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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.]

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?

Pencil Knitting Patterns

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns! 

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil. 

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn. 

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point. 

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up. 

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.