This post was written by Bee

If you’ve been on Instagram, Tik Tok or Facebook in the last five years, you may have heard tell about the rise of “Sad Beige Knitting.” Or… maybe not? Everyone’s algorithms are so different! If you haven’t heard of this term or idea, it refers to the notion that everything, and I do mean everything, is becoming less and less colourful these days. I’m seeing so many different articles about it (I found this one the most interesting!) The ideal 2020’s kitchen is all white, but the ideal 1970’s kitchen was very colourful. Forbes is reporting that in the last 20 years colourful cars (green, blue, red, etc) went from making up 40% of the market share to 20%. I watched this really interesting Youtube video from Mina Le on colour grading and Wicked a few months ago that talks about a shift to more monochrome films as well. We’re seeing a cultural shift to neutrals.

We know that the fibre community is a microcosm of the culture at large, and so you’d assume the knitting world is getting less colourful as well, but I don’t think that’s entirely the case.

Now, as a yellow-car-driving, only-one-black-piece-of-clothing-owning, dopamine-dressing, red-blooded knitter, I am personally very concerned by this idea that society as a whole is choosing to live a more beige lifestyle. Neutrals are fine, there really isn’t anything wrong with preferring them, but I love how colour lets us express ourselves, how different colours mean different things to different people, how colour is significant to almost everyone. To me, losing colour means losing expression and communication and to some extent, joy.

Aside from working at Baaad Anna’s I’m also quite active in the online knitting space. I’ve been living it up on “knitstagram” for a decade now. When I started participating in the online knitting space, it was all hand-dyed-yarn-or-bust, fun silhouettes, form-fitting and/or cropped sweaters. But in the last ten years, so much has changed (shocker!). I chalk up this perceived and largely online change to three things that I can trace to the pandemic lockdowns of 2020:

1. A new generation of makers. We saw a huge influx of new knitters and crocheters through the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020. This new generations of makers mostly  learned to knit or crochet isolated from a community, at home, from YouTube or TikTok.
2. A breath of fresh air in the commercial yarn space. There is a new, bold influx of commercial yarns that are up for sale. These yarns stock trendy colours and sought-after fibre mixes. All of these newer makers and the veterans were buying their yarn online in 2020. Newer knitters and crochets are not as comfortable with yarn substitution, and were largely flocking to Scandinavian designers and the commercial yarns they reccomended during lockdown. With the shift to commercial yarns, which often have more “neutral” options (who wants to dye primarily creams, browns, greys and beiges?), we’re seeing less colourful knits online.
3. The rise of short form video platforms and a change in the algorithm. Pre-2020, internet success (and therefor good marketing)  for yarn stores, pattern designers, commercial yarn companies and hand-dyers relied on comments, shares and natural engagement. Post 2020, many accounts are stuck trying to “go viral,” we spend less time on our following feed and more time on the “for you” page. In the era of the attention economy, the algorithm relies on showing people things it already knows they like to keep them engaged, so there isn’t as much room for experimentation. Neutrals are safe, they are easy to sell.

Now all of this comes together to make the perfect storm for a more beige aesthetic, it’s true! I want to be clear, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with liking neutrals. This is just an interesting cultural phenomenon in the online fibre space. Before I worked at Baaad Anna’s, I really felt that the knitting world was a sea of neutrals from what I was seeing online. I felt like I was the only person I knew in my knitting circles who would knit in colours other than a sensible steely blue or the ever-trendy cherry red.

But folks… turns out everything you see on the internet isn’t true. After about a year and a half working at the store, I’ve seen pretty clearly for myself the kinds of yarns people buy. Of course we are still selling plenty of the neutrals, everyone needs a good basic sweater, but I was so pleasantly surprised by the amount of colour we sell as well. There’s a discrepancy from what we see in person to what is there online. The in-person fibre world stays vibrant. Our customers love to play with colour, they are really choosing to express themselves. Some of our best selling yarns are the brightest ones!

A lot of what I see online is still very beige, and that’s great! I’m happy people are making things that work for them. But I’m also happy that we haven’t lost that colourful expression!

What do you think? Are you loving the rise of neutrals? Are you tired of the sameness? Realistically I’m sure the answer is somewhere in the middle and I’d love to hear what you think!