Screenshot of an Instagram story by thecolormustard. Please go read the whole thing.
If you follow many knitters on Instagram you have probably seen parts of the discussion of racism in the knitting/fiber arts community that was sparked by a blog post by Karen Templer of Fringe Supply Co.
In “My Year of Color” she talked about how she wanted to incorporate more color and more travel into her life, in particular by traveling to India this year. Many people of color and others were upset and offended by her descriptions, which equated people from India with literal aliens and talked about “colonizing” in reference to a nation that has suffered so much in its history from the forces of imperial colonizers.
Many knitwear designers, yarn makers and knitters of color took to Instagram and other platforms and did TONS of emotional labor to educate white people about what was wrong with these statement and the difficulties of being a person of color in the industry.
A few must-reads if you are on Instagram include the annotation of the problems in the initial blog post by thecolormustard and this thread on racist knitting experiences from su.krita.
I haven’t written about this before because as a white person with little to no influence in the industry, I felt like it wasn’t my place to speak up about it, that it was more important to listen to those voices that have experienced racism in the industry and in their lives.
But of course I have this space and I can amplify their messages, and this is such an important topic for the knitting community and the craft community as a whole to confront.
If you’ve missed the discussion so far there is an excellent overview of the discussion on Ravelry, where a thread on racism and inclusion in the yarn industry has sparked even more good conversation. Casey and Jessica seem to be truly interested in changing the culture at Ravelry to make people of color feel more included, for instance by consciously including more people of color in roundups and on their Instagram feed. Time will tell if the changes are more than cosmetic.
It’s something I was already thinking about and doing here at Craft Gossip as well. It’s never been a conscious decision to share or not to share a project based on the designer’s ethnicity, but I know being more thoughtful about what I share is one small way I can shine a spotlight on the wonderful diversity in the knitting community that is not as visible as it should be.
As always I am open to suggestions and willing to listen with a completely open heart to everyone in the knitting community and to do all that I can to make it a more inclusive place, because craft truly is for everyone.
And I’d very much love to know about your favorite designers, yarn makers and knitters of color, who you follow on Instagram and elsewhere.
Check out our New DIY Crafty Creative T-shirts featuring Knitting and Yarn Designs.
I cannot understand in the year 2019 that there are still uneducated racists in the world. Everyone should respect themselves and welcome anything different to enhance their lives. No one person is any better than another.
I never realized this was problem. I love to sew. I buy from anywhere that has something that I would like to make or a fabric that just calls to me when I see it. I knit very rarely and most of the time it is something simple. I only became aware that were so many different types of crafts out there when I started using Youtube and Pinterest. I really never knew that people could make their own yarn. I only knew that you went to the shop to purchase it. I recently saw a video of a young lady who took us through the whole process from collecting the fibers to the finished product. I thought it was amazing to see. Personally I look for models with my body type when looking for patterns for projects, I need to know that the designer knows what problems I face. I really don’t care about what color they are.
I agree there is racism in the knitting world and it’s a very white-washed industry but I disagree with the comments in that screen capture. The reference to the pink tube top was a reference to a time period (1970s?), not a put down or diminishment of the friend from the time. And India is a place that she’s never been to and doesn’t know much about and she is very excited to get a chance to visit. So what?
I think most people over-reacted and misunderstood the intent of the original post writer. The reference to pink tube skirt, she actually says is about the 1970’s and the reference to Mars is about how very different the experience of visiting India would be as she has never been. It is NOT about aliens. Racism isn’t about going to new places and wanting to try new things, racism is about behaving in a hateful way towards people of other races JUST BECAUSE they are of a different race, and recently, racism has come to mean enthno-centric behavior (which it is not) and prejudice (also, not). As an American of hispanic descent, I have been sneered at, ignored, spoken too as I were developmentally-challenged (condescendingly) kept of out groups (wrong dates, bad addresses, wrong telephone numbers), charged more, not allowed in, etc , etc, now THAT is prejudiced behavior (I am white, so can’t say it is racist behavior.) Others have mistaken me for Jewish, so I have gotten plenty of “heil Hilters” form others. So, no, this post was not racist. It was a person explaining how she missed out on an experience due to fears, so instead of being attacked, she should have been praised, as so few can even get to the level of insight that she did. and so it it was a bit ethno-centric, that excusable, as we are ALL ethnocentric to a great degree.
This is racism??? Pathetic. There is no grace and no understanding. At worst, the comment was ethnocentric but that is not immoral or wrong. She is actually trying to analyse her prior position. The Mars reference isn’t about alienation but about how different it would have been to go on a foreign trip to a very ethnically and culturally different country. Most that complained probably have no idea was racism really looks like.
As a white person I feel like I need to believe people of color when they find something offensive or hurtful and can back that up with explanations, even if that was not the intent of the language used in the original blog post.
That said, even if you don’t agree that what was written was racist or insensitive it is definitely true that knitting is an industry where people of color are often not seen, not because they are not there but because there hasn’t been a widespread effort for inclusion.
I think it’s only a good thing that we’re talking about it and thinking about it now.
I recently took a mini-workshop with the Racial Equity Institute and then took their weekend long class. I highly recommend it. It was an eye-opener for me and much needed! https://www.racialequityinstitute.com/our-process/
This conversation has lead to much dialogue within the knitting community. I actually talk about some of it on my YouTube channel, Adventures With Yarn https://youtu.be/cppFFZqVgE4
How does anyone know what skin color is in these forums? I never post my real picture to begin with? Sounds like an over reaction..
I FEEL some of the comments made in this article. I never knew that there was racism in the knitting community. Think that since almost everyone is made up of the four letters (A, C, G, and T) in DNA we should or could embrace all things in different cultures and races and create beautiful things. Enjoy the things in different societies and be creative with what you find. CREATE a new YOU.