October 13, 2004 Reclaiming the Knit is the new rock and roll, baby." Feature Page 8 The Feminine Mystique and the Zen of Knitting by Stephanie Wilson >> Managing Editor Knitting has never been so cool. According to the Craft Yarn Council of America, the number of knitters under the age of 35 increased by over 400 percent between 1998 and 2000. “Knitting is the new rock and roll, baby,” affirms Debbie Stoller, but it has not always been so. How is it that a craft once reviled for its-associa- tion with the housewife has come to gain such immense popularity? Purl, Lost With the popularization of Betty Friedan’s 1963 book The Feminist Mystique and the rise of second- wave feminism, knitting and other crafts such as crochet became sym- bols of female oppression. Women were supposed to be breaking gen- der barriers, not sitting at home knitting. Knitting was synonymous with the submissive housewife cooking and cleaning by day and knitting for her husband and chil- dren by night. But by that time, you could simply purchase what- ever you needed. Why knit when a woman could spend her time pur- suing astrophysics or politics or other traditionally male-dominat- ed areas of society? Knitting fell to the wayside and into the realm of the grandmother stereotype. Girls and women bound off their last stitches in the name of women’s liberation. That is definitely not to say that second-wave feminism was mis- led. The feminist movement did and continues to fight for women’s equality. In Canada, we have female politicians, female scien- tists, female academics, interna- tionally-successful female athletes, a female former Prime Minister, a female Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. But what about knitting? Knitting was considered a “women’s craft’ by Western society, which implies that it is not a man’s craft - and therefore not important. This label over-rode the skill and patience required to construct a well-knit garment or the technical abilities that complicated intarsia and lace patterns require. The craft and the artistic fundamentals of knitting were lost because knitting was something that women did and men did not. According the Debbie Stoller, founder of the feminist magazine BUST and author of Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook and Stitch ‘N Bitch Nation, “[W]hy. weren't boys learning to knit and sew? Why couldn’t we all - women and men alike - take the same kind of pride in the work our mothers had always done as we did in the work of our fathers?” With the rising force of third-wave feminism - action for women’s right by a younger generation that does not necessarily have the same under- standing of women solely as homemakers as Betty Friedan and the second-wave feminists - the oppression that knitting and craft- ing represented was not as promi- nent. Third-wave feminism and DIY (Do It Yourself) culture breathed new life into knitting and brought it into the realm of rock- star cool. Now, if you’ve ever asked yourself, ‘I wonder if Matt Bellamy (from Muse, obviously) knits?’ the answer would be of course not. He has people to knit for him. And his mom. Stitchin’ and Bitchin’ The knitting circle concept was fundamentally redrawn when Debbie Stoller ran an announce- ment in BUST looking for knitters who wanted to get together, knit, and just hang out. A group met at a local coffee shop, and the NYC Stitch ‘N Bitch was born in 1999 (the name Stitch ‘N Bitch comes from 1950s-era knitting groups). Today, there are Stitch ‘N Bitch groups all over the US, Canada, Australia, and Europe. In Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘N Bitch Nation, Hartford, Connecticut Stitch ‘N Bitch-er Erica Chandler says, “{Stitch ‘N Bitch] was a loophole for cool people to do something ol’ fogie and be damn proud of it! Before I set up the Yahoo! group for Hartford, I took a trip to the New Haven SnB and learned the magic combination: coffee, talk, and knit. Pretty simple!” With the publication of Stoller’s book, Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook, knitters without access to a bona fide Stitch ‘N Bitch group can still join in on the fun. The internet has been vitally important in spreading and sus- taining the Knitting (and Crafting in general) Revolution. You can find or keep up-to-date with a Stitch ‘N Bitch group www.stitchn- bitch.org, find other national craft- ing groups such as the Church of Craft www.churchofcraft.org, and discover countless knitting pat- terns and techniques. Websites and message boards bring together communities of knitters and crafters the world over. Large sites such as Get Crafty www.getcrafty.com and Supernaturale www.supernatu- rale.com attract thousands of peo- ple looking to revive the face of crafting. Stitching for a Cause Not all of today’s knitters are knitting in the name of feminism. After all, it’s just knitting: Why deconstruct the simple act of knit- ting or purling yarn in a specific pattern? Knitting doesn’t have to be about feminism. It doesn’t have to be about anything, really. But when you knit, you are empower- ing yourself as a consumer. You are taking power out of the hands of the corporations and putting it back into your own. You can make whatever you wanf, in whatever style and colour you want. It belongs to you, not some multina- tional that sub-contracted the man- ufacturing to a factory in Indonesia or Vietnam. You are giving your- self choice. Knitting also gives you the power to choose what materi- als you are using and where they come from. You can buy organic cotton. You can buy wool sheared and spun on a family farm. You can recycle old knit garments and saris. You probably won't knit your entire wardrobe for the rest of your life. You may only ever finish one or two scarves. But through Knitting, you have the power of choice, and when you have choice, you can make positive decisions no matter how small they seem. The Zen of Knitting In The Book of Tea, Okakura Kakuzo wrote, “Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboo, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things.” The act of preparing and enjoying tea is an act of being mindful and appreciating the beauty of the pre- sent moment. “Teaism,” wrote Okakura, “is a result of this Zen conception of greatness in the smallest incidents of life.” Knitting may not be as histori- cally, philosophically, or spiritually rooted as tea and the tea ceremony, but according to Tara Jon Manning, the act of knitting - repeating stitches - draws mindful- ness. “When we knit with this attention, we have an almost inde- scribable feeling of satisfaction and contentment,” said Manning in Mindful Knitting. Given that the most common reason people say that they knit is stress reduction, it should come as no surprise that there are fringe benefits spirit-wise to picking up a pair of needles. f Knit On Whether you knit because it’s relaxing, to make a social state- ment, or to acquire some cool stuff, knitting is rock-cool and sexy.