Some of you might want to have kleenex handy for this part, but its not scary sad ... it's good sad.
A couple of years ago, I received a lovely donation of several bags of handknit sweaters. Each one was handknit and or worn by my friend Shirley's mom, Ann. Ann's name will come up a lot in the growth of Sistahoodz as she is the Angel at the helm of this operation for reasons that will soon become obvious.
Ann was missed by many after her untimely battle with disease was lost. Those sweaters, even though they didn't fit me, had to be good for something. Some of you who are my close friends wound up with one from the collection but the rest were folded with the intricate sides out, on my bedroom shelves for at least a year before I one day stumbled upon an inspiring image that consisted of a sweater coat made from cut up coats.
Well.
Seeing that image, I knew instantly what I had to do with the sweaters. What else but butcher the lot to create something intensely, spiritually, herstorically valuable and intimate to Shirley and make her a coverup she could pull on anytime she wanted to feel the arms of her mother around her?
It took me about three days to create the cloak that started all this happening, Such a whirlwind from the minute this one was in 'the can'. As soon as I finished the Annhood for Shirley, the first Sistahoodz Cronehood, my whole world came crashing down around my ears. On one hand I knew I'd finally put my finger on a lucrative career for myself doing exactly what I loved, but on the other hand, I had a marriage disintegrate under me with the discovery of unfortunate information about my spouse.
A week after I was done making this beautiful sweater, I was homeless and calling Shirley to come visit her and commiserate my life's upheaval. As I drove to her place, little did I know that her beloved dog had a seizure. As I sat in a four hour traffic jam at the top of the Malahat, a drama had unfolded with Serena falling over, Shirley having to race her to a vet's and the sad news that the poor old girl didn't make it. By the time the accident had been cleared that blocked this main artery to the upper reaches of the island, and by the time I arrived at her door, Shirley was wrapped tight in the pink and grey sweater that I'd made her.
It was an emotional night. We managed to find the things to be grateful for, we weathered the storm as I watched how that sweater was such an integral part of Shirley's energy field. After Shirley went to bed, I lay in the dark on the couch and thought about what I needed to manifest in order to build a successful life for myself that allowed me to be my creative self every day to survive and what that looked like.
I thought of how Ann liked having Serena with her as she guided us from her celestial perspective and how honoured I was that my burgeoning and ever changing life would include such precious elements of love, of loss, of coping, of empowerment and rebalancing.
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| Shirley and Serena |
I prayed to my secret gods and recieved reassurance that if I trusted the journey and set one foot in front of the other, they would help facilitate my desires. Three months later, I am in a three month housesit with a big beautiful windowed room overlooking an ancient maple, where I have begun pouring my heart and soul into these amazing articles of clothing that have come to be named 'Sistahoodz'. Its a new home, someplace that may just be where I hang my hat for some time to come. All I know is that I am bringing home sweaters by the sack, cranking out marvels and looking up to find new orders cramming my inbox by the day!
Helping me build this little grassroots artistic venture, with every sale, is my Cybertribe and my sistas both blood and tears variety... bruthas too, although currently, that's few and treasured bruthas...
Since that first crazy sweater was created for Shirley and I sat in that traffic jam with the words 'The bastard cheated on me! :( ' written in the dirt on the back of the Explorer's window, I've taken a job hunting course that proved to me at 55, I didn't want to be sucking up to somebody half my age at some entry level position trying to utilize my degree in a sexist and ageist (and sizist) job. Instead, I manifested a housesit through the good fortune of a wonderful Sista who hooked us up. I set up my studio, got my machines up and amassed a pile of sweaters. I haven't had time to look back!
Since then, I've done a dozen of these in all different styles and am having the time of my life.
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| The Decon-Fessional - an appropriate name considering the mill I'd just been thru... |
Soon to come, an official online market site to access the various Sistahoodz creations, in the meantime, just hook up with me, Christina, at the Facebook page... Yeah... who knew?
Sistahoodz has a facebook page. Check it out.One way is to just click here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sistahoodz/307025545993610 Another way if you're telling a friend, just put Sistahoodz Clothing in the FB search field... and you're there... like me for lots of fun counterculture goodies as well as updates about the latest outrageous birthing from the Deconfessional.
Send me a message if you're interested in initiating a custom project of your own with Sistahoodz! I love it when you do.
