Full Circle. (Kinda Sorta)

I first started really thinking about knitting and its relation to community and theory when I was in graduate school at Goldsmiths College and therefore involved with the Centre for Community and Urban Research, headed by Michael Keith.

During that year I fell in love with ethnography and Walter Benjamin and felt literally as though my head was cracked open. It was the first time that I understood that I wasn’t the only one who was fascinated by the dance and beat of the city, or hell, even knew there was an almost audible tone separate to each city. Or energized by discovering how people interacted with their communities and totally infatuated with the pulse that was almost palpable on the streets of London whether it was early morning before setup at Spitalfields Market or trying to maneuver around people in Oxford Circle or lost on purpose on the streets surrounding Brick Lane.

One of the first books we read that year was The Fall of Public Man by Richard Sennett. I remember talking about the book excitedly with my friend Katherine in our favorite coffeeshop across from the college. When I started talking about my dissertation topic, on knitting, community and DIY, I was wondering if I was actually onto something or had taken one too many long walks on the Thames alone.

I was well surprised when I read that earlier this year, Sennett wrote a book about crafts, simply titled The Craftsman. And I was even more surprised when an interview I did about my craft book, Knitting for Good! was on the same radio show this week as an interview with Sennett on his craft book! The second I found out, I was immediately reminded of the day we went around the table at the Centre and told our advisor (mine was Michael Keith) about the ideas we had for our dissertation…many of them based on the theories and books we had read during the previous year. I still remember several of me peers saying, “Knitting?!? Really?!?”

Four years later, Sennett and I are interviewed about crafts on the Wisconsin Public Radio show To the Best of Our Knowledge along with Handmade Nation’s Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl. The show, “Reconsidering Craft,” can be listened to online here. What a strange, small world.

Rediscovered The Faint this morning. Just what I needed.

i <3 fridays...

It’s Friday afternoon here in London, and currently my attention is divided between dancing to the new Peaches album, how delicious tea is with soy milk and the political importance of activism in society. Weird.

As some of you may have already noted, I’m in graduate school at the moment. This means that my life is all about sociology and making connections between things. I found this in my notebook after one lecture where I was supposed to be writing about multiculturalism and its relationship to both cultural and economic development:

unhappiness -> activism -> ideas, creativity -> craft

I don’t know if that has any relevance to you, but it sure made sense to me.

Regardless, for those who are craftily inclined, check out this from the amazing people at getcrafty. And while you’re staying in on those cold cold nights, be productive in front of the television, ok?

To borrow from the vernacular, people, get yer craft on!