Episode 79: Craft and Protest

Hello crafter people. . . I sat down to share some ideas about craft and protest: how they might be connected and relevant to one another. And, at your request, a look at some diverse Speculative Fiction and Science Fiction reading that you might find hopeful at this historic moment. Then, on to the small amount of distracted knitting I’ve been able to do: work on my blanket and some advice about gradient yarn and pinhole cast ons. If you’d like something actionable, and need some yarn, from June 7th to June 14th I’ll be donating 50% of the “Shop My Stash” sale (on Ravely) to organizations fighting for social justice and racial equity.** I am thinking of all of you during the protests and pandemic–please take good care of each other. ~Melissa

**Please note that I cannot ship internationally at the moment, due to the pandemic

SHOW NOTES:

Here is a list of the books and short stories I mentioned in the cast (there are so many more to explore that I haven’t named here . . .):

• Parable of the Sower & Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
• Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond
• Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture
• Iraq+100
• Shades Within Us: Tales of Migration and Fractured Borders
• Resist: Tales from a Future Worth Fighting Against
• A People’s Future of the United States
• W.E.B. Dubois, “The Comet”
• George Saunders, “Semplica Girl Diaries”

Free, online course from UIUC on Race and Cultural Diversity in American Life and History (select the non-certificate option)

• Pinhole Cast-on from Staci of VeryPink Knits
• M1A Tutorial
• M1T Tutorial