Cassie Arnold

Child’s Social Distance Sweater (6 feet apart) , 2020 

hand knit fine highland wool
72x14x1 inches 

This last year has been so hard and weird. As a parent, as a professional working from home, as someone who has taking on the new roll of teaching my child online, as a mother of three kids...this season has been emotionally and mentally draining. From the very beginning my partner and I have been hyper aware of how often we were telling our small children ‘keep your distance...stay 6 feet apart!’ The idea for this piece came to me as an almost snarky idea that maybe if I were to create a sweater that was 6 feet long, perhaps my kids would know exactly how far away to stay from others so I wouldn’t have to remind them. What started as a humorous piece, quickly became a sad one for me. I never quite realized how far 6 feet was until I was knitting the length of the arms. Creating this piece made me reflective on the past year. If this pandemic has been stressful for me and my partner, what has it done for my children? Despite the strain of isolation and loneliness we have all felt during this time, one thing I do know for certain: Children are resilient...WE ARE RESILIENT.... and this year has taught us all the simple art of having compassion for others in the hardest of times.  

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