A Pink Hat

My heart is so full as I write this blog post….

What a wonderful weekend!  This past Saturday, January 21st,  I joined 6 friends and so many other brave souls as we marched in the Boston Women’s March for America.  We were all there to march in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington.  I am not one who loves large crowds in Boston (Boston Marathon Bombing anyone?) and several friends felt the same way but we went regardless.  I am so very proud of us.  I went with some AMAZING women and one great gentleman.  One woman was so powerful, she had just had a walking boot cast taken off after a foot surgery; her foot was still swollen!  So she bought a larger size shoe and walked anyway.  So very inspiring, this woman.  Speaking of women, there were young girls holding signs, elderly women (I saw a few marching with walkers) and every age in between.  There were fathers and husbands and boyfriends and brothers walking as well.  I felt very privileged to walk with all of these people.

I had no idea that this march would be so far reaching!  700+ marches happened around the WORLD over the weekend; in places like Australia, Zambia, Mexico, Kenya, Ecuador, Canada and England…and more.  This makes me laugh joyfully and also cry with sentimentality at the fact that so many people everywhere are thinking of us and lifting us up.  We were there for many different reasons but we all marched for equality, democracy and justice.

As for my handmade makes (you knew there were some, right?), well first I made seven fleece pussy hats.  I used the pattern on the website by Celia, called Celia’s fleece hat.  I did make the hats wider by about 2 inches and I sewed an actual triangle for the ears.  My pink fleece was from Joann fabrics.  I gave them out to the five friends above (and myself) and gave the last to one of our local librarians, who happened to be at the train station as we were heading in to Boston.  Since we weren’t supposed to bring backpacks to the march, I scoured the local TJ Maxx to find a small crossover bag to bring my essentials in.  The only one I found was $100 and well, that wasn’t happening.  Instead I bought a pack of clear polyurethane makeup storage bags and used the large one to make my own crossover bag.  Also found at TJ Maxx was a long rainbow-ish colored luggage strap.  I cut off the hardware and slightly burned the end of the straps with a lighter, so they wouldn’t fray.  Then I sewed each end of the strap to each side of the bag.  I also cut off a little of the strapping for the inside of the bag to reinforce when I sewed the strapping on.  The total cost was $14.   Viola, the bag was made and I could carry my essentials, and the Boston Police would be happy as they could see into the bag and know that I wasn’t concealing anything.

As for the march, I will let the signs tell the story: