Earth Day 2009 - Stockton
Four of our members attended at the Earth Day Event at Victory Park in Stockton. We did this as a last-minute thing; the topic came up one Saturday at SNB and we just played with it and inquired out of curiosity to see if we could participate. We managed to squeak in under the wire and had two and a half weeks to come up with the ideas we wanted to present.
After perusing the Internet for ideas, we decided to focus on "Making your own Knitting Supplies", "Felted Sweaters", "Recycling Sweaters for Yarn" and "Make your own Yarn". We also shared some information about making your own shopping bags instead of getting plastic ones, and how manufacturers are coming out with eco-friendly, recycled and organic yarns. It was also suggested that we engage the children's interest by teaching to knit on their fingers or with a loom.
We worked non-stop at knitting, crocheting, cutting and sewing our samples, as well as several runs to area thrift stores for materials. A quick dig through Misha's stash yielded bushels of donated yarn in various bright colors, which was all hanked, washed, dried and spun into balls either ahead of time or on that day. We put together a knitting tote with a recycled cotton sweater's yarn, and handmade wooden needles.
The day of, we arrived at 8 am to begin setup and last-minute touches. By 10 am, we were ready to go, with everything laid out and ready to go. A little later, once of our members arrived with silkworms to show one source of natural fiber. We started seeing people trickle into our area, and kids started to cluster around our winding swifts and wanted to learn to knit. We answered a lot of questions and hopefully got people thinking of alternate DIY craftiness. Thankfully, our two awnings provided relief from the 90 degree weather.
Photos of the Event
