Fantastic Article on Teaching Consent

Yes Means Yes has a Fantastic article on teaching consent as a part of sex education.

They walk through how a curriculum of teaching some basic concepts to young men in school…

  1. Teach young men about legal consent
  2. Teach young men to see women’s humanity, instead of seeing them as sexual objects for male pleasure
  3. Teach young men how to express healthy masculinity
  4. Teach young men to believe women and girls who come forward
  5. Teach males about bystander intervention

… could help reduce the number of rapes, even though it probably won’t stop serial rapists from committing their crimes.

Studies of predatory males show that most rapists know they are committing crimes, and don’t care whether they have a yes or no consent. BUT… Predators rely on something that researchers have labeled “Social License to Operate”:

The Social License to Operate is the set of beliefs that make rape seem like a continuation or extension of normal sexuality, instead of an aberration and personal violation. By normalizing rapists and rape, by blurring the lines between rape and sex, we create a culture where instead of responding to the crime like we should, there’s always room to argue for and or excuse or mitigate the rape and the rapist.

Basically, Predators rely on stereotypes about women being sluts, about our judgement towards women who drink, and our willingness to not understand what is and isn’t a crime to get away with their serial rapist criminal behavior.

Teaching basics about consent makes it harder for serial rapists to use our societies Social License to Operate by making non-rapists more vigilante about how rapists engineer situations to get women into vulnerable positions.

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Voyageur Cap

Source: Wayback Machine Archive, Charitable Crafters Site

Author: Tina Shaddox

Tina’s Note: I did not write this pattern, it was an old pattern that I acquired and was written not only poorly but also incorrectly. It is a fun and cute hat and worth making. I hope I have improved upon it. — Tina Shaddox

Hawthorn’s Note: I’m saving this pattern to my site because the only place it currently exists is the Wayback Machine, and it’s somewhat hard to read on that page. I’ve also added some notes for other Ravelry knitters who increased the cast on did some paired SSK and K2tog decreases to improve the lines.

See my first attempt at this hat on Ravelry.com

Materials Needed:

  1. 4 oz of a worsted weight wool-bright red if you want an authentic cap
  2. 16-inch circular and a set of double points in your needle size.

Getting Gauge:

  • 4 stitches to the inch to make a 19.5″ hat (good for a 22 inch head – adult male)
  • 4.5 stitches to the inch to make a little over a 17″ hat (good for a 20 inch head – adult female)
  • 5 stitches to the inch to make a smaller hat of 15.6″ (good for an 19″ head-older child or teen)

Start your gauge swatch with a size 8 needle. If you don’t know the head size of the recipient, aim for 4.5 stitches to the inch. The average head size is between 20-21″.

Cast on 78 (84, 92) stitches on smaller needle. Join, being careful not to twist. Place a marker at the beginning of your round.

Knit 1 Purl 1 (or k2, p2) for 3 inches.

Switch to larger needle, begin stockinette stitch, knit for 4 inches (excluding ribbing).

For 92 stitches:

1st decrease round: Knit 20, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K39, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K19

For 78 stitches:

1st decrease round: Knit 16, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, Knit 32, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, Knit 16.

Knit 3 rounds

2nd decrease round: K 15, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, Knit 30, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 15

Knit 3 rounds

3rd decrease round: K 14, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 28, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 14

Knit 3 rounds

4th decrease round: K 13, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 26, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 13

Knit 3 rounds

5th decrease round: K 12, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 24, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 12

Knit 3 rounds

6th decrease round: K 11, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 22, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 11

Knit 3 rounds

7th decrease round: K 10, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 20, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 10

Knit 3 rounds

8th decrease round: K 9, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 18, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 9

Knit 3 rounds

9th decrease round: K 8, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 16, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 8

*NOTE Knit 2 rounds

10th decrease round: K 7, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 14, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 7

Knit 2 rounds

11th decrease round: K 6, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 12, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 6

Knit 2 rounds

12th decrease round: K 5, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 10, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 5

Knit 2 rounds

13th decrease round: K 4, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 8, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 4

Knit 2 rounds

14th decrease round: Knit 3, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 6, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, Knit 3

Knit 2 rounds

15th decrease round: K 2, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 4, SSK, Knit 3, K2tog, K 2

Cut yarn leaving a 10 inch tail. Thread through remaining stitches and knot off, weaving in end on inside of hat.

Optional Tassel: Wind yarn 15 times around 4 fingers to make a loop. Remove loop from your fingers and tie together with a 10 inch long piece of yarn. Pull loop down so that it is suspended from your 10 inch tie. Take one end of the tie and wrap it several times around the loop, close to the area that is tied. You are going to make the top of the tassel look like a ball, or the head of a yarn doll. Tie off the wrapped end and let the remaining length hand down. Cut the loops that are hanging down so that the ends are even. Trim off any unwanted length. Use the remaining tie to thread through the end of your cap and fasten it off securely on the inside.

Historical Note: These caps were worn by the Voyageurs that made a name for themselves in the woods of Canada and in the Minnesota region for their hardiness and strength as they worked the fur trade. These are also similar to the style worn by the revolutionaries in France as heads rolled in the later 1700’s. It was not uncommon to have such words as “Liberty” or “Fraternity” stitched into the caps near the brim and they also go by the name “Liberty Caps”.

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Camp NaNoWriMo 2013 Participant

Camp NaNo Participant 2013 Facebook Cover

Yep, so I’m going to do Camp NaNoWriMo 2013 for April. My project for this writing commitment is to finish the novel I worked on (and “won” with) in 2011 and 2012. Prior to today’s additions, it was at 78,391 words. (I wrote 50,000+ words for it in November 2011, threw out over half of them, and wrote 50,000+ additional words in November 2012.)

I had a solid start this morning with 1,061 words. My goal (you can be flexible and set your own goals for Camp) is 30,000 words, so I’m on track for this month.

2013-Participant-Campfire-Circle-Badge

I gave myself a guilt trip to spur myself along by buying the shirt for Camp NaNo. Now I have to finish so I can wear it without feeling like a fraud.

I’m behind on where I wanted to be with this novel; I set an ambitious plan to have a working manuscript to self-publish by April, and I haven’t finished or recruited beta readers. I still want to get all this done in the early part of the year so I can move on to planning another writing project. And see what self-publishing is really like.

Continue ReadingCamp NaNoWriMo 2013 Participant