Happy Friday, friends. I’ve got a nice varied stack of Elsewhere links for you below, but one tangential one first — from Grace Bonney as she closed Design Sponge after 15 years, a bit of advice I can simultaneously nod along with and continue to learn from, and I hope others will too: How to handle (and learn from) being called out. Please read and pass it along!

• Well said, Denise, and obviously about knitting as well: “Sewing has taught me that I’m in charge of the image I present to the world.”

• Does anyone have a spare copy of this to sell me?

• I love this crochet swimsuit

• The fashion industry’s diversity problem

• Three new-to-me, WOC-owned, slow-fashion brands I’m loving: Emme (totally brilliant upcycling and more), Chelsea Bravo (hand-painted casual wear) and Proclaim (“inclusive nude” bras and bodysuits)

• Maybe this is the one to get me going: Quilted hexagon potholders (perhaps at coaster size?)

• This sleeve swatch [heart eyes!] — and it takes me back to this ol’ gem

• “Systematic overproduction just isn’t sustainable, no matter how you spin it.”

• This doll outfit in my size, please (Which takes me back to these beauties!)

• Next-level yoke (click the little right arrow on the first image)

• Stunning shibori

• And wowwwwww

IN SHOP NEWS: We’ve got the brand-new MDK Field Guide No. 12: Big Joy! And so much more …

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PREVIOUSLY: Elsewhere

This has been a distressing week in the US (one of far too many of its kind), and you know I feel so strongly that every one of us needs to be informed and engaged and to work for peace. (Boy have my thoughts on how advanced these past three years.) But we also have to take care of ourselves and keep up our strength, which means being present with the people we love and also allowing ourselves to disappear into our knitting or sewing for a minute, to catch our breath and boldly face the world again.

I’ve got a mixed bag of links for you today, for your edification and/or enjoyment; I’ll see you back here on the other side of what I hope will be a comparatively peaceful weekend—

— Squam’s diversity-and-inclusion panel from last month has since been posted online. It’s long, so maybe watch it in chunks if you need to, but I hope you’ll watch

— I love every word of this interview with Oaxacan weaver and natural dyer Porfirio Gutiérrez: No one told us we were artists (via)

— Podcast eps I’m eager to listen to: The Dressed interview with Joy Bivins on the history of the Ebony Fashion Fair and the debut of Ceci Knits the World

— I’m in MDK’s debt for linking to Lorilee Beltman’s brilliant video about how to memorize the Kitchener Stitch — I always have to remind myself which way it goes and will never need to again!

— … and also for asking Jillian Moreno the question I’ve always wanted to ask someone: the difference between fingering-weight yarn and sock yarn

— Remember that wrapped hoop earring tutorial? Anne updated it on her own blog — and look at this lovely espadrille project

— Why the American shoe disappeared, and why it’s so hard to bring it back

— and totally fascinating use of a sock blank

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On an unrelated note, I want to acknowledge the loss of Toni Morrison this week, which feels especially sharp within this particular news cycle. I don’t really even have the words for it, but I loved this passage by Tracy K. Smith from one of the many NYT tributes I’ve read in the past few days:

“… the living monument of Ms. Morrison’s body of work assures me that the language of peace, justice, safety and stability must enter our imagination as they always have — not through the language of policy, but via our willingness to regard one another as worthy of attention and love. Such ideas must be sat with, moved through, married to our vocabularies for love, desire, loss, resentment, remembering, healing and hope. And those vocabularies are the primary terrain of the artist.”

I’ve been saying lately it’s been too long since I’ve read any of her novels. Time to dig back in …

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I woke up to such exciting news yesterday: Kay finished her Logalong sweater! And it’s a beauty. (Back story here.) Which is likely what reminded me that my Log Cabin Mitts pattern is a great holiday-weekend project, whether you need something portable for travel or an addictive little something to get into (and scrounge leftovers for) on a quiet weekend at home.

Here’s a longish Elsewhere for the long weekend—

— Never have so many people sent me the same link: ‘Knitting is coding’ and yarn is programmable in this physics lab (NYT link) (thx, everyone!)

— Makers of color: Have you responded to Jen Hewett’s survey for her upcoming book? Just a few days left …

— Settle in for this one: Anni Albers on How to Be an Artist

— I always love reading about the birth of a new yarn

— Obsessed with these scrappy quilted jackets here and here

— Great question

— Canadian councilwoman calls out gender disparity at city council, one stitch at a time — you can see the disparity better here (thx, DG)

— “So, while it’s #memademay and I cheer at the handmade garments in my feed, I also cheer for the mended, darned, repaired, re-dyed, redesigned, or simply beloved clothes we’ve been tending for years. I celebrate the intention, the mindfulness, the awareness. And remember that we all have different resources in time, money, skill, equipment, and craftsmanship for our clothing. And hope that beauty can be the ecology we tend and support in Slow Fashion.“

— “The question is no longer whether it is necessary to improve sustainable business practices, but rather how long it will take before consumers stop buying from brands that do not act responsibly.”⁣

— Dream sweater

— And yes to baby animals in sweaters (but they are planning to pay for photos, right?) (thx, Jen)

On a totally different front, I’ll be reading the Wikipedia short history of Memorial Day, which — as with just about everything — is more rich and complicated than I recall knowing. And we’re planning to dust off Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary this weekend, which I’ve only ever seen bits of.

However you’re passing the weekend, wherever you are, I wish you the best — and I’ll see you back here next week!

IN SHOP NEWS: The butterscotch Porter Bin is back in stock, along with the new olive/army Town Bag I’m so thrilled you’re all loving! And all the other lovely goodies, of course.

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PREVIOUSLY: Elsewhere