Throughout its social history, knitting has evolved through a number of stages in society’s mindset: from essential means of making a living, through distinct craft, to unfashionable, dwindling skill. With the twenty-first century has come a renewed interest in community, self-sufficiency and sustainability amongst both young and older people. Knitting is now making a comeback as a contemporary exemplar of a specific community, challenging the globalisation of commodities and the designer logo culture.
Knitting began to re-emerge in about 2000, sparked in part by press coverage of the controversy generated by the internet knitting club “Cast-off” – a group of new-generation knitters who promoted their activity in new venues such as clubs, pubs, cafes, and on public transport. The group were infamously depicted knitting on the Circle Line and at the Ritz Hotel in Mayfair. They are at the forefront of creating a new knitting community using the internet to spread the word.
The evolution of these new wave knitters fundamentally and publicly challenge the unjust stereotype that society has given the craft of knitting. Like most stereotypes, it obscures the truth about this age old skill. Knitting was never about the female relative creating ill-fitting jumpers with embarrassingly prominent reindeer motifs for their male relations to wear at Christmas.
The covert ageism and sexism sometimes identified with knitting is also being tackled, to some extent, by a handful of consumer brands within the UK. A good example is Innocent Drinks, the modern, healthy living, resource efficient and trendy smoothie company. The Innocent knitting campaign encouraged their consumers to knit creative hats for their bottles, with the aim of raising money for Age Concern.
On a slightly different note, Nestle’s “knitting nanas” television advert for Shreddies goes some way toward rehabilitating the image of older women knitters. The continuation of a tradition by this group has provided a springboard for contemporary artists and designers, so they too are represented in the twenty-first century knitting community.
More
- In the loop: knitting from both ends of the spectrum
- Knitting collections at the University
- For more information or to book places at the conference visit www.intheloop.soton.ac.uk.
