‘Pussy hats’ popular symbol for Toronto march against Trump

Thousands expected at women's protest, local store selling out of pink yarn for caps

Pussy Hats
Amelia Lyon (left) and Brenna MacDonald, co-founders and co-owners of Yarns Untangled, kni pink hats for women’s rights rallies in Washington and Toronto the day after Donald Trump is inaugurated.  Alexa Battler

Saturday will be chilly – bring your pussy hat.

Toronto’s branch of the  Women’s March on Washington expects to see thousands of participants this weekend. Many will wear knitted, bright pink “pussy hats” as a symbol of protest against Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The popular caps, part of the“Pussy Hat Project,” have left one Toronto craft store quickly selling out of pink yarn.

Yarns Untangled, in Kensington Market, became a drop-off point for people to send their “pussy hats” to rallies in Washington and Toronto a few weeks ago. Co-owners Brenna MacDonald and Amelia Lyon said that the hats are a gentle way for Toronto’s knitting community to support and engage in the march’s solidarity.

“This feels like a much more productive, cathartic way to contribute,” MacDonald said. “Instead of just saying angry things on the internet we can just calmly knit and see other people knitting who share our views.”

As MacDonald puts it, the caps are “a soft, pink, fluffy way to show support.”

Cozy hat bears heavy meaning

Adorability aside, Lyon said the hats also represent the need to fight against those who feel a woman should not have ownership of her body.

“It’s not just Trump, there’s a lot of people who still think a woman’s body doesn’t belong to her first,” Lyon said. “This is a way to kind of take the most secretive and the most intimate part of your body, flip it inside out and stick it on your head.”

Lyon estimated the store’s staff have knit six hats, the community has donated 15. The hats have been primarily sent to the Toronto rally, though some are going to Washington.

For MacDonald, who grew up in Alaska, the project has helped her channel the personal impact of the election positively.

“I feel like I could say a lot of really negative things about what’s happening right now,” MacDonald said. “But instead I’m going to knit this pink hat and someone will wear it proudly and it will be like a visual symbol of the movement.”

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Posted: Jan 19 2017 8:33 am
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