By Diane Ivey
CEO of Lady Dye Yarns, LLC
Lady Dye: The Yarn Vibe
PODCAST EPISODE #1
A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post regarding the lack of diversity in the yarn industry. I was inspired by Viola Davis’ Emmy winning award speech for which she discussed the lack of roles for women of color in the film industry.
Her words of inspiration allowed me to reflect on my own experience as a minority business owner in the yarn industry. When I wrote the blog post, I wanted to share my opinions and feelings on what was going on in the industry. Since then, I have received many compliments and words of encouragement from so many people regarding what I wrote. But the biggest question that many people had for me is, “What will you do next?”
After much thought, I believe it’s important for me to address the issue of diversity in the yarn industry and one way I will be doing that is through podcasting. That is correct we have launched our podcast titled “Lady Dye: The Yarn Vibe”
This podcast is not to “complain” or focus on the “negative” aspects of diversity in the yarn industry, but to have:
1. An honest discussion about the current representation of diversity in our industry
2. To highlight diverse populations of people from designers, dyers, bloggers, and knitters.
3. And finally, sharing the rich cultural history of textiles from around the world and the impact it has had in our present industry.
I am so honored to have as the first guest, McKenzie Mullen.
McKenzie Mullen has spent the last two years working and teaching at yarn/fabric stores and has recently migrated from Oakland, California to Boston, Massachusetts. Her passions are knitting and sewing garments to create a long-lasting handmade wardrobe. She identifies as fat-positive, latina, queer, and femme and is currently in grad school to decolonize archives.
Thanks for starting a podcast and kicking it off with an interesting topic. I agree that many publications have ben slow to use models of diverse backgrounds. True that Wool People and Quince look books are diverse as is Kristen TenDyke/Caterpillar Knits, another designer who uses models of color in her patterns and books.
As for the socio economic issue of budgetary expenses. I like to think that we as knitters may be slow to come to the appreciation of only working with good products, wool over acrylic. But those who work with acrylic should not feel apologetic for their choice, it is in the work and completion of projects that we should celebrate.
Happy Thanksgiving Diane, and Mackenzie…..and thanks!!
Good work! Important conversation
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Hi Diane,
I know that this post is a little old, however I felt that I needed to comment. I am a 4th grade teacher in an inner city school and I am starting a knitting club. While creating the flyer for the club, I wanted to capture a wide audience of students, males, females and also wanted to show diversity of knitters. I agree, this needs to change! I am a white teacher, yet I do not want to give examples of just white, female knitters! I too am having a hard time finding info about other groups who knit to encourage my students even though we know knitting has such a rich, global history and is part of the social fabric of so many cultural groups, and does not belong to just one way over represented group in the media and on magazines.