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Funding a Knitting Collective in the Philippines

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ricefield collective kickstarterThere’s a really cool Kickstarter campaign going on right now that has gotten a really huge response. The Ricefield Collective is a partnership between Meredith Ramirez of Ithaca, N.Y., and the women of the Ifugao region of the Philippines. The women there are traditionally rice farmers, but it is difficult to make any steady income on the small plots of land they farm.

Ramirez grew up in the Philippines and came up with a plan to teach women there to knit and to sell the items to help them stay on their ancestral lands.

The original goal for the Kickstarter was $24,600, enough to buy supplies to launch the group’s first collection — which features designs by Anna Maltz and Stephen West — and get it shipped back to the people who wanted it. As of this writing more than 900 people have pledged more than $56,000 to the campaign, so the new goal is $85,000, which would allow the group to establish a permanent base of operations in the Philippines.

People who donate will receive a pattern collection, items knit by the collective and other goodies. The Kickstarter is open through April 19 if you’d like to help. It’s so cool to see knitters spreading the love, helping other women and quite literally changing the world for the women in the Philippines.

[Photo via the Ricefield Collective.]

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Comments

  1. Good post, keep up the good work… Two things I like about the post, one it is straight forward and two it does not attempt to promote anyone’s position particularly. Well put Sarah.

Have you read?

Knit a Blanket with the Texture of a Ceiling

Knitwear designers can get inspiration from almost anything when it comes to re-creating a color scheme, an image or a texture in stitches. Sometimes the inspiration isn’t always obvious in the finished project, but sometimes it’s more literal. 

That’s the way it is with the Tin Ceiling Blanket from Purl Soho. Not just because the inspiration is in the name, but if you’ve ever seen one of these old ceilings you can see that the design of the blanket is quite similar to the pattern of the tin tiles. 

This is also a good example of the idea that you don’t have to use fancy stitch patterns or lots of color to make a big impact with your knits. This single-color blanket (designed by Gianna Mueller and inspired by a washcloth and towel set designed by Sandi Rosner) is made completely with knits and purls, other than slipped stitches at the beginning of rows to make neater edges. 

The pattern is written out row by row, but there’s also a chart, which means this project is a great opportunity to practice reading a chart where you can check your work against the written pattern if you need to. 

It comes in two sizes, a crib blanket and a throw. The yarn used in the sample is an organic cotton sold by the cone, which is a great way to get a large quantity of yarn and have fewer ends to weave in. In fact, you can knit either size of the blanket with just one cone of yarn, which isn’t inexpensive but makes you a great, sturdy, heirloom quality but still washable blanket you’ll use for years to come. (Of course you can use any sport weight yarn you like to make this blanket.)

Check out all the details and grab the free pattern from Purl Soho. 

[Photo: Purl Soho]