Discontinuing the Boy Who Lived Color Line

We are discontinuing the entire Boy Who Lived color line, which was created to show love for the Harry Potter book series. The creator of Harry Potter, JK Rowling, has shown time and again that she is anti-trans and downright bigoted, and we cannot in good conscience continue to support her in any way. This last week she began tweeting virulently anti-trans statements (not the first time she’s done so, but she was much more bold in her bigotry this time), stating that gender is fixed and that being trans is not a valid plane of existence. She seems to see gender and sex as a zero-sum game, whereas it’s a spectrum that has been forced into a binary by a society that loves labels. This is very similar to the All Lives Matter folks who counter the very real pain and heartache that has inspired the groundswell of support for the Black Lives Matter movement (viva this revolution!) at this moment in time with an “all lives matter”.

Knitted Wit is against all forms of hatred and discrimination, and at the very core of our business is the knowledge that equity is tantamount. We believe in Trans Rights, we believe that Black Lives Matter. We cannot support folks who peddle in hatred and bigotry.

To that end, with the remaining skeins we have in the studio, we are going to donate 100% of our profits to Trans Lifeline, a trans-led organization that connects trans people to the community, support, and resources they need to survive and thrive.

We are going through the colorways and picking out our favorites, which we will keep and rename in a colorway set honoring voices in the LGBTQIA+ community.

Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter

First things first: Black Lives Matter. Unequivocally. We at Knitted Wit are committed to anti-racism, and there is no place in our community for anything else. We are white women, so we are not the ones you should come to to get educated, but we do have some resources that we’d like to share with you, our fellow white women who are committed to anti-racism, too. As you are learning, make sure you pay for the labor that’s been done. Many of the educators we are sharing have books out that you can purchase, Patreons that you can subscribe to, Ko-Fis that you can donate to, etc. 

Why Black Lives Matter is important (and why saying All Lives Matter is dangerous):

Rachel Cargle (a wonderful anti-racist educator) wrote this piece in 2016: Why You Need to Stop Saying “All Lives Matter.” Read it, and then follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Patreon.

The workbook:

Layla F. Saad’s book White Supremacy and Me is THE resource for deep-diving into the deeply-ingrained racism. Follow her on Instagram, support her on Patreon, and buy her book.

Books to read and re-read:

Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want to Talk About Race is a life-changing primer on racism in America. Purchase the book, follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and support her on Patreon

Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning (a history of anti-black racism in America) and How to be Anti-Racist are must-haves on your anti-racism book shelves. 

People we follow on Instagram:

This is a list of Black women we follow on Instagram from whom we’ve learned a lot. Please remember that we are guests in these educators’ spaces, so our role is to listen and learn (and to pay them for the work they’re doing and the education they are sharing). This list is by no means exhaustive, but it’s a good start:

Organizations to donate to: