The guardian
The crocheted artist transforms the viral image of Bernie Sanders into a doll that sells for $ 20,000
“I really hope he thinks it’s something cool,” said Tobey King, who made the doll and plans to donate the proceeds to charity. The crocheted Bernie Sanders doll, made by Tobey King, from Corpus Christi, Texas. Photo: Billy Calzada / AP Bernie Sanders is much loved for his messy public performance, fitting that a crocheted doll of the 79-year-old senator in Vermont, with thick gloves and crouched against the cold during Joe Biden’s inauguration last year. week – added no less than $ 20,300 to charity efforts with the image. Sanders said goods with the statue included nearly $ 2 million for charities, including Meals on Wheels, which bring food to isolated elderly people. Last week, the picture of the beloved and socially-distanced senator rippled across the internet. Users cheerfully “posted” the Vermont Democratic Socialist from the Yalta Conference in 1945 to the video for Gangnam Style, and in the pattern on Melania Trump’s transference of Melania Trump when she and Donald Trump arrived in Florida instead of the inauguration attend. And in Corpus Christi, Texas, Tobey King began work on her own three-dimensional woolly manifestation of the senator in his earthly colors. “It’s amazing because I knew Bernie was going on, because of the picture, and I already had a Bernie pattern and a Bernie doll,” she said. “So, I just got it and adjusted it quickly.” The crocheting of Sanders’ muted and masked appearance crocheted for about seven hours, she said, adding: “The gloves are not that hard – it’s just a color change, a special stitch.” By Saturday, she had placed the doll on eBay, where the auction price had skyrocketed. The money raised would be donated to Meals on Wheels America, King said, adding: ‘This is my new path. It’s a new way of helping people in a way I never could. King, 46, said more than 30,000 people had bought a Sanders doll crochet pattern from her Etsy store and said she hoped the senator would approve it. “I really hope he thinks it’s something cool and that I’m doing something good,” she said. Tobey King, of Corpus Christi, Texas, embraces the crocheted Bernie Sanders doll she made and sold for $ 20,300 on eBay. Photo: Billy Calzada / AP It looked like Sanders would do it. Last Sunday, Vermont Elementary School teacher Jen Ellis, who made the senator’s gloves out of old sweaters and recycled plastic bottles, said he called “to tell me that the mitten frenzy has already raised a huge amount of money” “For generosity in Vermont … Thank you !! Generosity brings joy.” She also said she could not possibly handle a flood of orders from Sanders supporters. Sanders said he and his wife, Jane, ” was amazed at all the creativity so many people have shown over the past week, and we’re glad we can use my internet fame to help Vermonters in need. ‘But even this amount of money is no substitute for the action of Congress, and I will do everything in Washington to ensure that working people in Vermont and across the country get the relief they need in the midst of the worst crisis. we ‘have faced since the Great Depression. The new chairman of the Senate’s budget committee wants to overcome the Republican opposition at a minimum wage of $ 15.