Month: August 2021

We’re Hiring!

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Yarn on Table

Hello!! We are in search of a new team member at Knitted Wit. Is that you? We are looking for an individual who can be trained in all aspects of Knitted Wittery, including dyeing and processing yarn, labeling, and shipping. Read through our ideal employee list and see if you’d be a good fit! Directions for responding to the job listing are below; please do not leave info in a comment. Send us an email at [email protected] if you are:

  • Organized, with an attention to detail
  • Able to multitask in a fast-paced environment
  • Able to complete tasks within a deadline
  • A self starter with the ability to work alone from a list of tasks
  • A team player and comfortable with your role within the team
  • Flexible, as tasks change daily
  • Able to lift 50 lbs
  • Able to work 8 hours on your feet
  • Available 30-40 hours a week

Tasks include*

  • Dyeing: moving wet yarn around, handling dye, wearing a mask, following formulas, rinsing yarn, hanging yarn up to dry
  • Twisting yarn: using our equipment to twist skeins to specifications
  • Labeling yarn: being familiar with yarn bases, color names, using the computer to print labels

* Dye experience is not necessary, we are happy to train. Training is an investment for us and we would like to hire for the long term. 

If you are interested in the job please send an email to [email protected]. A resume and letter making the case for you being a great fit would be appreciated! This position is open asap, and would start training immediately. Masks are required while working. Vaccine required. Expectations outside of work are mindful pandemic living.

Wheel of the Year

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Our Wheel of the Year colorways are each named after a different witchy holiday, and the colors themselves transition through the seasons, from the bright, vibrant greens of spring through the pinks and reds of the flowers of summer through the deep red and brown rusty colors of fall. Starting at the greenest, we have: Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lammas, Mabon, Samhain, and Yule. 

We initially debuted these colorways as a part of Witch in a Box kits, in which we paired a full skien with holiday-specific items from our friend Debby from Chicken Coop Botanicals. As we worked our way through the year, exploring the changing of the seasons through yarn, we started to develop a collaborative way to share the colors and celebrate the holidays. 

In Fall 2019, we debuted Let’s Get Knitted Wit-chy, a collaboration with some of our fave designer friends, pairing the Wheel of the Year witchy holiday colors with really amazeballs designs they came up with. The patterns are all still available through these designers, so check them out and support the heck out of them, and the yarns remain, to this day, one of our favorite offerings. For the collaboration, we paired mini skeins of 6 of the witchy colors (Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lammas, and Mabon) with full skeins of Canopy (green), Pollen (gold/yellow), Wild Orchid (purple), and Samhain (brown variegated).

Our amazing designers are (their Instagram names are included, so follow away!): Angela Tong: @atongdesigns; Caroline Dick: @cdickdesigns; Corinna Ferguson: @craftstarstudios; Dawn Henderson: @dawn.landix; Debbi Stone: @the_debbi_stone; Kira Dulaney: @kirakdesigns; Larissa Brown: @larissabrownauthor; Makenzie Alvarez: @hanksandneedles; Noriko Ho: @norichanknits; and Shannon Squire: @shannonsq.

National Parks 2021: Hopewell Culture National Historic Park

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It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

South of Columbus, Ohio, near Chillicothe.

Whose land does it reside upon?

The Hopewell Culture NHP is located on land that many different tribes used as a gathering place. The tribes were cultural descendants of the Adena people.

When was it established?

March 2, 1923

Why is it amazing?

Nearly 2000 years ago, Indigenous tribes built dozens of monumental mounds and earthen enclosures in southern Ohio. These earthwork complexes were ceremonial landscapes used for feasts, funerals, rituals, and rites of passage associated with an American Indigenous religious movement that swept over half the continent for almost 400 years. There were likely not many residential communities here; it was more a gathering place for specific events.

The term Hopewell describes a broad network of economic, political, and spiritual beliefs and practices among different Native American groups. The culture is characterized by the construction of enclosures made of earthen walls, often built in geometric patterns and mounds of various shapes. The culture is known for a network of contacts with other groups, which stretched from the Atlantic coast to the Rocky Mountains. This network of contacts allowed the Hopewell to amass a collection of materials such as mica, shark’s teeth, obsidian, copper, and marine shells.

Why did we choose these colors?

Our Hopewell Culture NHP colors are reminiscent of the views that can be seen throughout the park; the greens of the rolling hills created by the mounds, paired with the bark of the trees and the greens of the leaves. 

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

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It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Glen Canyon NRA encompasses the area around Lake Powell and lower Cataract Canyon in Utah and Arizona.

Whose land does it reside upon?

Glen Canyon has been periodically used by a a variety of human groups from about 11,500 years ago through the present, including nomadic big game hunters during the Paleoindian period (11,500–8,050 BCE), segueing to settlements during the hunter-gatherer period, and occupation by the Fremont and Anasazi people. Paiute groups lived in the area after the Anasazi, followed by sparse populations of Navajo, Paiute, and Hopi.

When was it established?

October 27, 1972

Why is it amazing?

It covers 1.25 million acres of mostly rugged high desert terrain, and includes Lake Powell. The recreation area stretches for hundreds of miles from Lees Ferry in Arizona to the Orange Cliffs of southern Utah, encompassing scenic vistas, geologic wonders, and a vast panorama of human history. 

Why did we choose these colors?

We played with the deep blue of Lake Powell, the brown cliffs and canyons, and the vegetation that pops up in sometimes unexpected places. 

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Agate Fossil Beds National Monument

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It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

Near Harrison, Nebraska, in the prairies of the Nebraska panhandle.

Whose land does it reside upon?

At least 15 tribes have been identified as hunting or occupying the area where the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is. The Pawnee and the Arikara lived in this part of the land the longest. Other tribes that either lived or hunted in this area include the Omaha, Ponca, Oto, Teton Sioux (Lakotas), Arapahoes, Cheyennes, the Great Sioux Nation, Missouri, Meskwaki, Dakota, Fox, Sauk, and Winnebago.

When was it established?

June 14, 1997

Why is it amazing?

This National Monument intersects many different categories of sites in our National Park system: natural history, indigenous history, and colonizer history. You can see the actual Agate Beds, which contain the fossils of extinct Miocene mammals, species that were previously only known through fragments, a discovery that unearthed the history of what’s now known as the Age of Mammals. You can visit the interpretive center, which features many instances of indigenous culture and storytelling. You can see the Cook collection, a wide-ranging collection of indigenous artifacts collected by the white settler of that land (much of which was given to him as a result of his friendship with Chief Red Cloud of the Lakota).

Why did we choose these colors?

We used these soft pastels because many of the images we’ve seen of the park are so soft looking. The rolling hills, the fossils themselves, the big soft sky, we felt we needed a soft and gentle color to reflect that central plains beauty.

For more information:

National Parks 2021: African Burial Ground National Monument

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It’s time for the annual National Parks Club/KAL!

Every month from May-August, we’ll be releasing 4 new parks colorways. We have exhausted all of the traditional US National Parks, save one, so this year, we’ll be showcasing other National Parks areas, such as National Recreation Areas, Heritage sites, etc. Most will fall under one of 4 categories:

  • National History – Eastern USA
  • National History – Western USA
  • Indigenous Culture
  • Human Rights Leaders/notable people

Check out our Socks and Hats on Vacay/Staycay summertime KAL with our friend Shannon Squire, too: https://shannonsquire.com/socks-hats-on-vacay-staycay-2021/ 

Thanks for exploring parks and making socks with us once again this summer! To get your yarn, check out our list of LYS’s offering National Parks (Parks yarn will ONLY be available at our LYS partners through the summer): https://knittedwit.com/parks-2021/

Where is it located?

African Burial Ground National Monument is a monument at Duane Street and African Burial Ground Way in the Civic Center section of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Its main building is the Ted Weiss Federal Building at 290 Broadway.

Whose land does it reside upon?

Manhattan was the indigenous land of the Lenape people, who called the island Manahatta, meaning “hilly island.”

When was it established?

February 27, 2006

Why is it amazing?

In 1991, construction began on yet another high rise in Manhattan. Skeletal remains were discovered while excavating, and further careful excavation discovered intact human skeletal remains 30 feet below the city’s street level on Broadway. A 6-acre burial ground, dating from the 1630s through the late 1790s and containing upwards of 15,000 intact skeletal remains of enslaved and free Africans who lived and worked in colonial New York was discovered. The Burial Ground is the nation’s earliest and largest African burial ground rediscovered in the United States.

Civic engagement and advocacy led to the ancestral remains’ reinterment within the original site of rediscovery. An external memorial, an interpretive center, and research library were constructed to commemorate the financial and physical contributions of enslaved Africans in colonial New York and honor their memory.

Why did we choose these colors?

As we scrolled through the images on the NPS site, we were struck by the beauty of the traditional African garb worn by celebrants, and used that as inspiration for our colorway.

For more information:

HerStory 2021: Mumilaaq Qaqqaq

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Mumilaaq Qaqqaq (she shares how to pronounce her name here) rose to prominence in Canada when she made an impassioned speech in the House of Commons on International Women’s Day in 2017. She was a part of a group called Daughters of the Vote, which empowers young women to speak up about what they want their votes to accomplish, and what their visions are for the future of their communities, both small (town) and large (country). Qaqqaq, an Inuit, spoke about suicide rates in Indigenous people, and her vision for a Canada in which Indigenous issues are front and center. She was approached by the New Democratic Party to run in her home territory of Nunavut (a largely Indigenous territory, and the newest, largest, and northernmost territory in Canada). She won her seat in Canadian’s Parliament by running on a platform that centered the basic human rights of Inuit people, including suicide prevention measures, securing more food security, insuring access to safe water, and increased access to safe housing. 

Throughout her tenure in Parliament, Quaqqaq worked hard on Indigenous issues and rights, but felt her momentum stymied at every turn. Earlier this year, she announced that she isn’t going to seek reelection. The racism she endured, both on a personal scale (she admitted to never feeling completely safe at work in a stirring speech on the floor, discussing how Parliamentary security would often question her rights to be there), and on a systemic scale (the futility she felt at trying to make change in the face of a bureaucracy that is steeped in historical white supremacy and systemic racism) was inescapable, and she came to the realization that she could do more good outside of the political structure. With the time she has left in her term, she has been advocating for stronger climate change policies, and, most recently, a reckoning for the harm perpetrated by the residential schools throughout Canada, pushing the Canadian government to formally investigate the crimes against humanity that we are learning more and more about. 

Our Aurora Borealis colorway in an homage to the otherworldly-seeming light displays that can be enjoyed in Mumilaaq Qaqqaq’s beloved Nunavut, and to the light that Quaqqaq is in Canadian activism. We hope you enjoy learning more about her, and keeping an eye on her as we are sure she will continue to advocate for the Indigenous peoples of Canada. She’s only 27, after all.