Textiles and Bicycles

Things have been very exciting lately. My new Phildar catalogues arrived today!! Meaning the orange cardigan in this Winter’s catalogue is my next project, but it will be the black cardigan I’ve really been needing lately.

About 5 more knitting-related deliveries are expected.

Someday Classic Elite will have more soft chunky and my order of French Grey will arrive in my recycling bin…(Reggie, my postman is amazing and leaves our packages in the recycling bin with a little note slipped under the door so we don’t have to go to the post office to get our packages)

I also just discovered Etsy. I’m late on this I think, but I have 3 packages on the way as a result of this newfound addiction, such as…

Some lovely stitch markers and lovely needle case.

I love this handmade/vintage revolution. It’s such a great idea to have this marketplace for unique things made by actual humans…ones not in a sweatshop or something equally dehumanizing. It also makes sticking to my no-buying-anything-made-in-China rule much easier–though I should say I’ve strayed a few times…Twinkle yarn is made in China…boo.
People always ask why I do this…
Is it the human rights violations?
Is it the lack of environmental standards?
Is it the fact that because of lax US standards we get the stuff from China that the EU rejects? You know…all that stuff with lead in it (like candy and lipstick)?
I always think this is a funny line of questioning. As though I’m supposed to pick one but be alright with the other truths.
They all pretty much suck. So I try to not support it.
I haven’t cut out buying US products made in developing countries altogether, but that may be a next step. The thing is the Chinese share of imports into the US is astonishingly high and overwhelmingly the largest (at least for consumer goods).

In other news, the Fad Classic vest is almost complete and looks fantastic so far…hopefully it fits.
The yarn used was not made in China. We can all rest easy now.