Author: Betsy

knitting quotes and links…

| Betsy

here a few of my favourite quotes that surfaced from the research:

“i think people want to touch and produce the real.”

“i like making a piece of string into something i can wear.”

“there will always be knitting as long as there are two sticks and string.”

there were a lot of links mentioned in the various responses, besides the ones linked on the side bar, here are some others you may not know about:

black dog
brainylady
digs magazine
elann
fleece artist
gaspereau valley fibres
glampyre
hello knitty
interweave
keyboardbiologist.net
knit happens
knit rowan
knitted-lace list
knitting curmudgeon
martha stewart
she made this
tradewind knits
urbanspinner
wendy knits
wild_deer.typepad.com
yarn harlot

whee!

and the results are in!

| Betsy

for those of you who have been patiently waiting for the results of my dissertation and survey, the words have been written and the answers tallied.

although i plan on writing a bit more about what i found out here soon, i wanted to write a quick note.

in my research, i was fascinated to learn that while the past knitting resurgences of the past 100 years have been based around times of war, this current one (which started pre 9.11 for those who are wondering) did not. there are more issues at hand, like feminism (whether or not one calls it post-feminism, third wave, fourth wave or anything else), ones circling spiritual/meditative reasons, a backlash against consumerism/materialist culture, the quest for community, the list goes on.

it’s been a little over a week since i’ve stopped researching, and all i want to do is to do more of it, and continue writing about it.

a recent trip to the scottish highlands led me to realize that while i have been focusing on the current resurgence, i paid little attention to women of my grandmothers generation. it is my hope to be able to spend a bit of time up there in order to further my research, even though i have no idea in regards of funding, how to find people who are willing to work with me, etc. etc.

if anyone has any suggestions on this, please let me know.

while i just finished an academic paper, i am more interested in doing something for a wider audience, than just that of ‘the academy.’

a big thank you to all (152 of you!) that helped out, and i will probably post some more concrete observations of what i wrote on in the next week or so. it warmed my heart to read answer upon answer about how much most of you are craving community and are starting various types of craft groups in your hometowns.

in the meantime, keep crafting, keep communicating and keep creating.

x

somewhere near total meltdown.

| Betsy

in the final scramble to finish my dissertation (which i’ve decided will be finished before i go to sleep tonight, leaving tomorrow to edit), i discovered the following my stack of papers. i’ve omitted the questions i actually ended up asking, which is why there are numbers missing.

POTENTIAL QUESTIONNAIRE QUESTIONS:
(from the ludicrious to the dissertation-worthy!)

1. Average age of knitters? Has it increased? Decreased?
2. Networks of “people teaching people?”
3. Boys who knit? Are there more than 4?
4. Online communities: useful or useless? (drawback: no knitting while typing!)
5. The whole knitting celebrity thing. Although I like Julia Roberts, I really don’t
care that she knits. (although it does make her cooler.)
6. Closure of wool mills in England? (despite overwhelmingly LARGE number of
sheep.) Why? What’s happening in America?
7. True or false: CROCHET SUCKS.
8. How do you afford it? When do you knit?
9. In public or private?
10. Are you obsessed?
11. Are you a feminist? (whether or not you’re female-identified)
12. Do you (secretly) think knitting makes you COOL? Ice cold..baby!
13. How do you justify your knitting to others?

BONUS QUESTION: (for which you will get no prize other than a “you rock!” confirmation from me) Do you know any knitting theory? Theory on knitting?

****

those questions were originally scrawled in a notebook on the subway. some of them might have been more helpful than the ones i asked in the end, but they say hindsight is 20/20. some of them were obviously better cut.

24 hours and counting. whee!

ethnography is kooky

| Betsy

i’ve been making lots of notes lately.

here’s one of them:

i knit, therefore i am?

part of me thinks that my involvement in craft is partly due to a full-on embracement of the domestic. the only time i did crafty things was in Girl Scouts. i played a lot of sports growing up, even though i wasn’t very good. in fact, i pretty much SUCKED. i was a tomboy. for the next 15 years.

i got involved in punk rock and Riot Grrrl, but anger was never my strongpoint. i listened to a lot of records and drank a lot a beer and cried a lot til i was about 26.

then i started crafting. my hands started makingmakingmaking and my brain started processing all the pain it had been trying to ignore.

embracing the domestic while still being strong and outspoken makes me feel whole, in a way that sports or beer or tears never did. i’ve become a Girl Scout once again, by accident, only this time it’s my choice and i don’t have to wear a sash.

t-minus 7 days and counting until we’re back to our normally scheduled programme.

thank you.

| Betsy

for those of you who emailed me your answers to my questions or responded to my various posts in various places, i thank you wholeheartedly.

although i’ve found writing academically about something i feel so passionate about a bit trying and a bit exhausting, it’s worth it.

i’ve uncovered all these paths of resistance in history that have marked the steps i’m taking today.

i’m especially paying attention to the communal and activist threads (pun intended) that wind themselves throughout history, from the moment the first bit of yarn was spun.

thank you for your inspiration and insight.