women

Crochet Bunny lovey for baby

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I’ve never attempted Amigrummi before. When I was in the US for my Sebattical back in June, I brought with me a couple balls of chenille yarn and thought they’d be perfect for making a little bunny. I started by free handedly making a little ball type shape that I filled with some stuffing.

Crochet Bunny toy - the start.

Then I proceeded to make a pair of ears. They had to be long and floppy and tapered at one end. Finally, I did a giant granny square with a shell type border and sewed them all together.

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Finally, I added the eyes and mouth in white yarn to make some personality – I made it so that the little thing was sleeping.

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Thus was the finished product- sitting on the bed…

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And with her full floppy ears on display:

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She ended up being gifted to a baby on the way – for one of my friends who I used to sit when she was but a few months old.

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Ladies Bicycle Racing hits Ireland

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Here in Ireland, women’s bicycle racing is still in its infancy, but starting to gain popularity. There are a few races,and cycling clubs for both men and women. One of the women (Caroline Martinez) that I know from work is highly involved in bicycle racing. Last week, she mentioned that she was looking for someone to do some photos of of the ladies cycling team sponsored by D.I.D. Electrical and Spin11. So, on Friday, we met up, and the elite ladies team of DID Electrical (it’s a DIY chain shop here in Ireland) were presented with their team car and their self designed uniforms. Only part of the team was able to be there, but we had some fun and got some great pictures to go with the press release and up on the team’s brand new website (Click here).

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DID Electrical is a great sponsor for the group. They are one of the larger cycling sponsors here in Ireland, and are a major promoter of the Cycle for Life Appeal charity event (click here), benefiting the Temple Street Children’s Hospital. The race itself takes place later May 4, 2013, and I’m so pleased to have had the chance to meet the ladies – and Mike, the Cycle for Life mascot – and have the opportunity to get some photos of him with the ladies. (We all love Mike, after all, he’s just a big kid at heart!)

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I think one of the cooler photos of the day is of Caroline Conway.

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Upon seeing this picture,would you want to race against her? If your answer was no, I think we’re in agreement. These ladies are one tough bunch – having melded together from years of bicycle racing into a new team. Their first race was Sunday, over in Drogheda. The race was the National Women’s League,and covered some 56km around Coombes Connor course.

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The great news is that Amy Brice – one of the ladies on the team (not pictured) – took first place. Congratulations to her, and to the entire team on their first win – I look forward to seeing some of your races both here in Ireland – and internationally!

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To see the article on the team launch, check out stickybottle.com’s article .

For more information on Amy’s win yesterday, please see Womenscycling.ie.

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Why ALL WOMEN should Vote

WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.
The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.

(Lucy Burns)
And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.
Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden’s blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of ‘obstructing sidewalk traffic.’
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.
(Dora Lewis)
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the ‘Night of Terror’ on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because
they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson‘s White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women’s only water came from an open pail. Their food–all of it colorless slop–was infested with worms.
(Alice Paul)
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/n wp/prisoners.pdf

So, refresh my memory. Some women won’t vote this year because- -why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn’t matter? It’s raining?

Personally, I strongly suggest we all take a moment to watch HBO’ s new movie ‘Iron Jawed Angels.’ It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that We women could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say.

All these years later, voter registration is one of the things that I have been doing this election. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for many. Frankly, I’ve been told by many who never took advantage, that voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege.
Sometimes it was inconvenient – or didn’t really Matter.

And so, now comes the question I pose to you.

‘What would those who fought so hard for their right to have a say on who leads our country think of the way I use, or don’t use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.’ The right to vote, needs to become valuable to all of us – all over again.

HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn’t our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn’t make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: ‘Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.’

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.

We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party – remember to vote.

History is being made.

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