a little red hen

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Remembering the zine, Knit a Condom Amulet

Usually find something to read in New Yorker's "The Talk of the Town."  Griffin Dunne's first visit to the Museum of Sex stopped me with relevance to my current moment. 

Took me back to 2008 before we left NYC. Ron Bloom and I dressed up for the Museum's opening.  Seems there were many Condom Amulets scattered about.  Did I make those?  Someone else?  Took one of my favorite casual photos of Ron waiting in line.Image 7-21-17 at 3.17 PM

IMG_5335That, however, was then.  Nine years later my thoughts turn to where IMG_5371 am I going electronically speaking.  My friend Ruth Ann Barrett challenged me--in a very nice way--recently.  Talking about this began with my being alerted to the zine world again.  What morphed into my other blog, Knit a Condom Amulet,   It began life as a small paper zine.

HIV infection in women and men over 50 has not declined in the last decade.  According to the Centers for Disease Control, they account for 25% of those infected.  Amfar reports, "The proportion of AIDS diagnoses among women has more than tripled since the early days of the epidemic, from 7% in 1985 to 25% in 2014. Approximately one in four people living with HIV are women. Of the total estimated number of women living with diagnosed HIV in 2015, 61%were African American."  

Untitled 9 (1)Still work to do there in telling the story...maybe a new place online where I gather together my parts as a Conceptual Artist.  Takes in almost everything I've done since last 20th century--Feminism, of course, knitting worms, "This Dirt Museum: the ladies' room, the NO WAR peace action, bread making...
IMG_5335 IMG_5327 (1)
IMG_5381 IMG_5376
IMG_5335
 

 
It's clear I have to get organized.  Tomorrow there's the Zine Symposium.  Kind of 19989292_10154702170486074_6381841138952421575_ndaunting. Have a new zine focused on old people vis a vis young people.  Have already been to couple of meetings, mostly young women, gracious, helpful.  Took my picture, put it on their Facebook page.  More later...

 

Posted by a little red hen on July 21, 2017 in APPLIED Feminism, Knit A Condom Amulet, New York City, Portland, Oregon, Safe Sex | Permalink | Comments (0)

CRAFTS for protest: make your own IUD

Golly, if it had not been for that awful Supreme Court decision, would we have gone all creative, women.  Little advertising at the front, followed by such helpful DIY instructions.

THANK YOU, HOBBY LOBBY!!

Isn't this a good time to pick up those needles and Knit a Condom Amulet?  Choose from seven classic patterns developed by talented knitters.

 

Related articles
Two Knit Condom Amulets: Like & Share
Protesters To Hand Out Condoms At Burbank Hobby Lobby Store
Attention Hobby Lobby Employees: Learn How To Make A DIY IUD
Cheap and Safe Birth Control Alternatives From Hobby Lobby
The Most Creative Ways That People Are Protesting The Hobby Lobby Ruling
"Super Gonorrhea" calls for Condom Amulets, this Grandma sez

Posted by a little red hen on July 11, 2014 in APPLIED Feminism, Everyday Politics, LIFELONG Learning, Little Red Hens, Safe Sex, Yarn Life, Fiber Art | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two Knit Condom Amulets: Like & Share

It is a beautifully designed knit garment.  The Condom Amulet as Bra. 

Bra and breast pouch

Statistics for KNIT A CONDOM AMULET, my other blog, reveal this underwear with its artfully attached condom holder to be THE ONE most viewed.  Looks challenging to make but is basically two triangles.  Lisa Daehlin's separate Breast Pouch, requires a little more skill but can be used as both inner and outerwear--and holds up to five condoms.

Breast pouch

Next most popular choice is her famous dishcloth adapted by Kay Gardiner for the  Ballband Keychain Amulet.

  Ball band amulet

World_logo1December One, 2013.  World AIDS Day again.  Locally Oregon/Washington has Worldaidsdaynw-2013
targeted the individual in their "one person at a time" campaign, wants community groups to do more in the challenge: raising awareness about HIV prevention. 

Portland media were facinated by "yarn bombing" of public sculptures last week.  Earlier in the century, it was known as "guerrilla or graffiti knitting"  Mayor Charlier Hales applauded the practice (unvieling ceremony).

Mayor unvielsToo intense for my own good, I disappointed an enthusiastic friend with my comment that there were better ways to expend many yards of fiber. "What would that be?"  Now I have an answer, Sandy.

Worldwide KNIT IN PUBLIC DAY happens Saturday, June 14, 2014.  PDX Knitterati, my earliest link to the Portland knit world, could give me input on finding the energy behind this latest crafting extravaganza.  Would these folks pick up their needles and their crochet hooks to teach others how to Knit A Condom Amulet--in public around town?   Stay tuned.  

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18 million free government condoms confirmed fake; no compensation yet to users
Condoms Handed out as Prizes...
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I love how every condom advertisement comes down to having to shame men to put condoms on. From my...

Posted by a little red hen on November 30, 2013 in APPLIED Feminism, Everyday Politics, Knit A Condom Amulet, Little Red Hens, Safe Sex, Yarn Life, Fiber Art | Permalink | Comments (5)

Dance with me...on the upper west side

New to Facebook, there are discoveries to be made.  One of the best is discovery of what Friends like.  My New York City friend, Lisa Daehlin, opera singer and knitter par excellence, who created for my other blog the lacy, pink Bra & Breast Pouch Condom Amulet (the one that gets the most hits on that site), sent me back to the City.

 

Found at her link to Clowns ex Machina. Reminded me of outdoor lunches and dinners we shared at cafes along Broadway.  

Many other pleasures from the Clowns. In another YouTube the famous ballerina, Natalia Makarova, also in costume, describes onstage disasters. Charming and funny.  Impressive that a performer of her stature could laugh at herself with such delight.

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Dance with me...on the upper west side

Posted by a little red hen on October 26, 2013 in APPLIED Feminism, Knit A Condom Amulet, New York City, Safe Sex, Yarn Life, Fiber Art | Permalink | Comments (5)

Women: watch Wendy Davis, brave Texas legislator, as she holds off the War on Women

 

Definitely a woman politician to watch to safeguard the future of our granddaughters and grandsons.

Wendy-Davis-010

                                                                [photo: Eric Gay, AP]

Posted by a little red hen on June 25, 2013 in AMERICAN VIOLENCE, APPLIED Feminism, Everyday Politics, Safe Sex | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Tags: choice, texas legislature, war on women, wendy davis

Video that solves EVERYTHING

 

Many thanks to Pied Type who posted this CURE.  For what, you ask.  Listen and discover!  

Posted by a little red hen on March 21, 2013 in AMERICAN VIOLENCE, APPLIED Feminism, Everyday Politics, LIFELONG Learning, Peace, Safe Sex | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

One Billion Rising: a more loving Valentine to all of us

 

  

 

Rise wherever you are with me, with our sisters around the world.

Posted by a little red hen on February 14, 2013 in AMERICAN VIOLENCE, APPLIED Feminism, Everyday Politics, Feminism, Grandmotherhood Now, Little Red Hens, Safe Sex | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Tags: end violence against women, one billion rising

ROE v. WADE is forty: CHOICE still needs your support

 

Ultra Violet teamed up with Daily Show co-creator and producer, Lizz Winstead about what's at stake on the 40th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.  I'm on my way to a Planned Parenthood event where Sarah Weddington will give the address.  She was the lawyer who took Roe to the Supreme Court.

More later....

Posted by a little red hen on January 22, 2013 in AMERICAN VIOLENCE, APPLIED Feminism, Everyday Politics, LIFELONG Learning, Little Red Hens, Safe Sex | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

World AIDS Day Naked Demo Targets Rep. Boehner

On November 27, House Speaker Boehner probably had  his own plans for December One, World AIDS Day.  What do you think he had in mind?  Greater funding, a call for more increased Congressional focus on HIV prevention?  


AIDS demonstrators                                                                                
Whatever....seven AIDS activists, women and men, preempted him by appearing unannounced four days before the designated Day.  Without clothes, decorated with painted messages on their bodies.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

"Budget cuts are really rude. That's why we have to be so lewd," they chanted.  The men eluded police but four women were arrested.  This gave them the "opportunity" to give more details about funding cuts.  Jennifer Flynn of Global Health Access spoke for the group to WAMU Radio.

"We're having everything ripped off of us. We're going to be left with nothing, people with AIDS in this country and around the world need to have PEPFAR funded — the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief." 

The protesters represented many organizations worried that more than $1 billion in budget cuts could hit HIV and AIDS programs if pending budget cuts aren't diverted before January.

MANTHONG
Since December 1, 2007, when my other blog, Knit a Condom Amulet began, I've wondered about its usefulness as a  message about HIV awareness.  But when I check my stats on how many times people click on it, seems it's still relevant.

Five years later, reports appear about the rise in HIV cases in young gay men in urban areas, more cases in financially troubled Greece and 200 new cases each day in Russia. And women?  Learning in 1995 about growing numbers of HIV in women over 50 was the startling information that initially grabbed my attention. According to the 2012  Kaiser Foundation on HIV/IDS policy:

...women represented 8% of diagnoses in 1985, 20% in 1995, and 27% in 2000, a similar share as today.

Condom amulet pictured above is a close-up of the conveniet pocket on the ManThong designed by New York artist Amanda Gale.  One of John Boehner's naked visitors might knit one and appear next in his next locker room--before one of his frequent golf games. 

 

 

 

 

Posted by a little red hen on December 01, 2012 in APPLIED Feminism, Everyday Politics, Knit A Condom Amulet, Safe Sex | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

"Super Gonorrhea" calls for Condom Amulets, this Grandma sez

Only one antibiotic left to treat gonorrhea we heard yesterday on local NPR station.  Scary news.  Another 20th century problem--like birth control, women's right to choose, equal pay--that we thought were secured.

Wrong.  Graphically described by the Atlantic's James Hamblin, an M.D.

Did you know gonorrhea can kill you? It can, and it's also tragically effective at making women infertile. According to her journals, my great aunt Mabel was "barren," and my grandmother always told me it was probably from gonorrhea. The only reason we don't hear about these awful complications more often -- and we instead think of it as a little oops of an infection ("Can I still drink on these antibiotics?" "Yes." "Cool.") -- is because we've been able to kill it early with relative ease.

Back into my public health mode, here's a copy of a page from my other blog, Knit a Condom Amulet, originally posted in 2007, when I still lived in New York City.  Its purpose was and is to share pattern ideas with knitters for a way to begin conversations about safe sex.  Original focus was on HIV awareness for women over 50--a problem we learned about in 2005--its applicability is unlimited.  

Condom designs may be different now (NYC iconic package has changed but FREE availability still holds).  56,000 page views since Knit a Condom Amulet began.  Many more through its group at Ravelry. 

In 2012, will we talk to our grown children about talking to their children, our grandchildren?  
 ###

CONDOM SIZES FOR KNIT AMULETS

Because there are a variety of sizes and shapes to condoms, this is a general guide.  Sometimes this will determine how you knit an amulet.  There are so many knit designs yet to be explored--by you.

Condom_nyc_bestCondom_trojan_and_iloveyouThese are variations on the most familiar size, 2-1/4" x 2-1/4" squares.

Condom_night_light_greenAnother square one--lights up in the dark--packaged in a 3" x 3" box.

Condom_black_jack_from_dispenserFrom a dispensing machine (North Carolina, unisex rest room), the "Black Jack" measures 2" x 1-1/4".  Just 50 cents but not latex. 

Condom_round_one

Round condom, 2-1/4" circumference.

Conams_2_blogzine_sizes_condoms007

 Condom_skinny

Lengthwise, smaller container,1/2" x 1" suited to this double-knitted amulet with beads to be worn around the neck.  Or, it could have a pin back.

And the largest package contains the female condom,Condoms_square_dispenser004_edite_3 Condoms_square_dispenser001_edite_2Condoms_square_dispenser001_edite_2 Condoms_square_dispenser001_edite_2 measuring 3-1/4" x 4-3/4".  The condom itself is smaller, so the package can be folded up at bottom. It will then fit into an amulet like this one.  Funky yarn here is a excellent re-use for yarn mistakenly purchased for a garment.  Many possibilites for many gifts of Condom Amulets for friends, family. neighbors--room for several condoms too.

Its bright colors and loop make it easy to locate in a purse.  Or, hang it on your bathroom wall--tuck the female condom behind a Post-It pad if discretion is a concern. Kay Gardiner, designer of the Ballband Key Chain Amulet, suggested this alternative use.

###


 

Posted by a little red hen on August 10, 2012 in APPLIED Feminism, Everyday Politics, Feminism, Grandmotherhood Now, Knit A Condom Amulet, Safe Sex, Yarn Life, Fiber Art | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tags: condom amulets, gonorrhea, grandchildren

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