Introducing no. 14...

It's hard to believe we are 2/3 of the way through the peace-along. Yesterday marked over 22,000 downloads with continued increases since that time. Wow, can you believe...22,000 people. This is all because each one of you has told someone who's told someone, etc. Just think if all 22,000 people did that again we could instantly double that number. The astonishing thing is that this number of downloads represents the number of people that have been touched by peace in some way over the last month.

Before we get to today's tip, I want to remind all knitters that December 21 will be "world-wide knit-in for peace" day. We've created a map on Ravelry that allows people to place a pin for their location. Over 1000 pins are already on the map representing countries from all around the world. Please knit for peace on 12/21 whether you knit in solitude, with a friend, your knitting group, at a yarn store, someplace in public, make it your own celebration for peace. I read somewhere that a group is knitting at their local yarn store and lighting candles. So many ways but let's make sure everyone knows about it. And might I suggest that if you are reading these posts and are not a knitter perhaps consider doing something extra special on December 21st in the name of peace.

The compassion and creativity that has arisen over the past 14 days provides hope that peace can prevail. Thus far we've discussed what peace means to us, a few strategies to provide inner peace, reached out to others in a peaceful way and now we are going to begin thinking about the bigger picture. People have come together from around the world to embrace peace. Recall, my idea was to create world peace by helping individuals choose peace...if I could get people around the globe to do this then I jokingly said it'd be world peace.  

Thank you to Margot Kirby (daughter), her husband and mother (Viki, victoriasews [Ravelry]). Photo used with permission

One daughter asked her mother "what would you like for Christmas?" The mom replied "world peace." The daughter and her husband joined hands and created "world peace."  

This photo says everything about world peace...hand in hand we come together despite our differences for the good of all. 

Let's get to today's tip...

Peace tip #14...

Sit down with your knitting and look at your yarn. Where did this yarn come from? A store, or a fiber festival or.... Who were the workers in that store? Where did they get the yarn? Begin to trace back the origin of your yarn. But each time you reach a new landing spot (e.g. the store) think about those individuals and send them peaceful wishes, repeat. As a result, you'll be spreading peaceful wishes around the world during this activity. Some of you may have a short journey as the origin could be quite close. 

If you aren't a knitter, why not try this with the food in your meal, your hobby or even the furniture in your house. 

As a reminder of our connectedness around the globe, here's a template to create a chain of paper dolls. I haven't made these in years but something about this simple chain of paper dolls seems to capture that hand-in-hand feeling I associate with "world peace."

ANNOUNCEMENT

We have a special give-away from Expression Fiber Arts; a $25 gift certificate. Peace-alonger, Karen reached out to Expression Fiber Arts to see if they'd be willing to contribute and they said "yes." They have lots of beautiful yarn with names related to peace that would make beautiful peace cowls. To be eligible to win this very gracious gift please leave a comment on today's blog post by midnight (central US time)...something you've learned so far, or done as a result of the peace-along, or plan to do etc. Winner will be announced in tomorrow's post.

May today bring you peaceful steps and stitches...

Christina