I pulled together a photo album on my phone of all the things I’ve knit so far this year. This is everything minus two secret projects I completed.
I never think I make a lot until I pull it together like this. And currently I’ve got 3 active projects on my needles. But this year has also been an odd year when it comes to how I feel about knitting. Knitting has always been my stress reliever and comfort, the thing I turn to when work was making me crazy or I just needed something to soothe me. This year, the knitting community as a whole has felt like a bit of a roller coaster ride with all the diversity discussion. People, brands, indie dyers, bloggers, Ravelry, I feel like every day there is a new uproar, call to action, incident and it’s exhausting. And I’m not even a person who is doing the work to bring incidents and issues with racism to light.
I bring it up here, in my own space, to say that racism is real. Racism is alive and well and there’s still a lot of work to be done. I’ve been ignored in stores that aren’t just yarn shops. I’ve felt like I was invisible in school and work environments because I’m black or because I’m a black woman. I’ve been to knitting events and taken classes where no one spoke to me the entire time, despite my efforts to be friendly and speak to the people around me. But now that I’m more known because of this blog, people feel more comfortable talking to me – but it shouldn’t take this blog for someone to see me as a fellow knitter. I knit, you knit, we are knitters. Period.
One of the reasons I liked knitting for a long time is because I could do it alone. I didn’t have to join a group or go to a yarn shop unless I wanted to do that. It is difficult to live in a world where even in 2019 I feel like I’m invisible at times, where people don’t see me. And I keep hearing/reading people say these conversations being had online are awkward or uncomfortable to have but how do you think the person who was discriminated against feels? How uncomfortable do you think some of these scenarios are for me? How embarrassing and hurtful is it to come into a yarn shop and be ignored? How awkward is it to sit in a class and no one speak to you but have boisterous conversations around you? How embarrassing is it to be yarn shamed? It all sucks.
So I’ll say this again, racism is real. Racism is alive and well and there’s still a lot of work to be done. I don’t have the answers or the solution but I hope that if you support me, you like this blog, that maybe you’ll take a moment to stop and think about how you can also make a positive change in this community that we all love.
Yards of Happiness 
I am sorry to hear you have experienced any of this. Thank you for making me aware so that I don’t ever treat anyone this way.
Thank you for your comments on racism. On the day after our president underscored such a hateful message against four congresswomen your comments were both personally felt and universally pertinent.
In my work with human rights and discrimination/harassment investigations, I see the effects of racism on people every day.
Describing your experience, Dana, can help people understand, but you are right, it shouldn’t take a blog post for people to be treated with dignity and respect.
You are a wonderful person. I am thankful that you share your work with all of us. I am heartbroken that you have been made to feel not important. Each person is precious. Keep doing all of your creative things and know that you are appreciated.
Why can’t we all just be Humans of Ravelry??
On a another note….. how many sweaters since January??????Amazing!
As a middle-aged white woman, I am embarrassed and ashamed that I haven’t been more aware of the struggles of POC in our nation and our knitting community. I am so sorry you have experienced such treatment, no one should be ignored or made to feel invisible. For my part, I pledge to learn more, read more, and listen more. I hope you will continue to talk, share, and most of all, smile that beautiful smile of yours!
Thank you for sharing a bit of yourself with all of us, even when it is painful. Those of us in positions of privilege need to feel uncomfortable, and hopefully from there we can help find/create a way forward. There is so much beauty to share in this community! Thank you for sharing yours.
I’ve always admired your work ethics and kindness since our days at LHS. It’s been a pleasure to follow your knitting adventures as well as seeing what kind of plots your dogs are coming up with. People are stupid and scared of what they don’t know or understand. Doesn’t make it right. It sucks, especially as a Deaf person, I can empathize to some degree. You keep being you since you rock!
Well spoken! How about when you walk down the sidewalk and the person coming towards you veers INTO you and then makes YOU stop and wait for them in order to avoid a collision?!!! Invisible. Happens to me everyday.
I make them bump into me if they do that. Wakes them up to what is going on around them. I also ask them to shift out of the way in a loud voice
Thank you so much for sharing your feelings. You are right. I love your blog and videos.
As a white woman, I’m ashamed that anyone would treat you that way.
I’m a librarian, and we had a nasty incident occur at a national conference about the same time that things started heating up in the knitting world (mind you, I’m not saying that racism “started” in these cultural arenas six months ago, but rather, that incidents occurred that made many of us realize that things were much worse than we had wanted to believe).
I do pledge to keep informing myself, but also to take responsibility for working towards ending it however I can.
Thank you for your words & insight ❤️
Thank you for your honest and insightful thoughts. I also pledge to be more mindful of how others around me are being regarded, and act with the love I would like returned to me.
Good morning, dear Dana,
THANK YOU for this post. If I haven’t written this before, I will now: I wish we were neighbors. I love your spirit and your joie de vivre.
It is important for all of us, as human beings, to keep an open heart. So that love can come from us. So that love can get in.
A question: How are we to treat others?
The answer: There are no others.
Hang in there, Dear One, and I’ll keep an eye on the real estate listings in my neighborhood. You’ll love it out here in Wyoming!
Very well stated. My exact experiences too at times even at Fiber Festivals .
I still remember the shock of recognition I felt when I read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. I’m an Asian American child of immigrants who were unable to provide much guidance on dealing with racism, so literature did that–and still does. I’m grateful all those African American writers that I read after Ellison (there were very few Asian American writers published then). I’m grateful for all the activists who spoke and are speaking up. I’ve been far too… quiet? resigned?
“It shouldn’t take this blog for someone to see me as a fellow knitter. I knit, you knit, we are knitters. Period.”
Amen. Thanks for this post, Dana.
LOL I love how it auto-filled my full legal name.
Wow! You have hit the nail on the head. I have stopped attending the sit and knit at my local yarn shop because of the clique that has formed. For me it’s not about color, it’s about whether or not my husband is in the military. When I first started attending the sit and knit, I enjoyed it. But I noticed the girl who had little money to spend on fancy yarn and the woman of color (both of whom made me laugh), have stopped going and I don’t have as much fun anymore. They were possibly feeling the same alienation. I have struggled with whether or not to mention how I feel to my local yarn shop owner, but then I also feel that those who were being exclusionary would only include me because I said something thus defeating the point.
Last night at dinner I sat next to a man who spent the evening asserting that Trump would be re-elected, the economy is strong and working for all and seemed to feel no compunction about how immigrants are being treated and the lack of civil discourse in general. I guess it is good to hear what people who feel that way have to say, but it made my heart heart. There is so much wrong right now and it all starts at the top. Permission is being given to speak and behave in ways that are more than simply hurtful, they are just plain wrong and immoral.
Dana, Thank you for this post.
I am sorry for what you had to endure.
I am sorry because I thought that not being racist was enough.
I am learning to do better.
You know you are loved. ❤️
What a great commentary, Dana. I am also sorry for your experiences at events, knitting or not. Your expression is so positive and infectious that I can’t imagine you not being included in a group. I enjoy knitting and the exchange of ideas, tips and techniques and will interact with anyone. Your blog is a ray of sunshine, and I enjoy your videos even more because you come across as a person anyone could talk to. On a lighter note, as knitters we experience the non-knitter view that we are all a bunch of old ladies with nothing else to do making sweaters that no one really wants out of awful yarn….I think today’s knitters and designers are changing that view. Knit on 🧶
Yes. To everything you said. Lately I’ve been saying “people suck” way more often than I used to.
❤️❤️❤️ – I don’t have the right words-I just want to acknowledge how much I have been enriched by getting to “know you”.
Thanks for another great blog post. Thanks for the smiling face and all the knitting achieved this year. When I read what you have to say about your experiences I get the feeling that you have been able to rise above it, as Maya Angelou said:
You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.
Maya Angelou
What I have gained through these times of sharing about diversity is a wonderful opportunity to see the beauty and inspiration that the BIPOC community brings to the world. I see the pain that they have encountered in their lives.
As long as I live there is always room for improvement. So I as a white woman, who has benefited just from being white, will continue to learn and do what I can to create a safe space for all people. I find it hard to come up with words that won’t come off as white centering, or not the “perfect “ thing to say to situations of discrimination. There has been so much.
I love this! I have felt the same way, I am Hispanic. I dont go to classes or join any group because I feel the same way. I dont go to yarn shops and when I do I try to see if the owner is a minority because I wont be ignored or made feel like I dont belong.. there is only one shop that has been friendly. It is a drive for me but worth every mile!
Hopefully people wake up and see the American means Diversity and truly grasp the true meaning of the saying “land of the free”
Love your blog!!
I am sorry that you have felt so unwelcome. As a white woman, one of the few places I have felt uncomfortable -and then before I was forty – was in yarn stores. My discomfort at spending over a hundred dollars a sweater on yarn must have been apparent on my face. I still am uncomfortable spending a lot of money per project, in part because I have been knitting for Yikes! fifty years and have had my share of disillusioning experiences with expensive yarn. The thing is, you often do spend that kind of money and so the discrimination you face has little to do with my experience. I live in New York City and see POC very rarely in yarn stores, except in places like Michael’s. Even in the yarn store which is the most friendly there are rarely women of color present. I hope things improve for you. My sincere apologies for this situation.
I was prompted by an IG story post by littleskeinanne to listen to a video post by Candice Braithwaite titled “White Privilege” IG link here: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17848683355501355/?hl=en She gives two examples from her own life of what white privilege means, and what I (white and privileged) can do when I see something similar to hers, or your, situations. The answer? Be aware. Act. Open my mouth. Speak up. Don’t stand by and do nothing.
These conversations are challenging and uncomfortable. They have prompted me to push past my comfortable, privileged existence, to to educate myself, to look around at what I can do, to use my uncomfortable-ness as a catalyst to something better;. I am working on it. Probably not fast enough.
Please keep posting – I love your posts – knitting (wow!), Jellybean (!!!), and your experiences IRL.
Thank you for sharing your life.
I’m sorry.
Thank you so much for this post and this blog. I just want to say that I do see you as someone who is doing hard work bringing these issues to light. This is just such an important conversation and you are SO RIGHT, that the hard conversations have to happen. I am so sorry that you’ve been ignored and I am going to make sure that when I’m at the yarn shop or in the class that I reach out to make sure that all voices are being heard and are able to join into the conversation.
Thank you for your post, Dana. As a 70 yr.-old white female I’m embarrassed and saddened that racism is still all around us. I remember being aware of it as a child growing up in Houston and not understanding even then why people of color were treated differently. I pray that my grandchildren will see a big change in how we treat all people. We all bleed the same color. ❤️
You are such an incredible prolific knitter! Someone told me that I am a prolific knitter, but I don’t even come close to completing all the projects you do! All of your sweaters are GORGEOUS!!!!!! I am so sad that we are still dealing with racism in this country/world…I have conversations with my 17 year old daughter about racism a lot and it is so eye opening to talk to her about it. All of my children are bi-racial and it saddens me that they are treated differently every day of their lives because of how they look…as the person above said…we all bleed the same color and we are ALL part of the HUMAN RACE!!!!! Rock on Dana! You’re the best!!!!!!
I am so sorry this has happened to you. Even more sorry that it may happen in the future.
I can’t imagine being able to ignore you. With that big, beautiful smile and all that energy, it takes commitment.
I’m sending you hugs and smiles. You are seen, you are loved and you are making a difference, by sharing your whole self with us. Thank you!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for speaking your truth. As a white woman, I try to disrupt the cycle of racism when I see it/hear it. In my library classroom at the end of this school year, I had a (white) student complain about all of the books I was book talking that had themes of racism/prejudice…he said ‘why can’t everyone just be nice to each other?’ After I acknowledged his sentiment, I dug deeper and asked the class if anyone knew why I had chosen so many ‘diversity’ titles. Another boy, this one a student of color, raised his hand and said this: “If you read about people who are different than you or have struggles with racism, then maybe they won’t be a stranger to you. Maybe you will understand them.”
Thank you Dana for adding your voice and experiences so that we may all learn, understand, and take action. I wish there were a way to send your post to every single LYS.
I feel your pain but have no idea what to do about it. I was raised to recognize all people as God’s children. My family is white American, Indonesian, Chinese, Philipino and Black. We all get along fabulously–wish everyone else could as well.
I am going to my knitting group today. Unfortunately there is a very small group of privileged richer white women who have no idea of life and sometimes moan and bitch about other that they see as different. Luckily the majority are very different. But I have seen that others have left because someone has not been welcoming. That upsets me as the person who started this group was inclusive and loving. It changed a bit after she stepped away due to age and health. We can only do our bit to make people feel welcome by talking to them, asking about their knitting etc.
Thank you for sharing your experiences. As someone who is fairly new to the knitting world I have soaked up everything you have shared about knitting with inexpensive yarns, knitting with cotton and every picture with Cher and Jellybean. Your words have helped me become a better knitter. They have also helped me become a better human. Reminding all of us that Representation Matters helps me to view my work as an educator in a different lens and examine if I am truly being welcoming to all. I joined Ravelry in the fall of 2018 so everything hit very soon after I was getting my bearings around this community. One of the most hurtful aspects is that a lot of the people saying hateful things (don’t need to repeat them here) would also state they are a Christian. I hear so many fellow Christians use the maga phrase and support our administration and it makes my blood boil. It may not help but I want to apologize for anyone that has claimed to follow Christ but also refuses to acknowledge their own racist behavior or the racist behavior of people they support. Thank you again for the important work you are doing. I carry your Yards of Happiness enamel pin with pride.
Thank you for being open and unafraid to call it by its name. Personally I would be thrilled to meet you in a shop or sit with you in a class. I can imagine any silence on my part would only be because I was totally Wow-ed to be in your presence. Your great work (and writing) make us all a little bit better, bolder, and proud to be knitters together.
oh my goodness what a wonderfully varied output! You are such an inspiration to me!!!
Heard with love. I pray that some day this world will be better for all.
I hadn’t read the blog because I was blown away by the photos, but I am so sorry you’ve gone through these things. My family is multi-racial/multi-ethnic (white, black, Hispanic, mixed race, Jewish, Muslim and so on) and I worry so much about especially about the little ones and the type of world I want them to live and thrive in. I want everybody to live free without this horrible, racist context that still surrounds everybody. And I want you to have experiences that honor your humanity and your heritage and your marvelous spirit. It was an eloquent blog and so needed in our community.
I didn’t think I could love you more!!
Thank you, Dana, for your calm, clear-eyed statement about what you and too many others experience all too often. I love knitting and am interested in all fiber arts, but I am dismayed and annoyed when it (knitting, especially) is treated like some special, niche thing that only certain people have access to. People all over the world and from many different backgrounds love to knit and crochet, and no one should be meant to feel inferior because of the yarn they use or the projects they enjoy making – and no one should be meant to feel invisible because they don’t fit some person’s idea of what a “knitter” is or looks like. I’m a white woman and quite shy; it’s difficult for me to go into the LYS and ask for information or advice on my knitting (I rely on books and YouTube). I love looking at the beautiful yarns in the LYS, but I can’t afford most of it and I don’t feel very welcome because I’m not recognized as a regular customer. Something that I always appreciate about you, Dana, is that you convey the joy and fun of knitting above all, and give me the confidence to take risks and just “go for it” and see what happens. I always look forward to your blog entries and your videos – they give me a lift every time!
Thank you for inspiring me to try to be a better person, as well as a better knitter.
Thank you, Dana. You are an inspiration in so many ways. A friend of mine says “Err on the side of love”. You exemplify that.
I only signed up to get updates from you, Dana, very recently, but I’ve been charmed by your enthusiasm, your skill and speed completing projects, your love of color, and your mellow soothing voice on your videos. And you’re honest as well, judging from that recent blog video about fit! ;-D
You bravely bared your heart here on your blog, and it heartens me to see how you’ve touched your fans and followers. Respect.
P.S. I didn’t know there was a clique of white supremacists on Ravelry who interjected their political views into the conversations, but I’m glad Ravelry did something about it. Judging from the response on Twitter, so were a lot of other people.
You deserved better than the way you were treated.
I want to believe that six months from now fewer knitters will have those experiences, because I’m an optimist. It will take all of us acknowledging racism and caring to fight against it. Thank you for your words promoting that.
Wow! I was awed first by all those beautiful knits and then by your heart-felt and, sadly, necessary words. Thanks for sharing both.
Thank you for your thoughtful and heartfelt comments. I stand with you
Dana,
I’m so impressed by your talent. You amaze me with your abilities and I have learned much from you.
I look forward to your emails. They are always the first ones I read.
I’m very saddened to hear about your experiences. It is so frustrating that people can’t understand how their actions hurt. We are all the same.
I hope these discussions will open peoples eyes and understanding.
Thank you letting us know we are not there yet.
Much love to you.
Thank you so much for sharing this.
Thank you for your honest comments. I am sorry that you have had to & continue to endure racism. You are a very talented, beautiful woman and I admire you for your knitting skills and your work. To be honest, I am envious of your knitting!
I completely agree with you that things need to change on how the world (and our country!) views and treats people of color.
Its not your color or your dress or your sex. One time I walked into a yarn shop and all eyes (in the knitting group)looked at me like I had stuffed 47 skeins of yarn in my bag, down my shirt and up my sleeves! The herd mentality of not reaching out to the stranger because no one else has is endemic.
Racism is palpably real. As a white woman I see it sometime but I think it must be happening much more than I am aware. I once shopped for an apartment. Just as a companion I took along a black woman coworker. No one had an apartment available for me! I was confused. She laughed at me and said “They are not going to rent to you with me along.” She had a house, a husband with a good salary and a good job herself. All they saw was black. I was the pauper not her.
Im sorry that you are treated badly by our fellow man. Just thoughts from a fellow human–
I am absolutely amazed at what all you have knitted this year. I love your blogs and YouTube programs. I am knitting with cotton for the first time in ages thanks to you. Good luck in your Fall studies.
Thank you for sharing your words and your works. You continue amaze me in so many ways.