National Parks 2021: Petroglyph 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?

Petroglyph National Monument stretches 17 miles along Albuquerque, New Mexico’s West Mesa, a volcanic basalt escarpment that dominates the city’s western horizon.

Whose land does it reside upon?

Puebloans have lived in the Rio Grande Valley since before 500 A.D., but a population increase around 1300 A.D. resulted in numerous new settlements.

When was it established?

June 27, 1990

Why is it amazing?

Petroglyph National Monument protects one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America, featuring designs and symbols carved onto volcanic rocks by Native Americans and Spanish settlers 400 to 700 years ago. These images are a valuable record of cultural expression and hold profound spiritual significance for contemporary Native Americans and for the descendants of the early Spanish settlers.

Petroglyphs are rock carvings (rock paintings are called pictographs) made by pecking directly on the rock surface using a stone chisel and a hammerstone. When the desert varnish (or patina) on the surface of the rock was chipped off, the lighter rock underneath was exposed, creating the petroglyph. Archaeologists have estimated there may be over 25,000 petroglyph images along the 17 miles of escarpment within the monument boundary.

The vast majority of the monument’s petroglyphs were believed to have been created by the ancestors of today’s Pueblo people. It is believed that the majority of the petroglyphs were carved from about 1300 through the late 1680s. The Spanish colonizers carved some of the petroglyphs as well, although that practice was stamped out with the rise of christianity.

Why did we choose these colors?

In our Petroglyph colorway, our goal was to capture the many layers of color that results on the rocks on which petroglyphs were carved.

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Katahdin Woods & Waters 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?

Northern Maine.

Whose land does it reside upon?

The Penobscot Indian Nation, along with other Wabanaki tribes, settled in the area that is now Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument, and these Indigenous groups still regard the Penobscot River as an important landmark of their culture.

When was it established?

August 24, 2016

Interesting note about it’s establishment: a co-founder of Burt’s Bees was instrumental in the establishment of this land as a National Monument, and many conservative groups (including our 45th president during his campaign) have been against its establishment.

Why is it amazing?

Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument preserves over 87,000 acres in Maine’s North Woods. The East Branch of the Penobscot River, Wassataquoick Stream, and the Seboeis River flow through a landscape of rolling forests and wetlands. The monument is home to black bears, Canada Lynx, moose, river otters, and countless other species. As the website says, limited services and signage make visiting an adventure.

Why did we choose these colors?

We used the cover shot on this page: https://www.nps.gov/kaww/index.htm, which beautifully showcases the woods AND the waters, as our colorway inspiration.

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Organ Pipe Cactus 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?

In extreme southern Arizona that shares a border with the Mexican state of Sonora.

Whose land does it reside upon?

The Hohokam people’s culture existed in this area from the first years Common Era (CE). through CE 1450.

There are eight groups of indigenous peoples currently in the Sonoran Desert area. The Mayo, Yaqui, Pima, Seri, Cucapá, Papago and Guarijio are native to the Sonora region. The eighth group, the Kikapú, immigrated to Sonora but have maintained a presence in the state for more than 100 years, so they are considered to be indigenous Sonorans.

When was it established?

April 13, 1937

Why is it amazing?

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, an International Biosphere Reserve, reveal a thriving community of plants and animals. Human stories echo throughout this desert preserve, chronicling thousands of years of desert living. It is the only place in the United States where the senita and organ pipe cactus grow wild.

Why did we choose these colors?

If you flip through the images on the NPS website, you’ll see the rich diversity of colors in this desert landscape, which inspired our colorway.

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Cesar E. Chavez 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?

Keene, Kern County, about 32 miles away from Bakersfield, California.

Whose land does it reside upon?

The Tejon Indian Tribe of California is a tribe of the Kitanemuk, Yokuts, and Chumash indigenous people of California. Their ancestral homeland is the southern San Joaquin Valley, San Emigdio Mountains, and Tehachapi Mountains. Today they live in Kern County, California.

When was it established?

October 8, 2012

Why is it amazing?

Under the leadership of César E. Chávez and others such as Dolores Huerta and Larry Itliong, along with support from millions of Americans, the farm worker movement joined forces with other reform movements to achieve unprecedented successes that greatly improved working and living conditions and wages for farm workers. During the 1970s the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) grew and expanded from its early roots as a union for farm workers to also become a national voice for the poor and disenfranchised. The enduring legacies of César E. Chávez and the farm worker movement include passage of California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, the first law in the U.S. that recognized farm workers’ collective bargaining rights.

Why did we choose these colors?

We based the colorway on the gardens and growth that make up the 108-acre park. There are both manicured gardens and native growth, all of which adds up to create a lovely strollable park with lots of information on Chavez’s activism.

For more information:

HerStory 2021: Georgina Beyer

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“I stand on the shoulders of people who went before me and now people stand on the shoulders of people like me.” -Georgina Beyer

Throughout this year of HerStory, we have been showcasing people who have, through their work, advocacy, and courage, provided a way forward for others, for the next generation. June’s HerStory recipient is one of those people, first as the first openly Trans person to run a municipality, and next as the first openly Trans person in national office. She is very careful to include the descriptor “openly,” because, as she states, surely there have been others, who have been forced, through society’s pressures, to hide their true selves. 

Georgina Beyer was born in a small town in New Zealand, and is of both European and Maori descent. As a young adult, she began working as an actor and performer, becoming active in the nightclub scene and as a drag performer and sex worker. She is one of very few former sex workers to hold political office.

On paper, it didn’t look as though Georgina Beyer was someone who would win or hold political office, particularly in a largely conservative electorate. She was openly Transgender, and unapologetically in support of Indigenous issues. A true intersection of many identities, that resulted in her supporting legislation to uplift the most marginalized. She was inspired to live her life as an example to others, and to run for public office, after being brutalized by a group of men when she was a sex worker. The marginalization she experienced as a Trans woman, and as a sex worker, cemented her resolve to fight for those who could not fight for themselves. In her time in office, she advocated for Civil Unions and the Prostitution Reform Act (during the debate about which she came out as a former sex worker, changing the minds of at least 3 of her colleagues to secure passage of the bill). She recognized that her place, her job, was to be herself, as loudly and unapologetically as possible, to ensure smoother sailing for those who came after her. We think she’s done just that. 

Our Red Umbrella colorway is an homage to Georgina Beyer’s tireless work for LGBTQIA+ and sex worker rights. We’ve combined the colorways of the inclusive pride flag with a red umbrella, which represents sex work. The liberation of all marginalized folk is tied up with each other; as Lilla Watson, noted Australian Aboriginal Elder and Activist said, “If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

National Parks 2021: Nez Perce 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?

The Nez Perce National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park comprising 38 sites located throughout the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, which included traditional aboriginal lands of the Nez Perce people.

Whose land does it reside upon?

Since time immemorial, the valleys, prairies, mountains, and plateaus of the inland northwest have been home to the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) people. Extremely resilient, they survived the settling of the United States and adapted to a changed world. Nez Perce National Historical Park consists of 38 places important to the history and culture of the Nimiipuu.

When was it established?

May 15, 1965

Why is it amazing?

The homelands of the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) have seen continual human use for at least the last 11,000 years. Nez Perce National Historic Park is a kind of living museum to the Nez Perce tribe, which was almost completely decimated/driven out of their ancestral lands by white colonizers in the 1800s. The lands that encompass the Nez Perce National Historic Park are still partly taken care of/administered by people from the Nez Perce tribe, in concert with the United States Government and other Tribal groups.

The Nez Perce homeland is filled with unique and special places that since the beginning of time have defined who they are. Three of these story sites are: Ant and Yellowjacket (https://www.nps.gov/nepe/learn/historyculture/ant-and-yellowjacket-history.htm), Coyote’s Fishnet (https://www.nps.gov/nepe/learn/historyculture/coyotes-fishnet-history.htm), and the Heart of the Monster (https://www.nps.gov/nepe/learn/historyculture/heart-of-the-monster-history.htm). Each of these sites involves the trickster god Coyote and other spiritual entities.

Why did we choose these colors?

Our Nez Perce colorway is inspired by Indigenous regalia we saw in our image searches. 

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

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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?

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. It hugs the northeast shore of Lake Michigan and includes South and North Manitou islands.

Whose land does it reside upon?

The Potawatomi, Ottawa, and Chippewa were called the “three brothers” of the Algonquin family. As the Potawatomi migrated south, the Chippewa and Ottawa co-mingled peacefully in northern Michigan. They shared several hunting and fishing territories including the Sleeping Bear area.

When was it established?

October 21, 1970

Why is it amazing?

Sleeping Bear Dunes is as old as continental ice sheets. The immense sand dunes that give the National Lakeshore its name are “perched” atop the towering are glacial moraines, at up to 400 feet above Lake Michigan. The park has 65 miles of shoreline on Lake Michigan, as well as numerous inland lakes, streams, and bogs. The long and narrow Lakeshore contains several northern hardwood and conifer forest types as well as fantastic examples of glacially caused landforms.

Sleeping Bear Dunes is so named from an Indigenous legend (https://www.nps.gov/slbe/learn/kidsyouth/the-story-of-sleeping-bear.htm):

Two different versions of the story are commonly told. These stories are an Anishinaabe (Odawa/Ottawa, Ojibway/Chippewa and Potawatomi) oral tradition of a sacred place within their homelands in the Great Lakes.

Once, long ago, in the land called Wisconsin across the great lake, there was terrible hunger and many people died. A bear and two little cubs were trying to leave that place and come around the lake where there would be more food.

They walked for many days on the beach together, but after a while the two little cubs began to whimper with hunger, and so the bear decided to swim across the rest of the lake.

They waded into the water, one cub on each side of the bear, and they swam off into the lake a long way. After a while the cubs began to get very tired, and so the bear said, “Try hard, the land is not very far.” And very soon they did come in sight of land.

But gradually the cubs got weaker, and only ten miles away, one cub sand into the water. Soon after, the other also drowned.

The bear’s heart was broken, but she could do nothing. She waded ashore and lay down, looking out on the water where her cubs had died. Eventually, both of them came to the surface as two little islands, and so the bear still lies there atop the dunes, looking after here children.

Long ago, along the Wisconsin shoreline, a mother bear and her two cubs were driven into Lake Michigan by a raging forest fire. The bears swam for many hours, but soon the cubs tired. Mother bear reached the shore first and climbed to the top of a high bluff to watch and wait for her cubs. The cubs drowned within sight of the shore. The Great Spirit created two islands to mark the spot where the cubs disappeared and then created a solitary dune to represent the eternal vigil of mother bear.

Why did we choose these colors?

Our Sleeping Bear Dunes colorway brings all of the components of the lakeshore together: you’ve got the deep blue of Lake Michigan, the sandy brown of the dunes themselves, and the greens of the forests.

For more information:

National Parks 2021: John Day 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?

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is a U.S. national monument in Wheeler and Grant counties in east-central Oregon.

Whose land does it reside upon?

Many groups of Indigenous peoples lived in the area surrounding the John Day Fossil Beds, including the Northern Paiute (who were the main Shoshonean speaking culture in Oregon) and the Bannock people. Tenino and Northern Paiute appear to be the most closely connected with lands comprising John Day Fossil Beds National Monument during the protohistoric (about 1730 to 1810, or the time between the acquisition of horses and first contact with non-lndigenous people) and historic periods. Much of the land that comprises the National Monument falls within the territory ceded by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in the 1855 treaty.

When was it established?

October 8, 1975

Why is it amazing?

Colorful rock formations, including distinctive rock layers, preserve a fairly comprehensive record of plant and animal evolution, changing climate, and past ecosystems that span over 40 million years. Each layer shows fossilized remains of plants and animals, both familiar and strange. It is unlikely that a more complete and well-preserved record of Cenozoic terrestrial life exists anywhere in the world. Examining the differences between each of the geologic strata helps researchers better understand how the region has changed through time. As knowledge about each of the layers grows, fundamental questions pertaining to the environment, climate, and the ancient life in western North America can be answered, providing a more complete understanding of part of Earth’s history.

Why did we choose these colors?

If you look through images of the Fossil Beds, you’ll see these colors echoed in the rock formations.

For more information:

National Parks 2021: Women’s Rights 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?

Women’s Rights National Historical Park covers a total of 6.83 acres of land in Seneca Falls and nearby Waterloo, New York, United States.

Whose land does it reside upon?

The Seneca were the largest of six Native American nations which comprised the Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations, a democratic government that pre-dates the United States Constitution.

When was it established?

December 28, 1980

Why is it amazing?

Women’s Rights National Historical Park tells the story of the first Women’s Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, NY on July 19-20, 1848. It is a story of struggles for civil rights, human rights, and equality, global struggles that continue today. The efforts of women’s rights leaders, abolitionists, and other 19th century reformers remind us that all people must be accepted as equals.

Why did we choose these colors?

While gold was the only color used by all US suffrage organizations (though white also became widely adopted once parades started), the purple, white, and gold combination was used only by the National Woman’s Party in the United States. The organization described the meaning of these colors in a newsletter published December 6, 1913: “Purple is the color of loyalty, constancy to purpose, unswerving steadfastness to a cause. White, the emblem of purity, symbolizes the quality of our purpose; and gold, the color of light and life, is as the torch that guides our purpose, pure and unswerving.”

For more information:

HerStory 2021: Aloha Oe

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Liliʻuokalani (1838-1917), was the first (and only) Hawaiian Queen, and the last sovereign of Hawaii. She was a complicated figure, made even moreso by what was going on in her world and on her islands. She came to power upon the death of her brother the King, and inherited a Hawaii that was moving toward annexation into the United States of America. There wasn’t much she could do about it; colonizers/businessmen were already part of the ruling class of Hawaii, and though she fought bitterly for Hawaii’s independence, she eventually lost and Hawaii was annexed to the US in the late 1800s. 

She ruled for a mere 2 years, and was stymied at almost every turn by a legislature hell-bent on limiting her powers and giving more powers to the businessmen that were at their core. Her driving goal was to write a new constitution that would allow her to push for more autonomy and give more power to native Hawaiians, but that was not to be. In fact, it was her dedication to these causes that inspired a stronger push on the part of her detractors for annexation into the USA. After being deposed, Liliʻuokalani continued to fight for the rights of Hawaiians, by traveling to the US mainland and petitioning congress for more representation as well as compensation for land seized during the annexation.

Our Aloha Oe colorway is named after the song Liliʻuokalani composed the year annexation occurred. The English translation is “Farewell to Thee,” and although some stories have the origins of the song being about a farewell embrace between lovers, it’s difficult to imagine that it wasn’t, in some part, written as a farewell to the Hawaii Liliʻuokalani knew. She had to know that with annexation would come a change to traditional ways of life and knowing, and penning a bittersweet farewell to that life seems just right. 

A little note about HerStory: We recognize that some of our HerStory stories represent difficult and sometimes divisive-seeming topics, and want you all to know that our goal is to expand all of our knowledge bases. Our goal is to open minds to the experiences of others, to gain a more expanded view of history/HerStory and the women who contribute to our collective world, and to shine the light on voices that aren’t always heard/acknowledged/listened to.

We also want to always remember the “many baskets of truth” philosophy: that pretty much every issue/person/situation contains many different and oftentimes warring truths, and that it is our job to explore and recognize all of those truth baskets, while trying not to obscure the less-than-ideal (or even outright awful) parts of that issue. That’s what we try to do with our HerStory Love Letters, and we hope you all take what we share and delve deeper into the issues that speak the most to you.