Ask me what my favorite book is and the answer is always Perma Red. Recently someone looked at me a bit sideways when I said this and responded 'why?'. So I re-read the book for at least the seventh time to find out. Right off the bat I knew one of the reasons why I love this book so much was the fact my mom loves it. She let me borrow the book 20 years ago and since then we have taken turns stealing it back from one another. To read the notes in your favorite book of your own native mother on such a raw and home hitting novel is transformative. But recently re-reading it I realized it was actually less of the story that hit me than the descriptions of the wild land that Louise runs around on that made me fall in love with it once again. Growing up as a very young child on a ranch, being able to be so free on the land has molded me into who I am today. And without getting into the muck of it all. I can see my grandmothers, aunts, mother and sisters in all of the characters; Louise, Grandmother Magpie, Florence, and Dirty Swallow.

Award winner, Debra Earling published Perma Red in 2002. We loved this interview with Debra and Montana Public Radio to learn more about her.

For the colorway this month we were inspired by the newly published artwork of Perma Red. When you have looked at the same book cover for almost 20 years, it's pretty exciting to see it transform into something modern. Obviously we took the inspiration for the main color yarn from the rattlesnake, a cream highlighted with browns and blacks. The mini skein isn't necessarily the same red as the cover but if you know me I rarely ever dye a true red. The burgundy softened it up and we think it will go really well in whatever project you're pairing it with! And speaking of projects, we love this yarn for socks and colorwork!  

Patterns we love for this month yarn are:

Marva by NCL Knits

Norwood by Jen Steingass

Azor by Orlane Sucche

Pine Tree Socks by Loro Unico

Snofrost Sockys by Petit Knitter

With every month in the Indigenous Collective you can order more of the colorway in the listing below. Please know that additional yarn will be a preorder, the listing will be up until January 2nd and will ship mid January.