Local Critters for Local Knitters is a non-traditional approach to science communication that brings a love for local insects into local yarn stores. Meredith Willmott, a Ph.D student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona, has partnered with yarn stores across the continental United States (and a few internationally) in an ever-expanding project that brings knitting patterns featuring local insects into local yarn stores. These patterns (think of them as knitting recipes) depict a local insect through colorwork charts, and contain two pages of information about the insect at the beginning of the pattern, with information about local conservation initiatives. Currently, 30+ yarn stores across 22 different states are participating, including one in Portland Oregon, where Entomology 2025 is held. Extending this project to regional scientists, Meredith partners local yarn stores with local scientists, who give brief presentations on insects and their research to an audience of knitters. These partnerships bring ecology and entomology into audiences who may not have known or cared about insects otherwise- from native bees in Arizona to the western glacier stonefly in Wyoming and treehoppers in North Carolina, this project inspires love and fascination through an uncommon medium.
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