want to cooperate, because it will be in their own best interest.

( the pattern that goes with the article above. )

Thanksgiving, belated

November 27th, 2009

Wireless internet, a perennial favorite
coffee
wicker baskets full of yarn
a wide selection of needles
remembered skills
reconnected friends
Heather
painted pet rocks
more books than shelfspace
a furnace that doesn’t spew soot
renewing sense of the sacred
good weather in fall
pajama pants
faith, hope, and love
enough money to pay my bills, even if it’s just barely enough
a whole lot of cat

being able to remember how much I have to be thankful for.

Questions from Madison

October 16th, 2009

I’m doing my schtick in Madison, WI next month, and this is the littl qustionaire they sent me, for he newsletter.  Ulp.

MKG Profile Questions                                 

 

 
1. What role does knitting play in your life?
2. Describe your first knitting experience.
3. How did you learn to knit?
4. What’s your favorite pattern?
5. Who’s your favorite designer?
6. What’s your favorite knitting tool (besides needles, of course) and why?
7. What knitting gadget do you wish someone would invent?
8. What’s your all-time favorite yarn? Why?
9. Describe your oldest uncompleted project.
10. Talk about either your worst knitting project or the most obvious mistake you have ever made knitting.
11. Describe the skill are you proudest of having mastered.
12. Do you have a yarn stash?  If so how big of a container will it take to hold it?
13. Who do you knit for the most?
14. Circular or straight? Defend your choice.
15. What advice do you have for fellow knitters?
16. Are you a process knitter or a product knitter? Why do you think that is?
17. Where is the weirdest place you have ever knit?
18. What project do you currently have on your needles?
19. Do you have a best knitting memory?  How about a worst?
20. Have you ever smuggled yarn in to the house and were you caught?  Can you describe the incident?

Zomg, I’m so glad it’s cooler.

October 3rd, 2009

Summer is wasted, if you’re a knitter.  Many years I can spin, but this year was just a bust.  Plain and simple.  And that’s not good when you’ve got a book to put out.

So it’s Back To Work week chez Shea!  Previews of what’s in store.

First, the Eskimo.   This sweater is in my upcoming republished book “Norwegian Knitting Designs” by noted Norwegian knitting expert Annichen Sibbern Bohn.  (If you’re a fan of traditional knitting, you should learn more about her.  Here’s a biographical article I wrote for Piecework, although they edited it heavily.  FWIW.)  The earliest publication I have found for this sweater was in 1930, in URD Magazine.  Annichen designed it based on traditional Greenlander costume, which included an elaborate beaded yoke.  I have some intriguing theories about this sweater, and hopefully Piecework will publish them, after I’ve put out the book.

Ok.  Eskimo.

Yarn is my beloved Jo Sharp DK.  This sample differs slightly from the written pattern in construction.   I found myself getting all EZ without thinking about it.  I’ll explain later.

And remember these?  Granny squares made from thift store white and grey wool yarn, dyed all with onion skins and a variety of mordants?  It’s olivey orangey goldy goodness, in a good way.

They’re finally becoming this.

 

Next post, I’ll show you more book progress.  Daria, your sweater is going to Norway for embellishment.  :)

October Workshop

September 18th, 2009

Hi, everyone!  Have we recovered from the heat wave yet?  A hundred degrees outside = murderouly hot in the attic office.

There are a few openings for my workshop in Hood River next month.  I’m teaching at Purlaway  - Smitten with Selbu Mittens.  I’ll have all my book samples, the new sweaters you’ve seen below, and The Red Sweater in tow, along with my research library and of course, my 6 hour Mitten class and 3 hour Design class.  And the lecture, which can go on for as long as you keep me talking.

What else is up?  Now that the weather is decent again I’m back to working on my new book, Norwegian Knitting Designs.  Cross your fingers for a beffore New Year’s release.  Any more sample knitters out there?

The Walker Treasury Project

June 12th, 2009

Found this via Vicki Steifel on Twitter. Stitch library lovers, take note.

http://thewalkertreasury.wordpress.com/

Dear Cyber Stalker

June 7th, 2009

No, seriously. Leave me alone. I’m not listening to you. There is nothing you can say to make me love you. You are a creep. If you come to my house I will call the police and tell the whole sordid story, and your precious anonymity will be lost.

Go away. Game over.

Sincerely,

Terri Shea

Hard at work

June 4th, 2009

Hi, all!  Would you believe me if I told you I’ve been busy knitting?  It’s true!  No reall!  Here’s proof:

The Red Sweater.  Ah, RS, how I love thee!  And the Blue Stocking.  I’m a couple inches from the heel.  Not the best shot, but the batteries died.

Last weekend took me to Knitochet in Walla Walla.  Lovely time, lovely people!  Thanks again, Michelle.  I look forward to coming back soon.

Lecture and classes were held at the Kirkman House Museum.  Hot but pleasant!

And then the sign welcoming me home, just off the freeway.  God, I love Seattle.

I’m giving an interview to Alison at L is for Latte today.  You’ll have to watch her blog to see when she posts it.

roses & pomegranates

May 12th, 2009

is as done as she’s going to get this year.  1.0 release, ok? Even poor Prudence is so overwrought that she’s gotten into the dandelion wine again. There, there, dear. It will be all right.

http://www.spinningwheel.net/?page_id=134

Jenny? Check out your big sister!

April 29th, 2009

Auction dress slideshow.