by Peter Hagerty, co-founder of Peace Fleece
Every time I travel overseas to Russia or the Middle East, my neighbors and friends ask me on my return home how my trip went. Some ask me out of politeness but most are sincerely interested in where I have been and what I have seen. I always try and answer their questions with enthusiasm and insight. But this summer, because of the sad events I have seen in both Russia and Israel/West Bank, I have found myself reluctant to talk to my friends because I feel I have little to offer them in understanding what I have seen .
In Moscow, the most economically advanced city in all of Russia, hard working folks are once again loosing their savings overnight, food stuffs are disappearing from the stores at an alarming rate and the government is poised to topple. In Israel and the Occupied Territories, Palestinians are fighting Palestinians, Israelis are fighting Israelis and both sides agree that Rabin's dream of a peace agreement is dead. Of course there are still the people in both countries risking everything for this dream of peace and stability, but this year they seemed to me fewer in number and more tired.
One morning in Ramallah, West Bank, I woke up to learn that during the night Bedouin shepherds less than twenty miles away had been driven from their 'illegal' campsites by Israeli troops. Thirty shepherds were hospitalized, their homes destroyed and their sheep confiscated. The following day, a Palestinian was arrested after unsuccessfully setting off a gasoline bomb on a crowded Jerusalem street. If the bomb had gone off, hundreds could have been maimed or killed. In the face of all this, I felt powerless, intolerant and angry. And I was only a visitor passing through. What would it be like if I had to live here and put up with the daily threat of violence and disorder?
Yesterday while shoveling out the horse stalls, I remembered the story of the young granddaughter who when visiting her grandparents' farm was asked to do some chores and then gladly ran out to the horse barn and began shoveling out the tallest pile of manure she could find. When grandpa found her hard and happily at work, he asked her why she was attacking the pile so enthusiastically. "Why grandpa," she smiled "with all this manure there must be a pony down here somewhere."
In the face of despair, it often happens that people like this young girl who choose to see her glass as half full as opposed to half empty give me the energy I need to laugh at myself and look at what is going on from a slightly different angle. Thanks to Peace Fleece I have come to know knitters, weavers, people who work with sheep and shepherds every day. These folks use their creativity to turn situations around and look at problems from a "glass half full" point of view. I would like to introduce some of them to you.
In Israel this summer, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Orly Friedgut, a young
Israeli veterinarian who attended our Sheep and Goat Roundtable. Orly spent three days meeting and working with Palestinian and Jordanian as well as Israeli counterparts and her enthusiasm was infectious. One morning as we relaxed outside our West Bank hotel, she remarked to me that in all her years in Israel, until this conference she had never spent any quality time with a Palestinian. Her knowledge of small ruminants and her desire to learn as well as share her knowledge with others makes her a real inspiration for me.
In Russia, we returned to Ludmilla Korneva's farm and brought her the dyes she had requested to color her hand spun yarn. She was so excited when we pulled in that she dropped what she was doing and immediately began boiling water for the dye bath. We stirred in a fleece from the spring shearing, added the purple color and before we knew it we had brightly colored wool drying on the clothes line. We hope to offer Ludmilla's hand made, hand spun mittens and socks in our winter catalogue.
Back in America Louise Coggins tells me over the phone: "When my husband died, I was a wreck, both emotionally and financially. I was living in Key West, Florida then and some gay men friends I knew really helped me out, just took charge of my life, got me out of that situation and took me up to a community in the mountains of Tennessee. There were some really wonderful men living there who made sure I would be all right, that I would get through this terrible time in my life."
"This was back in the early eighties when AIDS was seen as an urban disease. But I was afraid for my new friends and knew that it would not be long before one of them would call saying he had the disease. I wanted to be prepared. So I traveled to New York City where I volunteered in an AIDS clinic and learned as much as I could about the virus. I saw the disease tear apart the lives of men and their families with whom I worked."
"During this time, I rediscovered knitting as a way to stay sane in an otherwise seemingly insane world. During my stay in New York and since my return to Tennessee, I have knit over 1,126 hats, many from Peace Fleece. I'll go on a knitting spree, knitting one hat a day, usually in the morning before noon. The knitting keeps me focused and I give most of the hats away or sell them to get money to support myself."
In an e-mail last week, a customer wrote: Dear Peace Fleece Persons,
A few months ago you and I spoke about how my friends and I are using the yarn we purchase from you. You suggested that we send you a written description of our project. At last, here it is. Please use it without names in order to protect our privacy. We have managed to keep privacy here with persons who do not know the situation already.
One of us who knits is a middle aged woman with a progressively disabling illness. Her son, now 15, has learning and behavioral disabilities which have made public education unsuccessful. His intelligence is high but the normal classroom and the focus of special support did not work for him. My friend decided to send him to a private school which would help him gain a clearer sense of his own possibilities, achieve more appropriate social behaviors, and catch up academically to his intellectual peers. He is slowly gaining self-confidence and is working hard toward academic success. He and his mom are feeling that the school was a good choice.
As you might guess, this is very costly. So, we two and one other friend knit sweaters to order and to sell at a local farmers' market and our profits pay for this young man's education. We have consistently sold the Peace Fleece sweaters first at the market! Buyers love the colors, the softness, and the blending of colors of Peace Fleece yarns. We also knit using yarn sold locally achieving different effects and combinations of colors. The three of us knit 4-5 sweaters/vests each month and enjoy each other's input in patterns, color usage and specific strategies in our knitting. I hope the above account is the type of thing which will be helpful to you.
We welcome you to read more about our Peace Fleece travels and friends by visiting our web site at www.peacefleece.com. If you need more information about Peace Fleece or if you have stories you would like to share about how knitting, felting, weaving or working with wool and sheep has helped you to see life from a "glass half full" perspective, write or call us, Peter, Paul or Marty at 1-800-482-2841 bet. 9 am - 5 pm EST, We hope that you enjoy our Fall/Winter 1998-1999 Peace Fleece catalogue.