Craftivism, Escapism and the Pantone Colour of 2024: Knitting a 1940s Pixie Hood 

So what are your thoughts about peach fuzz?

Your pixie hat pattern brought back childhood memories. Sometime in the early 1960’s my mother knit the child's pixie hat that is on the cover for me. I remember it was very warm. And a bit itchy. I think your peach fuzz pixie hat is delightful. And if it helps restore and refresh a world-burdened heart, so that you can approach the new day with kindness and willingness, then it is perfect! harpingJanet

Yes! Craftivism and craft based escapism can coexist! Spinning lets me sooth my brain, knit cozy things with local yarn, support local farmers and have conversations about clothing supply chains. I'm going full Rumplecore aesthetic in 2024 😂

The first time you said “cottage core” I misheard it as “college core.” I was like… so, PJ pants and a school hoodie?

I love the colour effect of combining the two yarns, it gives this gentle variation that feels very soothing. There's a lot to be said for craftivism because like, at the end of the day, if you drive yourself insane or worse, you're not going to be able to help anyone, but using your own personal self-care and healing to bring joy and/or awareness to the world still matters.

I like peaches and I like fuzz (the guitar effect), so I like peach fuzz ❤

I love this video topic so much! My agriculture sustainability and biosecurity club in college are currently brainstorming ways to combine crafting and activism as well. Your video made me think that putting care packages together that has an item that we made as well as include tools and supplies so that the recipient can enjoy the process of making something too. Like knit a hat for them, but also include some yarn and knitting needles so they can feel a sense of grounding in making something for themselves too. Ah! The more I think about it the more I want to do it! Thank you for the inspiration 🧶🙏🏽💗

Pixie hood and peach fuzz - fills me with nostalgia and a yearning for a time when being a pixie really was something to aim for in life. A heart-warming episode. thank you

My crafting is definitely a form of escapism, but it keeps me sane. Peach fuzz isn’t a color that I wear, but I have very cuddly soft flannel bedding in that color, and I love it.

That hood is absolutely fantastic and I think I need to find a pixie hood pattern that calls to me immediately! The color isn't my style, but I really love the variegated hues we can see when you showed the large swatch of progress. I think the serendipity of you just happening to buy "peach" and "fuzz" yarn is too perfect and it all works wonderfully together.

Thanks for another wonderful video! Keep up the good work.

It's so adorable on you! Peach fuzz pixie 💛🧚

I know in the USA we have a thing where people will knit/crochet little octopi for babies in the NICU b/c the babies like to grab the cords and they can grab the little octopi arms instead

It looks so cosy and warm, I love it

What a lovely hood! I recently started knitting blankets for kids in need through a US organization. Knitted too much all at once and hurt my hands. Just a little bit, but I'm on a knitting break now and will be practicing better knitting hand health going forward.

This is probably my favourite video youve made. I love hearing your musings. I often feel alone in the things I'm interested in but you always do! Like in your last video when you referenced "I can only count to four" I felt so much more welcome here :)

Craftivism and peach fuzz combination is brilliant!

I crochet hats for foster children. Then out group adds polar fleece scarves and gloves. That package goes out to social services in November. One year i sent 12 monter hats and got back the best thank you note of kids in hats making faces.

Hey. So funny. In december I made a new friend that started to call me cute dharma pixie,because I was constantly wearing my, balaclava. Peach is not a color i would choose but it's a cute peaceful color. Enjoy wearing it. Greetings from Vietnam By the way i am untrendy as well. I used your video to cast on a sweater named floof with mohair

I love it!!! I just made a bonnet but I think a hood is required 🤩

Peach fuzz is pretty and soft. Big fan

Jente, yes it is that deep. Yes, we do! Yes, we can! And on the subject of "peach fuzz;" it's not for me, but as they say, "you do you," and the pixie hood is great!

Hello Dear Chaos Goblin - heres wishing you and all your crafty tribe a fantastically creative year. I've been away since 23 December, arrived home late last night and the first thing I did this morning was grab a cup of coffee and watch your video - yay - will catch up on all the others later. I hope you all had a lovely December holidays time. Your snow outside looks absolutely beautiful and what a wonderful time to wear all your beautiful warm knits including your very cute pixie hat (a few leaves and flowers and an amigurumi bee and butterfly or two will turn it into a very funky festival hat !) We are in our hottest time of year now with temperatures from 28 to 34 degrees celsius (93 F) 🥵. I recieved a ginournous stash of variegated cotton yarns for my birthday (28 dec - 60 yrs old now 😛) and making something "craftivism" sounds like a damn fine plan. Your peach fuzz is real pretty - and I am not a peachy girl - that company should call their peach fuzz "the Jente" because I am sure they got the idea of peach fuzz when they saw you buying the two skeins !!

Hi Jente, I hope you're OK xx ❣️❣️❣️ Thankyou so much for sharing this video podcast. I love your Puxie Hood. I had one in the exact same pattern and almost the same colour ( pink). That was back in the 1959. I know exactly what you mean about the cold affecting your ears. Hence came my Pixie Hood my mum made mine. (yes I am that old or young)!!! Happy Spinning and Knitting Fibre Friend 🎡🧶🐑🥰 Take care, stay safe and warm 🤗🌞🔥 Lots of love and Big Hugs Jen xxxx ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🐕

looks good may have to see if i have a pattern in my old patterns

It looks very cute! Giving teletubby vibes, in the best way possible!

The colour of your pixie hat really makes your eye colour pop! Love it

Great success!

❤

Super cute hat, and good thoughts! ❤

Fun

So cute

The charitable organizations I follow always say that simple MONEY is the most effective way to help. But other than that, I think local organizations are the best to give to- check what they are accepting in terms of type of object and material. I made and donated a blanket to Project Linus, they accept any size blanket in any craft that is machine washable, and give them to kids in school shootings, patients in hospice, or anyone who needs a blanket.

All countries/ages have people in need. I like to concentrate locally - we (my Yarn With Us group) make blankets for the local Crisis Organisations, such as the Emergency Relief, various churches, Red Cross and more to distribute as the need arises. We are also adding hats and scarves. Although I live in a small shire (30,000 people) we have upwards of 500 people who are homeless at any one time. These are catered for by the Salvation Army and other groups, who will also have access to our blankets etc. I have been making blankets for organisations for many years, but my efforts have increased within the current political and economic atmosphere. We do not experience the extreme cold you do, so most of my efforts are based on thrifted acrylics - but what I sent to the Syrian Refugee camps was all wool. Lots of opportunities - and yes, I do consider this Rebellion, as so many Influences concentrate on making trendy garments for themselves. Some even complaining they do not have room to house all their sweaters, or enough cool days to wear them. While I make for me also, I try not to make more than I can reasonably wear. The rest are for someone else, and as my family is full of 3 (current) generations of experienced Needlewomen, the someone else is going to be someone outside my family. Its that or live with a towering hoard of finished objects... I will stop now, or this comment with be several pages long. I discuss this kind of thing with my friend Marti on our new RU-vid channel "Craft With Us"

Could we do a craftivism project with the discord community? I don't have any concrete ideas, but maybe we could do a brainstorm there to see if anyone has a good idea.

Two things- when you said Pixie hood, I was busy doing something and thought it was a social construct or group, e.g., Pixiehood! Secondly, check out the Social Justice Quilt project. It is a really great cause and it produces some amazing craft outcomes. When it comes to patterns and yarns I am counter trend. I look for patterns with no or few (less than 10) Ravelry projects, and all of the patterns except one were great, and the exception had a single error in the color work chart, still a lovely result.

I too was looking for organizations that accept handmade makes in the vein of the Linus project but I couldn’t find any around here, that is France

The peach fuzz pixie hood is gorgeous. I have mixed feelings about the colour peach fuzz. When I see it on a screen or even on a rack in a shop, I like it. So, yes, I definitely like your hood. However, on me, it doesn't look all that great. So it's unlikely that I will use it to make anything for myself. Craftivism - ooh, you opened at least one tin of worms there. People have pointed out in the comments that charities tend to ask for money, rather than goods. Now, some of that can relate to the goods people donate being unsuitable but there are other circumstances where the goods are thoroughly suitable and either the charity is unable to transport the goods/afford the cost of transporting the goods or they're just plain playing silly buggers and the last case raises questions about the legitimacy of the charity. And then there is the question of what the craftivist wants to achieve. There is some intersection between charity and activism but there are times when the two are distinctly separate, possibly even times when they are antithetical. I'm thinking of governments relying on charities to keep the poorest people in the country fed and clothed. If those charities didn't take up that slack then the government would actually have to address those issues. A lot of charities are stop-gap measures between life and death but giving a homeless person a hot meal is half a world away from dealing with the issues that led to that person being homeless or putting that person in a situation where they are earning enough to pay rent and eat, let alone going beyond that. Arguably, especially when the government is happily relying on charities to fulfil these stop-gap positions, the charities are helping to maintain an unjust status quo.

My least favourite colours of pink and coral orange together at last! 😂 I am however knitting my aunt a fuzzy hat out of fur from her st Bernard - looks like mohair! Cannot stop calling it chien-gora

I am not a knitter, I crochet , but I would love to take knitting lessons from you

Craftivism and crafting for one's mental health can coexist, coz if your mental health takes a nosedive, you'll be no good at helping others even if you want to. I think I'll pass on the peach- it makes me look ill, but bring in the fuzz!

In a world that wants to profit from our despair, what's more subversive than refusing to give up dreaming of a better world?

Personally I love a good peach but its not a color I use much outside lipstick lol

That hood is actually adorable!!! My favorite color is pink, I would wear the fu*k out of that!!! Also, when you say your name, I can’t quite make out what it is. Can you tell me your name? I’m Melissa but I tend to go by my childhood nickname “Lissy”.

Heb geen directe organisaties in gedachten ik weet wel dat leger des heils altijd sokken vraagt. Maar is er niet altijd behoefte aan sokken bij daklozen tehuizen? Dat zal dan bij de vluchtelingen opvang misschien ook wel zo zijn.

I don’t watch the news. I have turned it off and I must say my life is a lot less daunting and I can actually get out of bed in the morning. ✌️

Hah Reddit can go stand on their heads, I am someone who habitually knits fuzzy yarn (I am slightly addicted to La Droguerie's Voilette) into stuff :D. I am currently knitting a cowl balaclava that is pretty much fuzzy in it's entirety :D. Maybe Moeders voor Moeders is also a good charity? I know they accept all sorts of donations, so perhaps baby and children's knits? Worth checking out right?

I don't have any suggestions for you. I am trying to rebel against corporate conumerism by knitting and repairing my own clothes, but I think you are already doing that.

cute