Below is the post by Harrisville Designs Inc.
From the screenshot.
Racism exists in the knitting and fiber arts community. This is nothing new for many who have directly experienced the pain of systematic exclusion, but we know these conversations may seem new to those who have never felt the hurt of racism directly. In the haze of making tangible plans to improve the way we work at Harrisville, we have taken too long to say this: we stand in firm support of BIPOC knitters, crocheters, and weavers; you are welcome here.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve taken a critical look at our photography, and how we have curated images in the past. We want every single knitter to feel seen when they pick up one of our knitting patterns. Simply put, the catalogue of our pattern photography right now does not reflect this. A late realization is emblematic of our privilege, and does not repair the failure to change this much earlier. There is much work to be done here, and we are committed to centering this discussion in every single pattern we release in the future.
Pattern visuals are important, but photography isn’t the only thing we can change. For all collections not currently in motion, we are shifting to open-submission calls. We believe this will foster a more inclusive group of designers in our collections, so we can actively amplify the work of BIPOC designers, ensuring all who want to work with us have the opportunity to submit.
More than our internal knitwear collections, we also want to support the work of all self-published designers. Harrisville now has a yarn support program, where we are happy to offer various discounts to designers who wish to use our yarns in their self-published patterns. Yarn expenses can be a financial hurdle to publishing a design, and we want to commit to helping those who enjoy our woolen spun yarns however we can. If you have a design idea, reach out to us through the “Yarn Support” page on our website here: https://harrisville.com/
This process is one that is not completed overnight. We hope this is the beginning of a long journey for Harrisville, and we sincerely thank every POC who has done the hard, emotional work of bringing this to the forefront. Thank you—the Harrisville team.
Edited to add: the definition of BIPOC is black and indigenous person of color, and POC is defined as person of color.
