Gilah Mashaal, the owner of Minnesota yarn shop Needle & Skein, told Good Good Good, “We’ve had a terrible time keeping red yarn in stock.”
It’s a good problem to have.
In mid-January, Needle & Skein launched a call to action for the craft community amidst aggressive United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across Minnesota.
Inspired by a Norwegian design made in opposition to Nazi Germany in the 1940s, Mashaal and her team encouraged knitters and crocheters to create a red winter hat with a tassel on the end — called the “Melt the ICE hat.”
A crocheted version of the red “Melt the ICE” hat. Photo courtesy of Andrea Cretu for Needle & Skein
They quickly made knitting and crochet patterns available online for anyone who wanted to make the hat for just $5 a pop. Since then, the patterns have raised over $588,000, Marshall said, with $250,000 already distributed to two local organizations.
“For the first round of donations, $125,000 went to STEP, which is the St. Louis Park Emergency Program,” Mashaal said. “And the other $125,000 went to the Immigrant Aid Emergency Fund.”
It’s not yet clear where future donation dollars will be funneled, but Mashaal said the next stage is in the works.
St. Louis Park Emergency Program and Needle & Skein team members wear their own hats. Photo courtesy of STEP/Instagram
While the digital pattern can be purchased and downloaded endlessly, getting the supplies to make the Melt the ICE hat has become a bit of a challenge.
Megan Boesen, the owner of Minneapolis craft store Knit & Bolt, a Minneapolis craft store, told The New York Times that finding red yarn in Minneapolis has become like “finding toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic.”
Crocheters have taken to Reddit to lament that shops in the Twin Cities are “basically out of red yarn.”
“While I was talking to the shop person about red yarn, at least three other people came over and said that they, too, were looking for red yarn,” one person wrote in r/crochet.
The problem isn’t exclusive to Minnesota.
In a Facebook group of stitchers, users offered up anecdotes from all over the country.
MUSE’s “red cap” yarn has been flying off the shelves. Photo courtesy of MUSE 2320 Fiber Co.
“I was in a small local neighborhood yarn shop in Seattle yesterday. It was like Christmas Eve day in a toy store! There were at least 20 people shopping and more coming as I left,” one person wrote. “Everyone was looking for red yarn.”
“Not just your country,” another person added, with a Canadian flag emoji.
The stock issue isn’t just impacting shoppers, but independent yarn shops, too.
“We just got a few boxes of red yarn,” Mashaal told Good Good Good, “but companies are now completely sold out of red yarn.”
“I did reorders with four different companies this past week and am only getting half of the red yarn requested, ” Elegant Ewe owner Kelly Bridges told the Concord Monitor, all the way in New Hampshire. “Everything else is now backordered.”
Yarn-makers themselves are working overtime to dye new batches of wool and wind more yarn to get on store shelves.
MUSE Fiber in Hastings, Minnesota, has been dyeing new batches of their “red cap yarn,” which reportedly gives back to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota with each online or in-person purchase.
“The majority of shops in the Twin Cities are out of red yarn … but you can still give to mutual aid, make warm wares for protest, and support small business,” MUSE reminded followers a couple of days ago.
And for those who can’t find red yarn anywhere, Mashaal said not to worry.
“Anything is allowed,” she told Good Good Good, as a response to people asking if they could use maroon or pink hues to make their “Melt the ICE” hats.
“I love it. They can knit it in any yarn.”
For those who can’t knit or crochet, Needle & Skein has also set up an exchange program for crafters to make hats in exchange for monetary donations funneled back into Minnesota.
And for those who already have their handmade protest accessory at the ready, the influx of support continues to provide hope.
“I LOVE hearing that,” one person shared in the knitting Facebook group, about the shortage of red yarn. “[It] means the resistance is growing.”
You may also like: Crocheters make blue bunny hats to honor Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old boy detained by ICE
Header image courtesy of ImagiKnit/Instagram
