Month: April 2019

Socks on Vacay 2019

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We are getting ready for Socks on Vacay 2019, and this year, we’re turning it up a notch, by offering some yarn-shop-only incentives AND by starting it a bit earlier than last year! This year, the whole event will kick off on Wednesday, May 1st (instead of Memorial Day), and, if you take part through your participating yarn shop, you’ll have the opportunity to collect awesome prizes!

Starting about now, shops will be receiving their first four National Parks color ways in our Sock base. They also have the cutest little postcards that indicate the National Parks color ways for 2019. If you purchase a skein of yarn a month from your LYS (so, four skeins throughout the summer), you will get an LYS-exclusive Knitted Wit patch to sew on your jean jacket or backpack or any old thing. If you purchase all four skeins every month from your LYS (so, sixteen skeins total throughout the summer), you’ll get an LYS-exclusive Knitted Wit enamel pin! SO EXCITING!!

And that’s not all, because we’re also doing the Instagram-centered #socksonvacay Summertime Sock Knitting Extravaganza, where you knit socks using our yarn and Shannon Squire’s sock patterns to be eligible for prizes and bragging rights. The KAL portion of the event begins on May 1st and runs through Labor Day, so get your needles ready, folks. Shannon will be releasing her fourth Socks for Busy B’s collection starting Thursday, May 9th, and, like last year, the pattern releases will be staggered for three weeks, and, like last year, the pricing will go up with each release. Make sure you’re signed up for her newsletter to get all of the details!

Also just like last year, we aren’t entirely sure what kinds of things we’ll be looking for during the IG KAL, but to give you an idea, for the last couple of years, we gave prizes for:

  • Most Exotic Photo
  • Most Finished Socks
  • Coolest Place to Knit

Among other things. Just knit socks, and have fun doing it, and you’ll be entered to win!

The rules are simple:

  1. You must make socks between Wednesday, May 1st and Monday, September 2nd, 2019 (aka May 1st and Labor Day here in the US);
  2. socks must be made with Knitted Wit yarn;
  3. socks must be made using one of Shannon Squire’s sock patterns; and
  4. you must share photos on IG and use #socksonvacay #socksonvacay2019 AND tag @knittedwit and @shannonsq.

And that’s it! Try to cast on and bind off between those two dates, but if you have a wee bit started before May 1st, we’ll try not to ding you.

We’re getting so excited about spending our summer surrounded by sock knitting once again, and sure hope you’ll join us! And please do check out the yarns at your LYS, because they are a treasure trove of amazingness (and they might even be hosting some sock KAL nights throughout the summer!)

April Sassy Holidays 2019: April Fool’s Day

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For our April Sassy Holiday, we’re celebrating the changing season, relishing the hint of cool in the air, looking forward to shorter days and cozy fires… Ahhh, who doesn’t love Fall? Especially after a long, hot summer, when all a fiber crafter wants to do is curl up on the couch under a hand-made blanket and make, make, make. Our Sassy colorway, Pumpkin Spice Latte, is just the colorway your fall-craving self needs… what? What’s that you say? We are heading toward Spring, not Fall? Well…

April Fools!!!

We hope you enjoy this decidedly UN-Autumnal color, Pumpkin Spice Latte, and giggle to yourself while crafting with it. Good luck trying to get your hands on an actual Pumpkin Spice Latte, however, since we are MONTHS away from enjoying those once more.

To make your own Pumpkin Spice Latte at home, gather and mix together the following:

  • 1 cup milk, either cow’s, coconut, almond, macadamia, or other
  • 1 TBSP canned or fresh pumpkin puree
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice (or ½ tsp cinnamon and a sprinkle each of cloves and nutmeg)
  • ¼ cup strong coffee or espresso
  • 1 tsp honey or maple syrup or to taste

Blend until smooth, then heat in a saucepan, stirring often. Pour into your favorite mug and add whipped cream or coconut cream to the top. Enjoy and pretend it’s fall, y’all.

HerStory April 2019: Maud Wagner

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There are so many acts that, once upon a time (and not that long ago), were considered revolutionary for women. Wearing pants. Having short hair. Wanting to vote. Working outside the home. Choosing not to marry. And tattooing. Which brings us to our April HerStory recipient. (Hell, tattooing is STILL considered a revolutionary act for women, and it’s 2019!!) Maud Wagner was an American circus performer (cool!) and, more importantly for HerStory, the first known female tattoo artist in the United States.

Born in Kansas in 1877, Maud Stevens began traveling on the carnival circuit, perfecting her techniques as an aerialist, acrobat, and contortionist. She traveled the country, also a revolutionary act for a woman in those days. In 1904, she performed at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (kind of a World’s Fair type of situation), and there she met Gus Wagner, aka The Tattooed Globetrotter. According to legend, Maud agreed to go on a date with Gus in exchange for a tattoo lesson, and the rest, as they say, is history. Before long, Maud was covered in tattoos, and the Wagners were a power couple on the carnival circuit. Maud began tattooing, along with her circus work, focusing on hand-poked tattoos as opposed to using the now-available electric tattoo guns, precursors to what we have now. She and her husband have also been widely lauded as influential in bringing tattooing inland in the United States; until they began their tattoo-and-tour situation, most tattoos were done in coastal towns. 

As anyone who has fallen headfirst into tattoo obsession (Shannon and Lorajean have both had this experience), once Maud started, she didn’t want to stop. She was covered up to her neck in tattoos, from all accounts done exclusively by either her mister or herself. She had a daughter, Lovette, who also became a tattooist (she started at age 9!), but was unique in that she was a tattoo artist with no tattoos on her own body. Maud wouldn’t allow Lovette to be tattooed by Gus, and Lovette stated that if she couldn’t get tattooed by her father, she didn’t want to be tattooed at all. 

Old Lines is our Maud Wagner-inspired color; it’s inspired by flash you would see at a tattoo shop. A kind of a tea-stained paper with traditional tattoo colors: mostly red and blue/black, with a little bit of teal and yellow poking through. We’re pretty pleased with how it came out, and are looking way forward to seeing it knit up into your lovely creations.