Hi! I’m Mallorie—founder and Chief Creative Officer of fortuknit, L.L.C. Welcome to my blog!

After rekindling my connection with knitting, I knew that I wanted to turn it into something more. Knitting has been a part of my life from a very young age, and the prospect of turning into a brand was incredibly exciting for me. It took me quite some time to decide on the name fortuknit. I wanted it to be catchy and relevant, and most of all, representative of me, the builder and creator of the brand. There are so many people who love to knit, and it has become so trendy over the last few years that I knew I had to break through with something unique and special. I wanted a name that could stand out on its own and deliver on exactly what it is that we do. We’re a handmade knitting company, after all.

Names have always been important to me. I think that people are given their name for a reason. A name is so personal and so connected to who we are as people. Our names are our identity—connecting us to who we are, where we came from, who we love. Our names are a valuable and powerful component of what makes each of us unique. I feel that it’s our duty as people to learn names and say names correctly and respect the names that were given to us at birth, or the ones we chose or adopted somewhere along the way.

In addition to the significance of names, I’m such a nerd when it comes to grammar and words and languages. I have two degrees in Spanish, and linguistics is one of my other loves. Getting to the bottom of words and etymology is something I enjoy doing (not while I’m knitting, of course!). I also enjoy learning the origins of names. So, naturally, I took an interest in the history and meaning of my own name.

With a name that had peak popularity in the 80s, thanks to television, there really aren’t too many of us out there. As a child, I knew just one other girl who shared my name. When I meet people, I often get complimented on my name and how pretty it is. That’s when I know they have no idea what it means. But it does sound pretty, especially when it’s strung together with my middle and last names, which just so happen to be alliterate and musical. I usually decide to keep my secret and accept the compliment.

There are different versions of the story, but this wasn’t even supposed to be my name. After some familial debate, it was decided. My identity was sealed with Mallorie—more commonly spelled Mallory—a gender-neutral, French name that means…wait for it…

ill-fated…

ill-omened…

unlucky…

unfortunate…

You can say it. Yeah, that’s horrible! Why would key characters in “Family Ties,” “The Baby-Sitters Club” or more recently, “Bird Box” have this awful name? And why would anyone name their kid something that means you’re basically screwed for the rest of your life? I don’t know, but that’s how I decided on the name “fortuknit.” I took my own name and flipped the script, tossed the “un” and made it into something equally unique as I am with a fun, pun-intended, knit twist.

I wanted to turn things to the positive side, keeping the beauty and the vibrant personality that is me and bring that to the brand. In a way, it becomes a manifestation of things to come—not only for me and the brand, but for fortuknit customers and for the recipients of fortuknit’s handmade donations. For me, this is all about blessings, prosperity and good things to come from turning this dream into reality. It’s about spreading…

“a knit good fortune.”