A Brief History: Pride Project 2020Happy Pride!! Every year as June rolls around, we take time to reflect on our LGBTQIA community: to consider how far we’ve come, how far we have to go, and to pay our respects to the folx who lead our community now and those who came before us who made it possible for us to celebrate Pride Month. From the Mattachine Society and the Society for Human Rights, the Daughters of Bilitis and the homophile movement, to the Stonewall Riots and the Christopher Street Liberation Day March. The Gay Liberation Front, the Gay Activist Alliance, ACTUP, GLAAD, the LGBTQ+ Freedom Fund, the Black AIDS Institute, the Transgender Law Center, and Trevor Project… we could write rich volumes about each of these organizations… and so many more like them. (FYI, those last two sentences would make a great jumping off point for internet searches to learn more about the LGBTQIA community.) LGBTQIA organizations and the leaders who marched, threw bricks, fought, wrote, sang, chanted, and gave their lives for us are the reason we are able to be open and proud of who we are. We have a long way to go… but we have most definitely come a long way. This year for Pride, we decided to focus on one of the most prominent symbols of the LGBTQIA community: The Pride Flag. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all of the flags representing all aspects of our community. Instead we started from the end (we’ll get to that in a minute) and worked our way backward to show you how we got to the final Pride flag that inspired us to create the project at the end of this post.
More Than Just a Gender-Inclusive Design It may look like just a crochet pullover to you, but, for us, it is a statement of power. A statement of independence from the arbitrary binary masculine roles we were taught to play out our entire lives.
For years, we have tried to break out of the arbitrary gender binary with our design work but, according to the folx paying for our work, non-gendered or uni-sex designs just wouldn’t work for their magazine/yarn/books. So, all of those designs we gendered according to the arbitrary binary and published as such. To be clear, working for other companies in the fiber arts industry barely pays the bills and selling your work on your own even less so. So we justified it all by saying that we just had to do what we had to do to pay the bills. Once again, we swallowed our pride and learned our lessons… and we did the work to pay the bills. After a while, paying the bills and building a business become the norm and we learned your lessons so well that we forgotten who we set out to be. That realization was, again… a kick in the gut.
While a pink and black crochet pullover with a non-binary name might not seem like that big of a deal to a lot of folx, for us, it was a triumph in our own journey to realize who we really were as designers and as humans. It was the first monumental step that shook the foundations of our lives and put us on a path that we’ve been trying to get back to for a very long, exhausting time. For me, Shannon, it was a sigh of relief that I no longer had to hide who I was. And I’m telling you, seeing my husband, Jason, proudly wearing that pullover on the stage at a large national fiber arts event was one of the most life affirming events of my 50+ years on this planet. Plus… he looks really good in it… don’t ya think? Yeah the leather pants don’t hurt at all.
Photos of Jason on stage taken by the talented Kellie Nuss Photography used with permission. Yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts… we know… it's pretty amazing! 2022 Update: Jason still looks just as good in this pullover and his leather pants (just sayin') and I, Shannon, have continued my gender identity journey. My transition will be an ongoing process for the rest of my life and I am unlearning those lessons… both of us are. My pronouns are she/her and I am a proud transgender woman married to an amazing man who looks great in leather pants. Wait… I said that part already… If you'd like to make your own They/Them Pullover, click on the link below! And don't forget that gorgeous Blue Moon Fiber Arts Yarn. Check out these colors (and OH so many more) by clicking on the button.  They-Them Crocheted Pullover - DIGITAL PATTERN Size Small-5XFashion is meant for EVERY body regardless of gender Designed by the Shibaguyz – Shannon & Jason Mullett-Bowlsby, the They/Them Pullover is a gender neutral pullover that is perfect for him or her or they or them. This design features fabric made in a Half Double Herringbone crochet stitch with a large cowl neck collar, easy slip stitch shaping at the neckline, and the arms are crocheted long enough to become handwarmers, just insert your thumbs into the openings and you’re good to go. You can customize this design to fit your body, your life, and your style and make your own kit with NEW colors of Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Soft Rock yarn available from Needlepoints West. SKILLS USED
SIZES S (M, L, 1X, 2X {Sample Size}, 3X, 4X, 5X) To Fit Chest: 34 (38, 42, 46, 48, 50, 54, 58)”/ 86.25 (96.5, 106.75, 116.75, 122, 127, 137.25, 147.25) cm Sample shown to fit chest 48”/122 cm FINISHED MEASUREMENTS To Fit Chest Circumference: 34 (38, 42, 46, 48, 50, 54, 58)”/86.25 (96.5, 106.75, 116.75, 122, 127, 137.25, 147.25) cm Finished Chest Circumference: 38.25 (42.25, 46.25, 50, 52, 54, 58, 62)”/ 96.5 (106.75, 117, 127, 132, 137.25, 147.25, 157.5) cm Finished length from shoulder: 28.75 (29.5, 29.75, 30, 30, 30.25, 30.5, 30.5)”/ 73 (75, 76.25, 76.25, 76.25, 77, 77.5, 77.5) cm Neckline Width: 9.5 (10.5, 10.5, 11.25, 11.25, 11.5, 12.25, 12.5)”/ 24 (27, 27, 28.5, 28.5, 29.25, 31, 31.75) cm MATERIALS and TOOLS Sample uses Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Soft Rock (100% Superwash Merino; 4 ounces/113g = 500 yards/475 m): 3 (4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5) balls in color F*ck Cancer and 3 (4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5) balls in color #Survivor—3000 (4000, 4000, 4000, 4000, 4000, 5000, 5000) total yards/2743.25 (3657.5, 3657.5, 3657.5, 3657.5, 3657.5, 4572, 4572) total meters of fingering weight yarn; 18 WPI; CYCA 1 Crochet hook: 2.75mm (size C-2) or size to obtain gauge Yarn needle |
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