What's Your Superpower? Why You're Like Krysten Ritter

(Letter from Pussyhat Project co-founder Krista Suh)

Dear Team Pussyhat,

I want to drop in on the blog every so often to get all emotional on you. So, last week, within a few days of launch, The Pussyhat Project was reposted by Krysten Ritter - super talented actress AND avid knitter! (check out her hashtag #krystenknitter on instagram!). Krysten plays superheroine Jessica Jones on the Netflix show of the same name. I love the show - I see it as a story of a person with superpowers fighting for women's rights.

Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones as imagined by French illustrator Mahulda Jelly.

Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones as imagined by French illustrator Mahulda Jelly.

It got me thinking that everyone in the Pussyhat Project is lending their particular superpower to the movement. For example, Kat Coyle was a professional pattern maker before opening her own yarn store, and when I asked her to make a pattern for the Pussyhat Project - she lit up with excitement. She got to support a cause she believed in while using her particular superpower (she has many!).

I asked Aurora Lady via email to do artwork for the project, and she wrote back to me immediately, "Girl, call me!" Aurora's talents are PERFECT for this project, I am continually amazed by how she gives life to our vision with her beautiful artwork.

And now I have the pleasure and honor of seeing women around the nation and the world jumping in with their superpowers to support women's rights. Knitters are knitting, crocheters are crocheting, and sewers are sewing! People are spreading the word with passion and eloquence. Patternmakers are writing up alternate patterns to help. Local yarn stores are planning knit parties and guiding beginners. Community leaders are connecting local marching groups headed to D.C. with local knitting groups to help with the transfer of hat to wearer! Senior groups, college students, and other locals in the D.C. area are offering to help distribution efforts the week of the march! 

Thank you for lending your superpowers for The Pussyhat Project. Thank you for HONING your superpowers all these years, thank you for being you. We need you more than ever now, and thank you for showing up.

Please continue spreading the word about The Pussyhat Project so other people can share their superpowers as well! (Doesn't it feel GOOD?)

Much love,

Krista Suh

Dietland - Happy Thanksgiving!

We completely didn't realize until just now that we'd be releasing our first book recommendation Dietland, by Sarai Walker, on Thanksgiving! Dietland isn't here to scold you about eating too many helpings of candied yams and stuffing. Rather, Dietland frees you from the patriarchy. (Seriously.) It is a work of fiction that is fiercely feminist. Our co-founder Krista fell in love with it this summer. (It's also an Oprah pick, but you care more about Krista's opinion than Oprah's, right? Right?)

From Krista, "It's funny, sweet, smart, it struck me to the core. I love it and I also hate that I didn't write it."

Krista's copy of Dietland along with her grandmother's pink yarn haul. Grandma is 85 years old and is excitedly knitting pussyhats for the Women's March on Washington D.C.!  Photo by: Krista Suh.

Dietland begins rather like a classic chick lit novel - Plum is in her 20s and feeling depressed about her weight and life in general. Lovers of the chick lit genre will salivate because it has all the trappings of the drug we crave: the transformation story.

Sarai Walker delivers the transformation story and SO MUCH MORE. You will be transformed reading it. We highly recommend you read it this weekend, or listen to the audiobook as you knit your Pussyhats for the Women's March on Washington D.C. 

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Knitting!  XOXO The Pussyhat Project

Why 1.17 million hats?

We aim big here at the Pussyhat Project, and we want all women to do the same!

We came across this Washington Post article from 2009, estimating how many people fit on the National Mall (fun fact, it's "on the Mall" instead of "at the Mall"), the site of the march. The article was originally written in anticipation of President Obama's historic inauguration.

With some breathing room, they estimated that the Mall fits 1.17 million. And on January 21, 2017, we anticipate the Mall filled with people who are passionate about women's rights, filling the Mall from Lincoln Memorial all the way to Washington Monument, and perhaps even to Capitol Hill! Like a good party host, we are striving to make sure there's enough pussyhats for everyone! So please, send in those pink hats!

From The Washington Post.

The Washington Post does quality journalism. In the midst of fake news sites, we need high-quality journalism more than ever. If you want to support newspapers that have integrity, but cannot afford a subscription, click here. It is an ingenious project created by food critic and badass female Helen Rosner. It allows people free 12 month access to The Washington Post and The New York Times while supporting these publications with $$$ so that high-quality journalism can survive and continue reporting the truth.

Our Mission

The Pussyhat Project aims to:

  1. Provide the people of the Women's March on Washington D.C. a means to make a unique collective visual statement which will help activists be better heard.
  2. Provide people who cannot physically be on the National Mall a way to represent themselves and support women's rights.

The more we are seen, the more we are heard. Let's come together to support women's rights in a creative and impactful way.