Community Partner Spotlight: Tink Knit and Knitting Circle

Trinity Rep first partnered with Tink Knit during last year’s production of A Christmas Carol. We instantly fell in love with the mission and the individuals behind the organization and just knew that we wanted to work with them on an ongoing basis. Tink Knit is a six-year old nonprofit organizaCOMMUNITY PARTNER SPOTLIGHT Tink Knit tion run by students from Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design. Students work A Tale of Two Cities, in which knitting is featured with low-income single mothers to give them skills prominently. We reached back out to our new and tools to knit hats, and then sell their product friends at Tink Knit and partnered with them and online, at the Brown Bookstore, and at pop-up the Providence Public Library on a knitting circle sales throughout Providence. Tink Knit provides connected to the show. The first Knitting Circle the mothers an opportunity to earn money while was held on March 8 — International Women’s still being able to spend time with their children. Day, and celebrated creativity and self-expression. Mothers receive a paycheck based on the quantity of products they make. They receive $15 per hat, with 40-50% of the retail price going directly back to the knitters. The rest of the profit is used to purchase yarn, replace looms, and cover operation costs. All knit products are made of high-quality Lion Brand yarn and tagged with a metal Tink Knit logo. Inside the hats, you can find a label signed by the knitter. We started by selling their products alongside our Trinity Rep merchandise during the run of the 2019 holiday show. Our staff loved to tell the story about where the beautiful and cozy knit hats came from. A few months later, we produced

The Knitting Circle was such a success that plans were made to gather monthly, but soon all in-person events were postponed, cancelled, or moved online. We were delighted to find that many of our knitters were interested in a virtual knitting circle and the tradition has continued. Some crafters even joined from the West Coast — impressive considering the 11 am Eastern Time start. To get involved with the Knitting Circle, contact Michelle Cruz at mcruz@trinityrep.com. We look forward to deepening our relationship with Tink Knit over time, especially once we resume productions and can help sell their products once again in our lobby. Find out more about Tink Knit at tink-knit.com.

BELOW L TO R: Tink Knit participants Shani & Latoya creating hats; the Knitting Circle at Trinity Rep

PHOTO BY MICHELLE CRUZ