My Never-Ending Needlework Project

Most "projects" - even the most detailed beaded wedding gowns, massive tapestries or hand-looped rugs - have an end point: where you step back and admire something completely finished.

What I've learned with my current needlework project - already 13 months plus in progress - is that there is no foreseeable end. Unless I withdraw and quit.

You see, I am knitting little hats for indigenous Karen refugee babies and toddlers along the Thai Burmese border.

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So far, in 13 months, I've completed 74 of them. I'd like to show you a HUGE stack for ego purposes, but the truth is as soon as a consignment of food, clothes and medicines heads over towards the Burmese border, I send whatever I have completed along with it.

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My work GLARES at me most days, cos I carry it with me. Right now it is leering at me across my desk, demanding that I crunch out a few rows here and there, while a video file slowly uploads or even when I just need to ponder for a few moments to consider a business challenge.

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Why the compulsion? Because colleagues I work with closely told me it's one of their biggest needs.

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Dr Kim Jeong Park (L) and Saw Diamond Khin (2nd from L) from Karen Department of Health & Welfare are people I work closely with. Yup, I'm the blonde at the back and this was taken at the field hospital in Eastern Burma, shortly before Covid. Through them and their work at the Kawloothai Community Hospital in Karen State in Eastern Burma, I have learned about the heavy Tuberculosis disease burden among displaced ethnic Karen people. It particularly affects young children who suffer greatly during the rainy and cool seasons of the year, high in the mountains. Dr Park is the only (part-time!) doctor for that small community hospital which services hundreds of thousands of ethnic Karen people in what is still an active military conflict zone. Serious cases have to be walked down to Dr Cynthia Maung's hospital in Mae Sot - a 3 day walk through rugged, land-mined terrain.

Since the Burmese coup on 3rd February, 2021, the Burmese military have conducted airstrikes on the Karen people in that region and have forced hundreds of thousands of displaced people hard up against the Salween River, which is the Thai border. They are seeking refuge and permission to cross the river into Thailand for safety. The death toll to date in unknown.

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Image credit

The majority of the refugees are women and young children. The men generally stay back to fight, if they have not already been killed or taken prisoner.

And so my knitting project is facing unprecedented demand. Even those who are able to successfully cross into Thailand face months, if not years, of "living rough" in the jungle. The United Nations closed Thai refugee camps and stopped food aid, declaring Burma "safe".

What does life look like for displaced Karen people in the jungle?

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Image Credit: Johnny Adhikari

With rainy season imminent and due to start next month,followed by cool-cold season, my passion for this never ending project is renewed!

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It's a deliberately simple self-created pattern - using acrylic (easy to wash & dry!) yarn. Despite a few bright yellows and reds in earlier yarn shopping bursts, I'm leaning now towards "safer" colours that blend more easily into the jungle - earthier tones, blues and greens and just using up the bright colours I have left. It's a straight square that I cast off steadily half way up and bring to a cute pixie point. Pom poms? It's an unnecessary time and yarn "waster" that I've decided to sidestep.

Since the renewed outbreak of armed hostilities and airstrikes the last 2 weeks, and the rise of Covid and looming lockdowns here in Thailand, I have been pondering how I can use my time and needlework talents more constructively.

I DO like to listen to podcasts for my entrepreneurial self to grow and learn, and so needlecraft makes sense. I can listen, learn and create.

Just yesterday I found myself ever-so-slightly baulking at the sameness of another 100 baby hats (despite being committed cos I know how much they are needed), and I so decided to diversify a little. After much thought and discussion with my refugee camp friends, I've decided to drag out my sewing machine. LOL. It may need a service since it's been EONS since I used it! 😆

T shirts, jackets and donated tops are relatively plentiful but baby and children's bottoms not so. And so I found a great little easy-peasy pattern online.

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Highly recommend this site http://made-by-rae.com and her easy sewing tutorials.

Tomorrow I'm going off to buy some simple cotton fabric in a few different prints and cut out a few dozen pairs of bottoms. I'm going to vary the sizing a bit - from newborn to 2-3 years - also bearing in mind that malnutrition keeps little refugee kids on the very small end of the sizing continuum. And I'm going to give myself the pleasure of a few evenings quietly sewing while inspiring myself and learning from some awesome podcasts.

Sometimes I need to motivate myself with my needlework by SEEING the people, and the need, at first hand. I'll never forget this young Karen woman and her incredible PRIDE and DELIGHT at being gifted a warm, donated set of baby things and medicines.

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Covid and the military conflict doesn't allow me to travel to the border regions right now, so I have to motivate and inspire myself differently. I'm going to make a pair of cotton pants to go with each of the 16 hats I currently have here already awaiting donation, and buy some little socks and a second hand t shirt from the proceeds of next week's Hive posts. Seeing the little SETS lined up ready for the next border donation run is something that I know will give me a feeling of connection, community and useful pleasure.

And inspire me to keep knitting.

I've changed over the years as a working solo mom and see my needlework skills more and more as a practical way I can support and bless others. Decorative doilies and crocheted Easter baskets? Not my thing. Beaded clothing? I LOVE it but have no opportunity to wear it. Although I can appreciate the skill and creativity.

For me, needlework is always about the WHY. And we have a pretty darn big WHY right on our Thai doorstep right now, in the form of a festering, ongoing Burmese civil war and literally millions of refugees on both sides of the border, needing clothes and bedding and warm things for their littlies.

Me? I intend to make my moments count.

2 knit, 2 purl, 2 knit, 2 purl...

Watching Disney's Raya with Miss 16 tonight (solo mama & daughter date night!) and I'm excited cos I have a clear few hours to complete this little apricot hat and cast on the next little green one.


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