KNITTING PEACE

2/1/12

Perseverance at its Best

I love sharing about my knitting team and all they inspire in me. It’s amazing for me to experience how women who are incarcerated with their children, can put forward their best face and truly give meaning to the phrase “making the best out of any situation”.

One of my favorite knitters Alejandra is a young woman, mother of 2 who is studying accounting while incarcerated. Her children don’t know where she is, they have been told she is working abroad because Alejandra does not want them to feel sad or scared.

When Alejandra first started work with us, I was amazed at her perseverance. She clearly knew only basic knitting, but really wanted to be a part of our team. The first piece she knit was a charcoal grey alpaca wrap, which she must have re-done at least 5 times, because each time she felt it wasn’t quite perfect enough. I loved her enthusiasm and the fact that she took it upon herself to always to her best.

Two years later, she is not only one of my best knitters, but also my go to person whom I count on to train the other girls, and keep the quality of their work up to par. During this time, she has saved enough money to buy herself a little private space within the jail, where she spends her day in privacy, knitting, reading and making the best out of her situation. Her little space is very clean, the walls are adorned with pretty wrapping paper, and all of her possessions are neatly folded and stacked on a shelf. She has pictures of loved ones on the wall beside her little bed, and a nice size TV and DVD player where she has watched The Secret, Eat, Pray, Love and anything else I give her.

Her supposed release date was December 20^th of last year, but Bolivia is very bureaucratic and many signatures have to be signed, papers get shuffled, put away and many times lost in translation. Therefore she is still waiting for her release date, however lucky for us she will only be moving a short drive away from the jail, and we have decided that she will continue to work for Knitting Peace from the outside as well.

I am excited to experience her continued transformation, and look forward to helping her along the journey.

~Namaste

1/20/12

Recreation and Work... One in the same?

A few years ago I was working as a financial analyst in Los Angeles, and one day as I sat in front of my computer, counting the minutes until quitting time, it occurred to me that there had to be more to life than spending a third of it performing tasks which I did not enjoy. That moment, although brief was my aha moment, in which I was literally able to observe myself from the outside and clearly see that I had been living someone else’s life, who’s life I was living I did not know, but it certainly did not feel like mine, it felt as if I had completely missed the target.

This epiphany lasted only but a moment, however it completely changed my outlook on life and all of a sudden I realized how limiting it was to dislike a major part of my life, all for the perceived comfort of a steady paycheck. How had this happened? And what did I need to do to become one of those people that seemed to have everything at their fingertip? I literally had no idea; however something in me was dying to find out.

A short time later, I came upon a quote that said “Make your recreating and work, one in the same”. I can’t recall whose quote this was, but I am in eternal gratitude for his or her clarity and wisdom. This was the answer to what I was seeking, and all the guidance I needed. It was so simple, yet I had missed it for so long. All I needed to do was focus on what I loved to do, and find a way to get paid for it.

It sounds funny but never underestimate the power of intention. A few months later, I started my own company in which I now design and make knitwear clothing. The plus of it all is that I decided to work with incarcerated women in Bolivia, which is where I now live, happily married and enjoying my life with all of its trials and opportunities for growth.

If you would like to know more of what we do, go to www.Knittingpeace.com

~Namaste

1/16/12

Homemade cookies from jail

Well over a year ago, Eulogia who is an integral part of my team of incarcerated knitters suggested I hire her husband Victor to knit for Knitting Peace. At first, I have to admit I was hesitant, it seemed logistically complicated, and I wasn’t sure he knew how to knit. You see, Victor is also incarcerated. He is in Chonchocoro, which is the high security prison in La Paz, located about an hour outside of the city. I have no idea why he is incarcerated; however Eulogia is allowed to visit him twice a month.

She assured me his knitting skills were just as good as or better than my girls, and she proved herself worthy of her word. Victor is not only a really good knitter, but he has on more than one occasion gone without sleep in order to meet our deadlines.

At Chonchocoro some of the inmates have cel phone privileges; therefore Victor and I have had the opportunity to speak, although we have yet to meet face to face. He is a very gentle and sweet man; he loves to knit for us, and takes our work very seriously. On many occasions he has delivered his work faster than my female knitters, making sure he has things ready for me when Eulogia goes to visit him. She happily delivers him the yarn I give her, and on her next visit brings back the finished pieces. The logistical nightmare I had initially feared is a no brainer and I am very pleased with the results.

Victor shared with me that he is also taking baking lessons and learning how to make all kinds of sweets. Upon one of Eulogia’s returns from visiting him, she not only delivered a beautifully knit piece, but also a sweet little bag of anis and orange cookies which Victor had sent me. They were delicious, and filled with the sweetness of gratitude, and I happily ate them all in return.

~Namaste

1/10/12

A Merry Christmas in Jail

This past Christmas season was very special for me and Knitting Peace. Mainly because I finally had the opportunity to stay in Bolivia for the holidays, which up to know I usually spent in Los Angeles, selling our goods and participating in gift fairs. However this year was different, I spent it here, with my team!

We were all very excited, and although I couldn’t put together the celebration my girls deserved with a tree, Santa, champagne, gifts, etc (let’s not forget the girls are in a jail), I was able to go into the jail during non visiting hours and have a special intimate gathering with my team, where we shared tea, chocolate milk, Christmas Paneton and cookies. It was the first time in a long time we had the opportunity to gather around a table and chat.

I started off the gathering by sharing my gratitude with them for all of their hard work, diligence, perseverance and inspiration. I experienced tremendous growth in each one, on a personal and team level this year, and am extremely grateful for all of their effort and support. Each team member received a Paneton and chocolate milk to share with their children on Christmas day, which they greatly appreciated. I also gifted them pictures I had taken of them throughout the years of working together, which they asked me to write an inscription on.

Towards the end of our sweet meal, the girls surprised me with a showering of gratitude and beautifully spoken words of excitement for what is to come, love for the work that we do, lessons received, and mountains of joy. Each woman shared freely what Knitting Peace has meant to them, and all that they had achieved. In that moment I was able to perceive a group of women sitting in their power, and I almost forgot that I was in a jail. I realized that each and every woman sitting around that table was free; in their hearts and in their minds they experienced the freedom to be in peace and outside of the limitations of the walls of that jail.

~Namaste

11/17/11

Empowered business women and true success

For a very long time, my interpretation and vision of a successful business woman looked like Miranda Priestly from the movie The Devil Wears Prada. In other words I held the belief that in order for me to be successful in business I had to be ruthless, stern, completely dedicated to my work and let’s face it, kind of a bitch.

Now, although I love my work, and have the ability to be stern, those other characteristics are not traits that I believed describe me very well, I considered myself to be more of the sugar and spice and everything nice kind of girl.

Being aware of the large gap between how I thought I needed to be and how I thought I was, brought forward the fear that possibly I did not have what it took to be successful in business, and that I may be “kicking oxygen” as we say in Bolivia.

Ironically, last month I was invited to go to Arequipa Peru to participate in a Empowered Women seminar and workshop organized by Yente, a non-profit organization from the Netherlands that has the intention of strengthening female entrepreneurship via missions, matchmaking, network strengthening, exchange of information, it’s an online community for women entrepreneurs.A total of 20 women from Bolivia where chosen to participate and travel to Arequipa for this 3 day event and to my surprise I was asked to represent Bolivia during the event inauguration and give a speech about my experience of success with Knitting Peace. I was flattered of course, but mostly nervous since I did not consider myself to be very successful, however with my heart on my sleeve I accepted the challenge and prepared a heartfelt story of Knitting Peace and how we were making a difference in all the lives we were touching.

At the end of the event what I learned was that woman of all walks of life and traits were leading successful businesses, and these women were amazing and not at all bitchy or intimidating. I also learned that I had nothing to change about myself in order to be successful, because I already am. Success is living in full alignment with one’s purpose and there is little room for ruthlessness in authentic success.

This shift in awareness has brought me to a space of self acceptance and an inner knowing that I am not kicking oxygen, I am being fully guided at all times and being gifted with synchronistic miracles which have paved my path with inner peace and authentic self expression. Which… YAY, is such a relief!

~Namaste

10/12/11

Our 2011 Collection!

We are very happy to share our 2011 collection, composed of chunky alpaca hand knitwear, like boyfriend sweaters, capes, and long cabled sweater vests. We also created a line of ultra thin hand woven knits that include sweater dresses, sweater coats, hooded wrap around cardigans, and more.

This new collection is inspired in the power of color, nature and versatility; where day wear easily transitions into evening wear, and spring wear can easily adapt into winter wear