Learning to Knit Again

Learning how to knit at the age of 9 was challenging, especially since I am left handed. I remember being one of the only girls in my class to actually do the knitting assignments myself. Most girls in my 4^th grade class had their nannies or grandmothers do their knitting homework for them. Although I had a hard time learning how to knit I still loved it, and practiced constantly until I was able to figure out on my own how to combine and create stitches which were new to me. 

Last week, my knitting skills where challenged yet again. I decided to learn how to knit on a machine, with the intention of designing our new Knitting Peace knitwear. Luckily for me my mother in law is an expert knitter (hand and machine) and was kind enough to teach me the basics of machine knitting. After a few hours of playing with the machine, and getting a handle on what mistakes to avoid, I was able to knit this piece.  It’s my first, and I love it… as I loved the first tiny scarf I made, with my pink yarn back in the day of pigtails and chubby fingers.

I know it doesn’t look like much, but it’s a start.

 Learning to Machine Knit

Knitting Peace's coming Winter Line!

Its August already, winter is on its way out in Bolivia (although is still very cold) and the fall is on its way in on the Northern Hemisphere.  This flux in seasons tends to spin me into frenzy. I live in a state of mind of the never ending winter, where I am either designing for the cold, living in it, or traveling towards it.

I am currently both living in it and designing for it. August is an exciting month for Knitting Peace, it’s the month in which we prepare our Fall/Winter line for our clients in the US and Europe.  Our team of knitters is excited to see what new techniques they will learn, and new colors we will be using. They are anxiously waiting for me to get them started on the new line.

This season I felt inspired by the bright colors and thick cozy sweaters displayed on the runways during fashion week. Jade Green, Scarlet Red, Plum and Rust are colors that I loved seeing on the runway. Don’t get me wrong I love Grey, but my girls and I are ready for a more brilliant pallet to work with.

    

   2011 Runway Fashion that is inspiring our new Knitting Peace Line!

 Vogue Knitting

                                     Max Azria Tracy Reese            Alexander Wang, Zero +Maria Cornejo, Karen Walker
                       

                                                          Marc Jacobs                                           Jill Stuart and DKNY

With all the changes happening in Knitting Peace and our plans moving into motion towards expansion, it seems incredibly appropriate that our new line should reflect an expanded and more brilliant look. Our new Alpaca hand knits will be more intricate, colorful and ultra thick and cozy.

We recently purchased a knitting machine for thick yarn, which I just learned how to use. It’s not as easy as it looks, but a lot faster.  At first I resisted the move towards machine knitting, I felt it did not compare to hand knitting and would make our product industrial. However I soon realized that in order to grow and expand, I needed to increase our production capacity significantly which becomes possible by using a knitting machine. The machine allows us to make certain pieces of the garments quicker, and then add intricacies and the cozy touches by hand knitting them on. This also makes the girls work a lot easier and allows for a quicker turnaround of finished product, which translates into more money for them.  The finished product is still ultra soft, however more beautiful and of better quality. We love this, and know that you will too!

Our new line will include hand knit and hand finished products, in bright colors and cozy ultra soft Alpaca fiber Our pieces promise to be thick, long and the sweater you will wear everywhere this winter. We are very excited to launch our new line, so stay tuned on www.knittingpeace.com for more Knitting Peace news to come. 

~Namaste

A new friend from within the Bolivian jail

I experienced a life lesson from a wonderful English woman who happens to find herself incarcerated in Bolivia. She has been “inside” for 3 and half years. Her fair skin, bleached blonde hair and blue eye shadow make her stand out amongst the dark braided hair and colorful long pleated skirts worn by the other female prisoners. At least 90% (if not more) of the women who find themselves in this particular Bolivian jail are of indigenous decent. So my English friend is easy to notice. 

She generally sits close to the worn down empty water fountain built in the middle of the courtyard. Day after day, she sits reading one of her books very peacefully. As an observer I can almost see the chaos spin around her and away. It’s as if she is sitting in the eye of the tornado in complete stillness and peace, while everything around her is seemingly going array, or not… and if so, she doesn’t notice.  On many occasions we’ve had the opportunity to chat, and in her presence I almost forget where I am, she has the amazing gift of emanating stillness and peace.

She is probably somewhere in her fifties, she has 3 sons and had lived many years in South Africa. As in most of the cases of incarcerated women, she had an abusive husband and now recognizes her incarceration as a profound experience. She shared with me that this time “inside”, has taught her to stay inside herself and experience authentic peace. “It was the only way to survive”; otherwise negativity from the jail can seep in very easily and make life miserable. She is grateful for her imprisonment which has taught her the meaning and beauty of being still and living in the present, “inside the jail, nothing changes, every day is the same”. I have only recently met her, but I image much of her has changed from her incarceration, and I am grateful for her lessons, which also teach and remind me to go back inside, into that space where I am home, and loving is the only way to be.   

Once again Viktor Frankels’ message comes to mind, “Everything can be taken from a man or a women but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” 

~Namaste

Knitting Peace at a Crossroad

Knitting Peace is at a crossroads, with two and a half years under our belt, I feel we are ready to step into bigger shoes and the Universe has been pointing us in that direction, bringing forward new opportunities for KP product placement in Europe, the US and South America. This is very exciting, yet requires a reevaluation of our business model.

Our girls are doing a great job in trying to keep up with the new opportunities for product placement and new distribution venues, but it hasn’t been easy. Our team of 15 solid knitters is working around the clock, however their knitting skills and obligations within the jail limit their full time availability to meet all of Knitting Peace’s demands.

After a long hard look at what we have accomplished and where we want to be, it looks like it’s time to consider hiring knitters outside the jail in order to meet the competitive demands of bigger clients worldwide.

So I have made the decision to incorporate experienced knitters outside the jail onto our team, who are seeking opportunities for poverty alleviation and empowerment. Being in Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in the world, I am exposed to a plethora of women who fit this bill, who would love to work for a company that supports their personal development as much as the sustainability of their homes.

These new knitters will comprise our new development design team, and will work out of a small studio (in my home), where we will focus on designing new products. Once the products have been tested and perfected in our local market, our team of knitters within the jail will take over the production of these new designs for placement in external markets via our website and our wholesale venues.

After a few cycles of running through this new process, I plan on creating a new position in our company for a person who will be in charge of our team of knitters within the jail. This person will be very savvy at building and motivating team momentum, as well a inspiring great performance and enhancing the quality of our end product.

I am excited for these new changes, and the opportunity to create new positions within KP in order to delegate tasks which are not my strength and focus on that which is my forte.

This momentum and growth is due to the support of our amazing followers who have helped create awareness about Knitting Peace, and we promise to continue to expand our business while being true to our purpose which has always been and will continue to be to provide opportunities of poverty alleviation and empowerment to women looking for the chance to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of their children.

So, stay tuned for much more Knitting Peace in the future!

Moments to Treasure

I often get caught up on the hamster wheel of doing, running on auto pilot, with a daily list of to do’s, deadlines that must be met, and projects that need to be started. Having a creative mind keeps me very busy, and full of great ideas which I am always starting.

However from time to time, I am reminded or forced to stop and just be; presented with moments which take my breath away and are full of beauty.

Virginia recently joined our team. She was presented to me by a loyal team member, with the promise that they would work together in order to bring Virginia up to speed. Little did I know that Virginia was an experienced knitter, and had been trying to get on Knitting Peace’s radar for some time.

She has been on our team for almost two months, and in that time frame has consistently presented beautiful work with a speed I had not known possible for hand knitting.  However that is not what has impressed me most about Virginia.  What impressed me most is her tremendous capacity to bring lightness and positive attitude to any situation; I find her light heartedness inspiring. I remind you, Virginia and all my knitters are incarcerated, making light heartedness hard to imagine, given their circumstances.

One day, while I was waiting for one of my knitters to show me her work, Virginia sat next to me and began to share her story. She is a mother of 3; her children are 14, 12 and 9, and they currently live with her mother. During her incarceration she has worked in the kitchen or laundry department which provides a monthly wage of less than $50, hardly enough to support 3 children, herself and pay for legal fees.

Virginia shared that she had heard about Knitting Peace and considered trying to get on our team since last year, but was afraid her knitting skills weren't good enough and was intimidated by our work. Luckily for me, she got over that and is now a valued team member, making more than twice the amount she earned in the kitchen or laundry.  Her ability to provide for her children has improved substantially and I am so happy the demand for our beautiful pieces allows me to support her talent and the sustainability of her family.

In this cycle of life, we are all one. One’s needs are joined synchronistically to another’s talent by the invisible light that binds us all. What a blessing and privilege it is for me to support and help that light grow.

Virginia’s specialty: Knitting Peace's Versatile Scarves

Photos by Daniel Caballero

Hackers De-light

A few weeks ago, I experienced every online retail stores worst nightmare… my website disappeared; everything was gone from virtual space, which in my mind’s eye looks like infinite unknown black empty space.

Now most tech-savvy folks would quickly know to have the site’s backup reloaded giving place to the end of the nightmare. However, I am not tech-savvy, nor have I ever cared to be despite the tech savvy advice and teachings of my tech savvy friends (you know who you are).

So, now weeks later, I am stuck and dumbfounded with the news that a Hacker has attempted to steal my web traffic, causing mayhem on my website, and the consequential disappearance of it, with no backup anywhere to be found.

True to character I ran through a cycle of typical reactions, which look like this:

Denial: It’s just a glitch, it will fix itself

Procrastination: I don’t have time to deal with this, so it better fix itself

Hope: It’s not a big deal, help will be provided, the Universe is very generous

Panic: Somebody please help!!! It’s been weeks since my site has been down; I don’t think it’s a glitch

Judgment: Stupid me, how did I let this happened?

Physical manifestation of pain: beyond belief back pain, requiring complete bed rest for 4 days and help for everything…

(I kind of felt like this)

Yep…   a plethora of opportunities for growth, which I can only now see with clarity. Through the lens of a higher perspective, I can laugh at how my human condition had attempted to fix the issue through avoidance and judgment, which inevitably forced me to be completely still and deal with the real issue at hand, which had nothing to do with the website disappearance.

The real issue at hand is how I chose to react, and how I can choose to react differently the next time I am gifted with a situation I have very little knowledge about.  Avoiding asking for help when I don’t have the answers is not a strength but a weakness. Asking for help in most cases can speed up the healing process needed to resolve an issue.  I get it, finally…  I hope, for my husband’s sake, that I do J

What this means for our loyal followers is that Knittingpeace.com is under construction at the moment, and will be back better than ever very soon. Should you feel inspired by one of our pieces, please shoot me an email (Sonia@knittingpeace.com) and I will be happy to assist you. 

My knitters are working full time these days, thanks to all of your support, and our intention is to continue to grow and expand while knitting in peace.

~Namaste