Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!  

 – Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus” (1883),  written onThe Statue of Liberty

After I wrote earlier about the things I did and didn’t do during my summer freedom, my dear friend Joni reminded me that I did knit a lot over the summer.  She reminded me that that was one of my goals and thus deserved mention in my list of accomplishments.

One late night toward the end of July, my daughter wandered into the den, interrupting my nightcap with Stephen Colbert, and asked me if I wanted to knit a blanket.  One blanket was better than the night she was in high school and strolled in saying that the girls on her soccer team liked the hat that I had made her; would I make nineteen more for all the girls on the team?  Being the pleaser that I am, I said sure.  I did ask a friend to help so I only ended up making about half of the hats…in less than a week.   One blanket seemed like a piece of cake.  I asked what said blanket was for.

A friend of hers from college was helping with an installation art project at the Smart Museum at the University of Chicago, which is where my daughter went to college.  I told her that I would do it; send me the details.  This is what I got:

“The proposed border wall between the United States and Mexico is almost 2000 miles long. Imagine if the massive distance of this wall was re-conceptualized and re-contextualized not to divide, but to include. Instead of wall, a concrete line, to keep people out, what if lines of yarn became 3,500,640 yards of blankets to welcome people in?

A welcome blanket is traditionally created to lovingly mark the arrival of a new person into the world. In the Welcome Blanket project, each handmade blanket is a physical manifestation of this celebration of new refugees and other immigrants: “Welcome to the United States and your new life here! We are so glad you have arrived.”

We want you to join us! Make a blanket and share your story as a gift to a new immigrant to the United States.

If a 40”x 40” throw blanket averages 1200 yards, Welcome Blanket requires about 3200 blankets to reach 2000 miles of length.

The blankets you make, along with your enclosed notes, will be displayed together in an inaugural show at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago beginning July 18 through December 17. After the show’s close, the blanket packages will be distributed to refugees and other immigrants through resettlement organizations.”

After getting the full story on the requested blanket, I definitely wanted to participate!

The founder of the Welcome Blanket Project is Jayna Zweiman.  Does that name ring a bell?  She was the creative mind behind the pussyhats, the hand knit pink hats with cat ears worn by millions of woman in Washington D.C. and across the United States in January of 2017 during the woman’s marches that protested the newly elected president’s agenda on woman’s issues.

I made one pussyhat for myself.  I wish I’d made more to share.

With the success of her “creat-ivism” Zweiman decided to ignite the crafting world again, this time directing her attention toward immigration issues.  In his retirement, my husband has started volunteering with the International Rescue Committee.  Issues of immigration and humanitarian aid are foremost in our concerns.  Further confirmation that I needed to be a part of the Welcome Blanket Project.

I finally finished my blanket last night.  I used the simple pattern suggested in the Welcome Blanket Project information.

I chose the colors that I used because they reminded me of the earth, the earth that all people inhabit together.  I still need to write my letter of welcome to the person who will receive my blanket.  I’ll do that this weekend and then my blanket will be on its way to Chicago on Tuesday, after this holiday weekend.

Originally, the deadline to submit blankets was September 5th, but it has been extended to November 4th, in case any of you would like to be a part of this amazing project.  With another two months before this new deadline, I am about to start my second blanket!

I should also mention that the night that my daughter gave me the information on this project, I immediately shared it with my friend Joni (mentioned above.)  She rounded up some yarn and needles and began working on a blanket, finishing and mailing hers before I did mine.

Please visit the Welcome Blanket Project website to read more about this worthwhile show of support for immigrants to the United States.

Spread the word: