The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is coordinating the International Year of Natural Fibres (IYNF). Their website is fairly dry and totally fails to excite, but I heard Linda Cortright, the editor of Wild Fibers magazine, speak about it at TNNA in January and everyone in the room became positively giddy with excitement. I couldn't find information about some of the programs she talked about, but I'll keep you posted as they come to light.

According to said dry website, here's what the program is all about:

"The main goal of the International Year of Natural Fibres is to raise the profile of these fibres and to emphasise their value to consumers while helping to sustain the incomes of the farmers. In addition, the International Year will:

* promote the efficiency and sustainability of the natural fibres industries;
* encourage appropriate policy responses from governments to the problems faced by natural fibre industries;
* foster an effective and enduring international partnership among the various natural fibres industries."

I like to think of the program as being about:

I've always preferred natural fibres to synthetics—for how they feel and for their other qualities, and because it's important to me to support fibre-animal raisers, eco-friendly fibres (note that not all natural fibres are raised/grown or processed in environmentally friendly ways), and sustainable fibre-related businesses.

Are you aware of any IYNF events in your area? Got any stories to share about why you like working with natural fibres?

Creative Commons Flickr photo credits (top to bottom): tinou bao, Stevie-B, flydime, ktylerconk, Jule_Berlin.

Artist Kristina Wong needs our help, and it's help that should be pretty easy to give. Why? Because all she needs is for crocheters and knitters to send her an unfinished project we know we'll never finish. Here are the deets, in her words:

Your unfinished sweater, 5" scarf, or one-sided poncho can be famous for fifteen minutes or more if you donate it to Wong's set of "Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Don't be ashamed you never finished what you started. Donate now and feel good for letting your abandoned project transform into a live piece of art. All donators will receive "set construction" credit in the program wherever this show tours.

Why unfinished projects? "Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" explores the sky-high rates of mental illness and suicide among Asian Pacific Islander American Women. APIA women have the highest rates of suicide in the country in a statistic that seems to be widely unpublicized and often disregarded. The unfinished projects collection represents women's work, incomplete intentions, "spinning a yarn," and loneliness. During the show, Kristina uses the projects to represent "unravelling" women and even unravels some of them on stage. These knitted and crocheted pieces may also be displayed as part of an art installation later in the run.

Thanks to the popularity of Kristina's show, Vogue Knitting featured an article about it in their Spring/Summer 2007 issue. It is also being remounted in Los Angeles.

See Kristina Wong's "Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," from September 19, 2008 to October 5, 2008, Fridays to Saturdays, at the Santa Monica's Miles Memorial Playhouse (1130 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90403). Click here to buy tickets in advance.

Here's how you can participate:

1) We love yarn and knitting projects that come in any color OTHER than black and white.
2) Remove your needle or hook from the piece. If possible run some waste yarn through the loops. No need to bind off. I'd prefer if it wasn't!
3) Write a note describing yourself, why you knit, and what the project was supposed to be and why it never came to be.
4) Send your unfinished knitting projects by SEPTEMBER 15, 2008 to:

Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
C/O Kristina Wong
PO Box 251664
Los Angeles, CA  90025

No projects will be returned (you will probably be grateful for this). If you offer your name, I will credit you in the program.

For our LA run, it looks like we have just locked in donations of yarn from Artyarns and will be giving FREE SKEINS to knitters and crocheters who flash their hooks or sticks at the door!

Tomorrow evening—Monday, 23rd June at 9pm Eastern (that's 6pm Pacific, so I won't even be sleepy)—I'll be on Mary Beth Temple's Getting Loopy call-in podcast show. Have a listen, wontcha? And call in with questions. I've never done a live show before, and I'm psyched! We'll talk about Interweave Crochet, Knitting Daily TV, and all sorts of other crochet stuff.

Save the Date: Thursday, May 29, 5:30-8pm
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum Residents' Dining Hall
800 South Halsted
Chicago, IL

The book launch includes an official book-signing event and runway presentation featuring the designs from Double Stitch: Designs for the Crochet Fashionista by Erika and Monika Simmons (Interweave Press, May 2008). Don't forget to bring your copy of the book for Erika and Monika to personally autograph! (Books will also be available for sale at the event.) Desserts and refreshments will be served. Please rsvp to info-AT-doublestitchwear.com.

I had the pleasure of meeting Erika and Monika during the TV taping a few weeks ago, and they're awesome. About the sweetest uber-cool people I've ever met. I wish I could be there to celebrate their new book. You'll have to tell me all about it!

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of talking to Marly of the YarnThing podcast. She brought up several topics including what I'm looking to accomplish through Interweave Crochet, how the submission process works, CrochetMe.com, and more. If you have 45 minutes to spare, have a listen (you don't need an iPod). If questions pop up, ask over on the IC blog and I'll do my best to answer. I hope to talk to Marly more in the future.

[x-posted at Interweave Crochet]

Tags: YarnThing, podcast, interview

I've never been to Minnesota, so it's pretty surreal that the twenty-four hours I'll spend there this weekend will mostly be spent in a hotel and a huge mall. Tens of thousands of folks are expected to come to the huge event, and if you're among them I hope to meet you!

I'll only be there Sunday (the 17th), and this is where you'll be able to find me:

11:00: I'll be doing a demo on how to make Babette-Blanket-like granny squares at Table A.

12:30: I'll be signing books in the Rotunda.

Come say hello! I'll also spend some time at the Interweave booth and I'm looking forward to walking around and checking out what's going on.

At the end of the day Sunday I'll be catching a flight to Colorado to put the spring issue of the magazine to bed, so I might be incommunicado for the next couple of weeks. Wish us luck!

Nearly a week has passed, and I'm still giddy from the Crochet Me book launch. Giddy, exhausted, and in a frenzy to catch up on work.