Sock It To ME: a community public art project to raise awareness and funds.

[sproggle]

I love that this is taking off! Just found this thread &I'm totally sold on the sock idea :Sign Good Job:

Can we have two sizes a larger size for adult onset and a smaller for childhood onset?

The little ones will be very poignant next to the bigger ones &making the childhood onset one's brightly coloured would make them stand out &be quite appropriate maybe?

Not sure if I'm capable of sock making but putting my thinking cap on :Green hat:

Plus I think Sarahg's idea of people being able to submit just a label to add to a sock is an important one -so us sickies can still express ourselves &be creative &included.

I think it would also dramatically increase the take up we get, although of course it would depend on others making the actual socks...

Jan xx

 

[MEKoan]

What a great project and what great people are involved in this!

I, too, think sailcloth socks would make a real statement! As would fishing line, etc.!

I have to admit to being unable to understand some of the more complicated ideas for display. I can grasp, cognitively, embroidering and/or attaching things to one commercial sock and make something I think would be interesting.

I could also happily sew a hundred buttons to a length of tape if someone else figured out how it should be done and instructed me as though I were 5 and not at all bright. I could understand what needed to be done and do it all flat on my back. I could not make a button hole, though, no matter how good the teacher.

I don't think we can overestimate the cognitive problems faced by many of us and how they might sabotage this very exiting initiative. I, for one, can't always comprehend what I read nor can I follow directions reliably and I don't think I'm alone.

If there are many others like me, it might be wise to plan something suitable for rather dim kindergarten students.

Is it nap time yet? Can I have juice?

 

[creekfeet]

jan sprogglesocks and sarahgsocks, I was thinking not even a label, but simply their info on a brief online form is all the sickest would have to submit. Then a volunteer would make the sock and label.

Two standard sizes is an idea, or maybe two standard size ranges? I expect we'll want people to have as much freedom to make a sock that expresses themselves, bright and colorful or quiet and calm, multimedia or all yarn or whatever, but it's so true that littler socks for childhood onset would convey immediately, visually, how many children have been afflicted.

 

[creekfeet]

Koan zenfeet, yeah, it's hard to admit but I'm boggled by the construction specifics too. After yesterday's brain crash I'm not even going to try: I'm letting the people with construction brains go for it and I will trust them to have it all figured out.

I just had a cup of tea and I need to go spend it on some tidying up around here before the landlord comes to paint, but then I think it's juicetime and naptime for me, too.

 

[Tammie]

Koan, I absolutely agree with your point re cognition.....I have also found it very hard if not impossible to follow written isntrustion for how to do/make things since getting sick....I do like this idea, though & would definitely love to contribue......mine would have to be a running sock that is obvioulsy no longer functional, maybe with a cut out of a heart (bc at heart I am a runner and it rips my heart out daily not to be able to run anymore)

 

[MEKoan]

mine would have to be a running sock that is obvioulsy no longer functional, maybe with a cut out of a heart (bc at heart I am a runner and it rips my heart out daily not to be able to run anymore)

Whoa! That's powerful, Tammie.

Zenfeet (courtesy of Creek)

 

[creekfeet]

Here we go, the Hillary Johnson quote. Thanks fox in socks for putting me in possession of the link.

One final suggestion, which may make you wince, because it is a bleeding-heart suggestion—but hear me out.

In the middle 1980s, families who had lost a relative to AIDS decided to create an AIDS memorial quilt. Everyone made a “block” and one day in 1987 they brought their quilt blocks to the mall in front of the U.S. capitol building in Washington. These panels covered a space larger than a football field. People stood together in huddles, weeping openly. Half a million people visited the Quilt that weekend. For AIDS patients, the quilt was a game changer.

There are probably one-million M.E. cases in the U.S. And there are a quarter-million or more cases in the UK, 30,000 of them children. If the parents of those children made a square and laid it down in St. James’s Park, news photos would be on the wires in a matter of hours. Those photos would say, this isn’t about one child, this isn’t even about my child—this is about thousands of children in England.

And that might change the game, too.

From The Why, A Speech in London

I can hardly wait to share our idea with her---although I do want to be sure we're ready and we look good. So what do y'all say? Should we tell her and Dr. Bell now, sending them the abstract, or should we wait until we have the website up and are ready to go public and then ask them to help us publicize it?

 

[starryeyes]

I understand how you feel, Tammie about not being able to run anymore. I feel the same way.

I also had to skim over the instructions for making buttons to attach the socks. I know how to sew on a button but that seems different from those instructions. Brainfog....

This is the CFS Info Card information. I believe fresh_eyes is working on it.

Not All Disabilities Are Visible
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
is one of many invisible illnesses.

Looks can be deceiving. People with CFS
may look well but they can be in intractable
pain and often experience many
debilitating symptoms of illness such as:

Orthostatic Intolerance
Immune System Impairment
Neurological and Cognitive Issues
Gastrointestinal Issues
Cardiovascular Problems
Breathing Difficulties

In CFS the body's cells do not produce
enough energy to function properly
which causes a myriad of symptoms,
many of which are crippling and disabling.

Studies show that CFS patients can
experience a level of disability that’s equal
to that of patients with late-stage AIDS,
patients undergoing chemotherapy, and
patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

For more Info visit:
http://www.cfids-cab.org/MESA/ccpc.html (Canadian Definition of CFS)

This is the link for the thread:

http://www.forums.aboutmecfs.org/showthread.php?1771-Design-a-Brochure/page9

 

[creekfeet]

That's fabulous and I don't know how I missed it til now, teej. Well, yeah, I do know how I missed it, foggily wandering the forums looking for the truth. That is definitely a key piece of truth there. Yay, cards!

 

[Tammie]

Koan, thanks for your comment....nice to know it's a good idea : )

Teej, thanks for the hug....sending one back to you {{{{ hug}}}}}}

Teej, I am so glad you came up with the idea for the CFS card and that we were all able to get it written - it would definitely be cool to add it to this project, too


interesting timing, but my toes have been bothering me so much lately that I could not stand to have socks on at all until I decided to put the canker sore stuff, Ambesol, on them - yes I know it's really weird and probably not a good long term thing, but it is working pretty well!

 

[talkingfox]

Oh, but maybe sailcloth socks would be expressive of your individuality! It's not like we have to wear these things. We just have to put a little bit of our souls into them. XD

I hope to see burlap socks and gold lame' socks and socks studded with fishing flies (but no hooks, please).

EXACTLY!!! these don't have to be functional sock, merely in a recognizable sock shape. Personally i'm making mine out of black leather with doo dahs of all sorts on it, even though I can knit. heh.

 

[talkingfox]

I love that this is taking off! Just found this thread &I'm totally sold on the sock idea :Sign Good Job:

Can we have two sizes a larger size for adult onset and a smaller for childhood onset?

Not sure if I'm capable of sock making but putting my thinking cap on :Green hat:


Jan xx

The size thing was an idea that I was thinking of as well. It would be absolutely a heartbreaker to the public at large to see the small socls (and so MANY) amongst the adult size ones.

As far as making socks, I'm planning on knockin out some simple plain heavy cotton things christmas stocking style for other ppl to decorate and personalize. A 2 seam bangout easy thing to make, and takes dye, paint, emroindery bedazzling, whatever well...plus a piece of cake to hang.

Speaking of wee teeny socks, I've gotten a prototype together for pins. It's actually a real sock..could be worn if you were fairy sized..it's 1" from top of cuff to heel.

Pin Prototype

 

[creekfeet]

More foxlike brilliance!

oh oh, Yipes, is it that late already? Dashing to a doc appt. I love the prototype pin. I want one. I was thinking white socks would look more, well, sock-like but perhaps they should be blue to match the ribbon or else available in an array of designer colors...?

Back in a few hours.

~ Creek

 

[BEG]

If there are many others like me, it might be wise to plan something suitable for rather dim kindergarten students. Is it nap time yet? Can I have juice?

I laughed so hard after reading this, Koan. Yes, sweetie, go to your cubbie, get your blankie, spread it on the floor because, yes, it's nap time for the brain-challenged people. Make room for me.

Button holes have always been my nemesis in the sewing department. I'll help in anyway possible from a recliner, but I'll pass on the button holes.

 

[talkingfox]

I'm for the array of colors thing as sock yarn is often varigated. Also means I can shop sales. Also means that every single pin is different And I DOES read more 'socklike' in person creek...just a rotten photo. I'll see what I can do about getting better shots of different colored ones

 

[sproggle]

Pin Prototype

The Prototype Pin is gorgeous would love to wear one, it's soo cute!

 

[willow]

Yip, love i the sock pin. So cute, really attention grabbing, and I reckon it would invite people to ask more about why it's being worn

 

[Tammie]

I like the pin, too : )

 

[jace]

There is no need to sew a bottonhole in my design. Glue and cut, or sew a loop, piece of pee, as we say in England. It is a practical idea, but if you guys want to let me off the hook, my book will bless you

It's a great project, which ever way it goes.

See you in the morning (very early for you) jace x

edit: I love the pin too! I might make one as my first knitting project!

 

[Dreambirdie]

Wow! This thread is really hopping, tho it's far beyond my brain's capacity for now. :Retro tongue::Retro tongue::Retro tongue:

How amazing that it's all coming together so quickly. Nothing like a bunch of PWC's to get the job organized so
spectacularly well. :victory:

My wish is: that when you guys iron out all the sock art details, can you please post a new thread with some specific easy directions, and requirements for all of us sock donors.

Why do I suddenly feel like I'm donating an organ.