Knitters of the world, unite!
| There has been a knitting revival in the affluent West. If you doubt this just type 'knitting' into Google and see how many entries are found (23,500,000 the last time I did it). Recently I came across this site organising the 2006 Knitting Olympics (linked to the Winter Olympics). Yes, that really is nearly 4000 people (knitting 'athletes') from around the world entering. What is awesome is that it isn't an official event, it's just something organised by some knitting bloggers who thought it might be fun. What has given rise to this craze? Well apparently some Hollywood film star was spotted knitting and everyone wanted to join in. Frankly I don't believe this - I suspect they were the one jumping on the bandwagon, not wanting to look old fashioned and out of touch. A more interesting question perhaps is why so many people (of both sexes) are spending time on this traditional pastime when most of us could pop down to a shop and find a jumper or scarf in virtually any pattern, colour, style and price we could want? The inevitable answer seems to be that people want to do it and want to continue doing it. But why? To those of us interested in occupation, the reasons are because there are possibilities inherent in the occupation of knitting which engage people. Talking about the therapeutic benefits of craftwork have become unfashionable in some occupational therapy circles but movements like this knitting revival remind us the danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. So what are the possibilities in knitting?
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posted by Rayya Ghul at Sunday, February 12, 2006
Comments on "Knitters of the world, unite!"
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Anonymous said ... (1:32 pm, February 13, 2006) :
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Rayya Ghul said ... (3:40 pm, February 13, 2006) :
post a commentHi Rayya
What a great site! I really connected to your post on knitting. As an occupational therapist, a year or so ago I was working at an acute mental unit for women. The women there were really unwell, and had often experienced a lot of failures in their lives, such as the ability to parent, or maintain employment. I had very limited time there - just half a day a week with a colleague. Initially, in order to get to know the women and the unit we set up a "textiles" type group which we called "personal projects". We set up a space to be almost like a living room, with sofas, music, coffee/tea, and made available various textile projects, including knitting. We never really thought this group would be anything but a "way in" to this difficult unit, and in fact were a little embarrassed about it being an "old fashioned OT" thing to do! However, the group was a great success, and continued as long as we worked there - women of all ages, and all cultural backgrounds identified strongly with the act of participating in a creative textile task whilst spending time in the company of other women who could share some of their experiences. Women took on teaching roles, often dewpite language barriers, and supportive roles, amongst others, within this group. Being part of this group made me think about the history of this kind of creative textile occupation in women's lives - whether for production, income, leisure, support, kinship, communication. The time spent in the group was really special - we were all - facilitators and participants alike - transported away from our usual understandings of ourselves and got a glimpse of what could be possible in our lives.
Welcome, Anita! Glad you like the site. Thanks for telling us about your project - I particularly liked the thought that had gone into setting it up - the 'living room' type environment and also calling it 'personal projects'. In my opinion that is what makes the difference between it being a prescribed activity and a potential occupation.