dissertation

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!

your thoughts needed…

| Betsy

it’s good to exercise your creativity.

i’m currently writing (not to mention fretting over) my dissertation, which is about knitting and its current resurgence. now that knitting is no longer something we have to do (in order to clothe ourselves and loved ones), why are we doing it?

if you have a minute, please consider the questions below. it would help me in my research a great deal and is relatively painless, i promise. and yes, despite what it may seem, i am way over 12 years old.

1. how did you learn to knit? how old were you then and old are you now?

2. knitting = nesting? is your knitting a way of getting back to simpler times?

3. in regards to the current resurgence in knitting, when do you think it started and why?

4. do you have a crafty group that you meet with? how often? why do you dig it?

5. where do you go online to discuss/learn/share your craftiness? how do these sites inspire you in ways that real life conversations don’t?

6. is there a subversive element to knitting? a punk rock element? or simply a DIY smugness?

7. why do you knit?

8. what other crafty things do you do besides knitting?

9. the future of knitting- is there one or are we just kidding ourselves?

10. do you prefer to knit alone or with other people? why?

11. true or false: can craft save us all? (elaboration here would be nice, but not necessary.)

if there’s anything else you would like to add on this topic, feel free. if you could send your answers to betsy@craftivism.com, i would be grateful.

thanks again for helping me with this research. and for making craft rock.

x
betsy

p.s. i’m sorry if you see this more than once. it’s my intention to get a wide variety of answers, not to annoy your every step on the web. feel free to pass this on to anyone else you think might be interested.