LYS Partners: 2021 Spring Collection

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Last Fall, we debuted a themed collection of colorways, designed to celebrate Fall, and we worked with a group of amazing designers that created gorgeous pieces to support this colorway collection (which was exclusively available through our LYS partners). For this collection, we put together a very Springy rainbow, and paired it with some of our 2020 Birds & Bees collection colorways. The result is a collection of fabulous Springy skeins that can be put together in so many amazing ways!

Check out our LYS partners in this Spring Collection:

We think the patterns we showcased with our Fall collection would ALSO be gorgeous with a Springtime update, and wanted y’all to have an easy way to see and access these patterns:

2 skein patterns include: 

3 (or more!) skein patterns include: 

The colorways included in our Spring Collection are: 

Variegated, from left to right: Lazuli Bunting, Red Nomad Bee, Purple Finch, Blanket Flower, Metallic Sweat Bee, Passionflower, Blue Orchard Bee, & Stellar Jay

Spring Collection Semi Solids

And solids from left to right: Raspberry Milkshake, Peachberry Sparkle, Pollen, Canopy, Carpenter Bee, Royal, Fox Glove, & Crow

LYS Partners: 2021 Birds and Bees Club

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Last year, right before the pandemic hit, we debuted a brand-new, LYS-only club called the Birds & the Bees Club. We have just released year 2 of this club, and are so excited to share it with y’all! The colorways are ONLY available at the following LYS’s, so contact them to stock up on yarn celebrating the pollinators AND the pollinated!

Every month for 4 months, starting in February, we are shipping out exclusive colorways to our participating LYSs. Each month has a theme; the themes are listed below:

  • February: the Birds
  • March: the Bees
  • April: the Flowers
  • May: the Butterflies

The photo you see here is of the first shipment, the Birds. From left to right, the birds we are showcasing this month are: Anna’s Hummingbird, White Tailed Kite, Western Bluebird, and Northern Flicker.

LYS Partners: 2021 Palentine’s Day Colorways

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Palentine's Colorways

Happy almost Palentine’s Day, friends! We created a gorgeous bundle of happy colors to celebrate our celebrations of love, and they are available at select LYS partners, including:

Check out our blog post for aaaaallll about the differences between Valentine’s Day, Galentine’s Day, and Palentine’s Day, and see why we are embracing the term Palentine’s Day (hint: more inclusivity is always a good thing), and then snag some yarn custom-dyed to showcase our love for one another. 

  • Palentine's Colorways

HerStory 2021: Stacey Abrams

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Persistence is our February colorway. Picture the most exquisite Hydrangea you have ever seen, the way the colors fade one into another, the pinks and blues and purples into the green of the leaves and stem. Now picture the most talented and tenacious organizer you have ever seen, a person who can turn a political disappointment (albeit a disappointment fueled by historical gerrymandering and voter suppression) into what has arguably proven to be the most consequential and important voting outcome in modern history. 

We are talking about, of course, the incomparable Stacey Abrams (1973-present). We don’t often honor the women you might expect us to in our HerStory; one of our goals is to find those women who have been lost to traditional history, whose stories have not been told, no matter how large the influence of their work/lives have been. But after the turmoil of the 2020 election, particularly what happened in Georgia, we just could not not talk about Stacey Abrams. She is such a force. Such an inspiration. Such an admirable leader. Plus, she writes romance! As romance junkies, we literally cannot even express how much that means to us.

One of the meanings of the Hydrangea is perseverance and gratitude. Unity and togetherness. Stacey Abrams and her team are full to the brim of all of those things. In the 2 short years since she lost the governorship of Georgia, she dug her heels in, gathered a diverse team, and DID THE THING. That thing may well prove to be what literally saves Democracy. Our February colorway, Persistence, is an homage to the Hydrangeas that are starting to bloom in the Spring. To the hope that Stacey Abrams and her hard-working team have caused to bloom in our hearts. To the work that is left to do, and the voices we need to lift up in order to get that work done. As we move forward in the US and work at a more positive and just society, our hope is that you look at and work with this yarn and feel that hope and joy and gratitude that Stacey Abrams embodies. That we all do what we can to uplift each other, and allow those voices that are so necessary to be heard. And to a future in which all of the votes by all of the people count in the same way.

HerStory 2021: Vigdís Finnbogadóttir

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Vigdís Finnbogadóttir (1930-), our first HerStory recipient of 2021, was a born leader. She was the first democratically-elected female head of state in the world, and remains, to this day, the longest-serving female head of state (she was President of Iceland for 19 years). 

Finnbogadóttir was born into wealth and privilege, and thus had a young life full of education and opportunity. She was a public figure before going into politics, teaching French and Icelandic culture on the state television station in the late 1970s. When she decided to run for president in 1980, her status as both a woman AND a divorced single mother weren’t enough to detract from her charisma, personality, and talent, and she was elected over 3 men.  

In no small part because of Finnbogadóttir’s work and standing in the world, Iceland is now considered by most to be the world leader in gender equality. In recent years, Iceland has passed laws to ensure gender balance on boards and to secure paid paternity leave. Almost half of all political candidates in any given election are women, and universal early childhood education is a nationwide priority. In 2013, a law was passed that required companies to ensure that a minimum of 40% of their boards are women. All of these laws and policies are created to make the world more equitable, and offer more women, from all backgrounds, the opportunities to achieve success. 

In Iceland, there is a concept called “fyrirmynd“. It’s kind of like a role model, but more: the term encapsulates the concept of being an example to others to live one’s life with authenticity and strive to do what’s right and good, not only for one’s own self, but for one’s community as well. Our Lava colorway is inspired by the beautiful lava fields one can explore in Iceland, and by our first HerStory recipient Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, the Mother of Iceland. Her cool head and fire within as she broke through that glass ceiling and paved the way for so much goodness, all while typifying that fyrirmynd.

Pal/Gal/Valentine’s Day

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Valentine’s Day is coming up on February 14th, and although it’s a perfectly fine holiday, and we totally dig the chocolate, Red Hots, and candy hearts, we also love the idea of celebrating friendship. We’ve had Galentine’s/Palentine’s Day celebrations at the studio, and being in a room with so many wonderful groups of friends has been a real bucket-filler on those days. We even have a full palette of colors celebrating the Palentine’s / Galentine’s / Valentine’s Day holiday cluster.

Why Galentine’s Day? It’s no surprise to anyone who knows us that the Knitted Wit team are big fans of the television show Parks and Recreation. Leslie Knope is our secret best friend, and we are all huge fans of the whole Parks and Rec team and the ridiculous situations they continually get themselves into. Years ago, we started celebrating Galentine’s Day just like Leslie, with a small group of crafty friends, and our observation of the holiday grew from there. 

3rd Grade Valentine

Galentine’s Day is observed on February 13th, the day before Valentine’s Day, and it’s a day to celebrate your friends. As originally conceived on Parks and Rec, it’s a day to celebrate your female friendships. We’ll let Leslie tell us, as she says it best:

“Every February 13, my lady friends and I leave our husbands and our boyfriends at home, and we just come and kick it, breakfast-style. Ladies celebrating ladies. It’s like Lilith Fair, minus the angst. Plus frittatas.”

So then why Palentine’s Day? We are all about celebrating our friends, but there aren’t only ladies that benefit from a celebration of friendship. In our quest to be less gender-binary-esque and use more inclusive language, we started celebrating Palentine’s Day, and it just plain makes the most sense. We think Leslie herself would agree that opening the circle to include MORE friends on a day custom-made to celebrate non-romantic love is the best ever idea. 

Palentine’s Day

Whatever of the days you celebrate, we hope love and respect (and chocolate and yarn) are at the top of your ‘entine’s Day celebrations!

True Colors: 14 Months

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14 Months was the length of time Lili Elbe (1882-1931) lived as her true self. Born in a body assigned male, it wasn’t until she was in her 30s that, due to a twist of fate (she was asked by her painter wife to step in as a female model due to a no-show), she realized she was a woman. Supported by her wife, she began to present as a woman more and more, and found that she wanted to transition medically as well. After a few terrible encounters with terrible medical professionals, she found a clinic in Berlin run by a doctor that supported his patients making physical transitions. She underwent 3 surgeries in 1930, and enjoyed success and happiness as a result. After a year, she decided that she wanted one more surgery: she wanted a uterus. The surgery wasn’t successful, and Lili passed away after a mere 14 Months living her truest self. This colorway was originally called Godrick’s Hollow.

14 Months Yarn

You can find all of our in-stock True Colors yarn on our website.

True Colors: Conducted

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Frieda Belinfante (1904-1995) was born into a musical family in Amsterdam, and was a noted cellist and conductor, eventually becoming the first woman to conduct a professional orchestra in 1937. In 1940, her orchestra had to disband because of World War II, so she put her efforts towards helping Jewish people evade Nazi capture. She forged documents for those targeted by the Nazis, and helped in plans to bomb Amsterdam’s city hall to destroy original IDs. It was during the resistance efforts that she realized she was gay, and she worked with gay and lesbian artists in the resistance. Belinfante went into hiding after that, dressing as a man to evade recognition (she was so successful that she passed her own mother on multiple occasions and was not recognized), and eventually made her way to the US, first to Switzerland, and then to Southern California. She was the founding artistic director and conductor of the Orange County Philharmonic, and passed away in 1995 from cancer. Our Conducted colorway pays homage to this wonderful woman who said “I’ve always helped people, whether they’re worth it or not comes out later. They haven’t all been worth my effort, but the effort was worth it.” This colorway was originally called Duel at the Ministry.

Conducted Yarn

You can find all of our in-stock True Colors yarn on our website.

True Colors: Winner Winner!

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Georgina Beyer (1957-present) was always female, even though she was assigned male and was punished for living her truth. When she was 16 years old, against the wishes of her bio family, she began living that truth full time. She began acting, and enjoyed success doing so in her home of New Zealand, but began to find herself interested in politics after moving to the small conservative town of Carterton. She became mayor there, and by doing so checked off so many “the first” boxes: she was the first out Trans mayor (of any town, anywhere in the world); the first female mayor of Carterton; the first mayor of Carterton of Maori descent. She inspired lots of youth involvement in politics, and she inspired so many people in her community. In 1999, she decided to run for Parliament, and won, becoming the first out Trans member of Parliament anywhere in the world (and one of a very small number of former sex workers to gain that height of political office)! Georgina has been an influential member of Parliament in New Zealand, making great strides for the LGBQIA+ community and for the rights of sex workers. She truly epitomizes her colorway name; Georgina Beyer is a true Winner Winner!  This colorway was originally called Rita Newspaper.

Winner Winner Yarn

You can find all of our in-stock True Colors yarn on our website.

True Colors: Dualing

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Julie D’Aubigny (1673-1707) was BOTH an opera singer AND a sword fighter. Hence the colorway name Dualing. She had dual loves, and she loved dueling. 😉 D’Aubigny was one of the most interesting people we have ever read about, and we’re only including a taste of her many many exploits. She was bisexual, super talented, and had a knack for getting in trouble. Throughout her short life (she died in her early 30s), and among many other adventures, she: set a convent on fire to help a girlfriend escape (the girlfriend was put into said convent to get her away from D’Aubigny); fled Paris because a boyfriend killed someone in an illegal duel; and was herself was challenged to duels by 3 separate men at one single party (and she defeated them all). She often dressed as a man, and one time, when someone questioned whether she was, in fact, a woman, because she was just too good at sword fighting, she took her shirt off to prove that she had breasts. The crowd, it was said, fell silent. She was also pardoned by the King of France and performed in the Paris Opera, breaking down barriers by presenting as androgynous.

This colorway used to be called Potion in the Cave.

Dualing Yarn

You can find all of our in-stock True Colors yarn on our website.