On Monday, I learned how to knit and it feels absolutely liberating! I'm pretty awful at it so far, but I'm just plugging along getting better the more I work at it. Is knitting a queer thing? Is it just a feminist thing? Why do so many queer/feminist people knit? I've heard people talk about Western society collapsing, and going back to a society where everything is pretty much done by hand... Is that why people knit? So that we will have clothes after the demise of machinery? That's pretty unlikely though...
Well, for whatever reason, queers and feminist are learning to stitch and I think it's fantastic. I thought needle crafts would be a femme thing, given that it's been a pastime dominated by females for lord knows how long, but it's not! My lovely butch lady and I spend many hours cross-stitching, a butch couple we know also spends quality time together crocheting, and tonight I met all manner of people on the gender spectrum at knitting circle. It has come pretty easily to me, since I have crocheted, cross-stitched, and sewed for so many years. So, after my first five days of knitting, I give you my top five reasons for loving needle crafts:
5. It's communal - stitching alone is sorta like drinking alone... it just shouldn't be done.
4. You can talk and stitch at once, so you have lots of time to plan world domination using needles and yarn/fabric as your only weapons.
3. There's always someone new, and sometimes it's you! I don't make friends easily, but if nothing else, you can talk about stitching!
2. Stitching takes your mind off the craziness of the world, it's rhythmic, repetitive and methodical and I find that very soothing.
1. The final product was made by your hands every step of the way. Your crafts make special gifts and they give you a sense of pride in your own handiwork.
After this week, I think I'm starting to see how stitching can be a kind of feminist activism, where we are making things for ourselves rather than buying into consumer culture. Read up on the feminist power of knitting in "Stitch n Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook."
Latest posts by missavarice
- Femme in the Kitchen #4 - Sweet Shaped Ice Cubes - April 3rd, 2011
- Femme in the Kitchen #3 - February 16th, 2011
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- Femme in the Kitchen #2: Sugar - August 31st, 2010
- My Femme Role Models - August 22nd, 2010
I've been knitting for over 41 years, which is quite an accomplishment since I'm only 46! But I recently learned how to Crochet and I feel the same way about it as you feel about knitting. I LOVE the way you can just rip it out if you make a mistake!! None of that picking one stitch off at a time, just pull out that hook and whoosh! WooHoo!
And that feeling of being around a table of women you hardly know at all and feeling so good about being in a group that 'get' why you love the sound of knitting needles clicking together.
Have you tried Addi Turbo needles? OMG! It's hard to get your head around working backwards and forwards on a circular needle at first(it's very comfortable as all the weight is in your lap and not on your wrists and you don't knit 'elbow out')but once you make the connection it's like knitting in a dream! The stitches float up to the tip of the needle and your tension is soooo even. Give it a go!