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Celebrate Diversknitty by Supporting Yarn Makers of Color

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yarn makers of colorDo you know about the Yarn Mission? I’ve followed them on Facebook for a while, and I love their purpose of using fiber arts to support social justice and economic empowerment for black people, and love the idea that we all can do better to support creators of color.

We can all make an effort to support designers of color by buying, knitting and sharing their designs, and we can support yarn dyers of color by buying their yarn.

Yarn Mission started the year with a post all about purposeful support of black yarn dyers, which includes a list of yarn makers that is a great start if you want to diversify your knitting purchases.

Buy their yarn if you can, share their stories online, follow them on social media and seek out other diverse knitters and fiber artists by following hashtags like #diversknitty, #blackgirlsknit #blackknittersofinstagram (and others like #asianknittersofinstagram, #queerknitters, etc.)

Do you have favorite designers or yarn makers of color? I’d love to hear about them!

[Photo: Ewe-Knitted States of Fiber.]

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Comments

  1. I say, buy the yarn you LOVE and want to work with. I don’t intend to buy from anyone because of the shop owners race, religion, sexual orientation or otherwise.

    Why would any shopper care about those things? It just doesnt make sense.

Have you read?

A Knit Vest to Get You Ready for Summer

I know that my posts can be read at different times of year and in different years by different people, but as I write this we’re on teh cusp of summer. And I know a lot of people don’t knit as much, and certainly don’t wear a lot of knits in the summer, but I want to encourage you to make and to wear your makes no matter the temperature.

To introduce you to the joys of summer garment knitting, I offer the Tied Vest from Lion Brand Yarn.

This easy project is great to make and wear throughout the year but it’s especially good for summer. It’s worked flat in one piece from the bottom up, mostly in stockinette stitch with a seed stitch edging. The I-cord ties are worked directly onto the garment so you don’t have to sew them on.

The project uses worsted weight yarn, and calls for a blend of cotton and hemp that’s great for warm weather.

There are eight size options, ranging from a finished chest measurement of 35 to 62.5 inches, or 89 to 159 cm. That makes it sound like it should be worn with at least a few inches of positive ease, but the pattern doesn’t specify.

The ties at the front give it a casual look and make it great to wear over a tank top or T-shirt when the weather is warm.

I also think this one would be good to knit in wool or a warmer fiber, too, to make a version you could wear more comfortably in the winter months, too. Though of course you could layer the summer version over a long-sleeved shirt and wear it throughout the year, too.

The tied vest is a free pattern available from Lion Brand. You can also purchase a kit that includes the yarn and optional needles and stitch markers if you need them.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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