not to get political, but... (actually knitting related)

[crafty mama]

Hey. There's a new email group on yahoo called knittingforkerry. One of the things we are thinking about doing is putting together a site or booklet or something of patterns and using the profits from sale of said patterns to donate to the campaign. By the way, if you're for the other guy, by all means, start your own forum. I don't want to get into that here, I just wanted to let any of you know, if you were already into that and maybe had some rad new designs that you wanted people to knit, well, this might interest you. I can't believe I said rad new designs. Anyway... And if anybody has any ideas for how to get the patterns to the people, that would be great, too. This is mostly on a volunteer basis, so any skills are useful at this point. Hopefully this won't cause any drama. That's not my intent. I'm just putting a call out to my crafty sistren (and brethren) and seeing if you might be interested. Thanks.

[shinyandbrandnew]

OMG I am soooo voting for John Kerry!

[redbirdrae]

I think this is a really great idea---not just for Kerry (although any help he needs should be given tenfold) but for all sorts of causes. As for getting the booklet out there, it might be helpful to latch onto some other organization that has the funds and the same type of message, like MoveOn.org or a left-leaning magazine. Feminist/women's groups might be very interested in a project like this as well. I wish I was smart enough to think up rad new designs (there could be some really great political intarsia patterns) but I would definitely be in line to buy such a thing. Good luck!

[amygdala]

As there are both Kerry Meetups and Knitting Meetups, you could start with either of those.  As for the booklet, instead of a physical booklet, you could write them up as PDFs and then charge people whatever your fee is to download them, then people could do it by each individual pattern if they only wanted one.  You could also offer it as one big PDF, like a package deal.  Then you don't have to deal with shipping things and printers and such.

Make sure you abide by campaign finance laws, I think there are rules regarding how groups can donate money.  Do you need to register as a PAC or a 527 organization?  And you should decide whether you're going to give to Kerry directly or to the DNC, since I think the rules for candidates' accepting donations change after the conventions.

This is a great idea.  Makes me want to come up with a pattern.

[ookpik]

i think the secure PDF download is the way to go. Bonne Marie at ChicKnits does her pattern sales that way, maybe you could ask what tools she uses.

[redbirdrae]

The new edition of Knitty has a neat article on Knitters Against Bush (at least I think it's a new article). She seems to know the important info on PACs.