The United Colors of Alpaca

I never expected that this would be the first pattern about which I would write, but here we are…

Even though it was an afterthought and last minute addition to the display pieces in our Stitches Midwest booth this past weekend, the United Colors scarf was the best-selling pattern and kit at our booth. As I was having fun working the booth and enjoying the events of Stitches, I took a short break and checked in with Facebook. I noticed that my daughter-in-law marked herself “safe” (thankfully!) and learned of the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.

Sadly, yet not surprisingly, there were multiple mass shootings again over the course of the weekend. At least one of these mass murders was racially motivated as evidenced by the shooter’s manifesto.

Ironically, this design was created on another summer weekend marred by racial tensions.

During the summer of 2017, I was working on a scarf/shawlette pattern for 5MilesEast and der Bauernhof Farms. My vision was that this pattern would incorporate several of the natural, neutral colors of alpaca. I wanted it to be simple to knit and use a reasonable amount of yarn, so that the kit was not too expensive*.

*NOTE: Anything worked in 100%, quality alpaca is going to be expensive. If you have found an inexpensive alpaca yarn it is probably 1) second cutting from the shearing – these are short staple fibers that make a very low quality yarn, 2) coarser staple fibers sheared from legs or neck and spun into fiber, or 3) mixed with an inexpensive filler yarn.

The stitch techniques used in the pattern are those that a beginner knitter should know: Knit, Purl, Increase, Bind Off. There is a simple chart showing the rows for the colors of the stripes – a good introduction to reading charts associated with knitting patterns.

After I had the construction of the scarf and stitch pattern figured out, I began working on the color combinations for the scarf. I was planning to make swatches with a variety of color combinations to determine which I liked the best. I planned to spend the day knitting (and hopefully finishing) a prototype. As I often do, I was listening to the radio while knitting.

These are the NPR headlines from Saturday, August 12, 2017:

White Supremacist Rally in Virginia Turns Violent

White Supremacist Protest in Virginia Leaves One Dead

Trump Speaks Out Against Violence in Charlottesville – as you might recall, this was the speech where the president avoided criticizing the white nationalists, whose demonstration was the catalyst for the violence, and rather attributed the events of the weekend to hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.

As I watched and listened to the events of that day unfold, what began as a simple color-swatching experiment ended up as my own personal craft-i-vism statement on anti-racism using all the colors of alpaca that I could find. I named it the United Colors of Alpaca. It was beautiful in all the shades including white, beige, fawn, light brown, medium brown, rose gray, gray, dark brown, and black. All the colors mixed and matched and made up a beautiful, united piece.

I’m afraid racism has found a safe haven in this country and I am so sad and angry. Diversity is our strength. Diversity makes us better. Diversity makes us stronger. Diversity makes us beautiful.

Once the scarf was completed, I chose my favorite color combinations, knitted up a display piece, and wrote the pattern for those colors. I kept my original piece and wear it frequently. I wore it to Stitches this past weekend and wouldn’t you know, people wanted kits in ALL the colors!