Litha

by Dye Mad Yarns

$6.00

Litha, also known as Midsummer, marks the summer solstice! Summer solstice is the longest day of the year, and celebrates the beginning of astronomical summer. For the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice is June 21st at 5:13am this year. 

Most cultures throughout time have celebrated both the summer and the winter solstices, so most celebrations of Litha/Midsummer are borrowed from several different traditions. In some countries, Midsummer has been overlapped with Christian holidays, most dominantly the nativity of John the Baptist. 

Litha and Yule are sometimes celebrated with reenactments or storytelling of the battles between the Oak King and the Holly King. The Oak King, who represents daylight, rules from Yule to Litha, where the days steadily get longer, but from here on out, the days begin to shorten until we reach Yule, the winter solstice. 

The most common ways to celebrate the summer solstice are to spend time outside, host bonfires (and sometimes jumping over them for good luck), enjoying some flowers. Some still dance around a Maypole for Litha. Some European traditions include lighting a wheel on fire and rolling it down a hill into a body of water. 

Litha is considered a good time to practice love magic or get married/handfasted (which uhhh we did but only incidentally - I'd never purposely choose to get married in the summer - too hot for my tastes).

For our Litha yarn, we aimed to evoke the heat of the day, but the reprieve of the night - we're not yet in the dog days of summer that we'll see in August and plants are growing abundantly in this time. We've got pink, orange, yellow and some purple to evoke the summer sunset, with hints of blue and green to evoke the skies, the growth, and maybe time spent in the pool enjoying a popsicle. 

BASES:

Hattie Floof: 50g, 459 yards, 72% mohair/28% silk (lace weight)
Chester Sock: 100g, 437 yards, blend of 75% superwash merino/25% nylon
Gladys Shawl: 100g, 438 yards, single ply blend of 70% superwash merino/30% silk
Tortie Sport: 100g, 287 yards, 80% alpaca/20% silk
Minnie DK: 100g, 246 yards, 100% superwash merino wool 
Genny Worsted: 100g, 191 yards, 80% superwash merino/20% alpaca
Chubby Trevor: 115g, 136 yards, 100% superwash merino
Chunky Trevor: 100g, 76 yards, 80% superwash merino/20% nylon, single ply
Summer Fingering: 65% silk/35% linen, 115g skein, approximately 438 yards
Summer DK: 65% silk/35% linen, 115g skein, approximately 246 yards
Summer Worsted: 65% silk/35% linen, 115g skein, approximately 181 yards