Knit Happens
Amy’s not the only one who’s picking up a pair of needles and learning to knit. The girl who cuts my hair recently enrolled in knitting classes with her mom and sister. My twelve-year-old friend, Alicia, breezed through the basics and is experimenting with stitch patterns. And after a recent heartbreak, my friend Kenneth decided it was time to dig some needles out of the closet, get some instruction from his grandma, and knit his way to recovery.
When my mother-in-law first taught me to knit a few years ago, I had no idea that I was joining the knitting revolution. I just thought it was something to do while my husband watched hockey. But now I’m hooked-and I’m definitely not the only one.
“If I don’t knit a couple of rows before I go to bed at night, I feel like something’s missing,” Lynne, the ever-helpful clerk at the Hub Mills Factory Store in Lowell, Massachusetts, admits. Over the years, Lynne has watched the popularity of knitting wax and wane-increasing gradually every ten years or so, then fading away again. But about five years ago, people started picking up their needles and yarn again-and this time, it’s only continuing to grow in popularity. Yarn stores are springing up in neighborhoods everywhere, and new knitters seem to be multiplying like rabbits.
In fact, studies show that almost one in every three women in America either knits or crochets (or both). More and more women (and men, too) are discovering that knitting isn’t just for grannies.
Not Just for Grannies�
Until recently, knitting conjured up images of feeble old ladies in housecoats, knitting hats and mittens for the Salvation Army using scratchy mustard-yellow wool-or of expectant mothers, knitting tiny sweaters and blankets for their little bundle of joy. But knitting has changed. Today, single women knit. Men knit. Kids knit. Hip twenty-somethings with piercings and tattoos knit. Doctors and teachers and computer programmers and middle school students knit. Celebrities like Julia Roberts, Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cameron Diaz, and Laurence Fishburne knit. And they’re not doing it in hiding, either. They’re proudly displaying their projects. They’re carrying their knitting bags wherever they go. And they’re teaching everyone they know.
Everyone’s an ArtistâÂ?¦
Though the cause of the recent knitting boom is much debated, the reasons why people continue to knit are not. Ask any knitter, and he or she will be able to give you a list of reasons to love knitting.
Knitters love the creative process-selecting the perfect texture and the perfect color for each project. They love browsing through yarn stores, surrounding themselves in a palette of cottons and wools and brightly-colored ribbon yarns, and imagining what they would look like as a scarf or a sweater. Once they begin a project, they love adding personal touches to the pattern along the way. And they love the mystery that each project holds-as they watch the fabric appear in front of them, they wonder what the finished product will look like.
While the process is the fun part, knitters also love the sense of accomplishment they feel when they finish a project-and can finally wear the sweater or curl up under the blanket and know that they knit every last stitch with their own hands.
Knit Therapy�
Most knitters, when asked why they love knitting, will immediately mention the craft’s calming effects. In today’s fast-paced, high-tech, hands-off world, the rhythmic (and almost hypnotic) clicking of the needles and the easy repetitive movements of this low-tech, hands-on pastime help to clear the knitter’s mind and relieve stress.
“The rhythmic and repetitive quality of the stitching, along with the needles clicking resembles a calming mantra,” explains Dr. Herbert Benson, a professor at Harvard Medical School and the author of The Relaxation Response. “The mind can wander while still focusing on one task.”
Once a beginner becomes comfortable with the basics, knitting becomes almost second nature-like riding a bike or washing your hair. And after a long, tiring day, many people find themselves reaching for their needles to help them unwind. In fact, knitting is such a widely-accepted method of relaxation that therapists often recommend it to patients as part of their therapy.
In a way, knitting is like yoga-plus it enhances the knitter’s wardrobe while click-click-clicking away the stress.
“Knitting Saved My MarriageâÂ?¦!”
Since knitting is relaxing, it tends to make knitters easier to live with. In fact, knitting women often joke about the effect that knitting has had on their marriages.
“My husband doesn’t complain about all the yarn I buy,” explains one woman, “because I knit in the car-and I’m not a backseat driver anymore.”
Others admit that they actually look forward to Monday Night Football now-because they can knit while sitting in front of the TV with their husbands. With a pair of needles in their hands, they give up control of the remote more freely. Thanks to knitting, women everywhere are becoming sports fans�in their own way.
You Can Take It With You�
Knitters also appreciate the portability of their hobby. Small projects-like socks, slippers, hats, and others-can (and do) go anywhere. Knitters pull out their needles to pass the time in the doctor’s office waiting room, on road trips, at the pool, on the plane, at the coffee shop, on the subway, and even while stuck in traffic. Lynne at Hub Mills even tells of a customer who, while participating in a recent walkathon, brought her needles with her-and knit a sock as she walked.
And thanks to the consideration and creativity of designers and fellow knitters, on-the-go knitters can bring their projects with them and still look chic. They can choose the sleek, urban knitter’s purse that resembles a lawyer’s briefcase more than it resembles grandma’s bright floral bag (see JordanaPaige.com) or a bright and trendy bag-with a needle case to match (you can find many of them on eBay.com-for great examples, visit Amy King’s store, The Spunky Eclectic, or check out auctions by seller bahodgins).
With a Little Help from My Friends�
Knitters can use their trendy knitting bag to tote their projects to knitting group meetings. Each week, knitters around the world meet-in coffee shops and yarn stores and living rooms-to build friendships, share tips, and work on their latest projects.
One international group, Meetup.com’s Knitting Meetup, has over 9,000 members who meet each month in coffee shops or restaurants in over 300 cities around the world to spend a few hours knitting together. Other knitters meet with guilds or in meetings sponsored by bookstores or yarn stores or other organizations-or in informal groups that grow by word of mouth. In those groups, men and women, young and old, beginner and expert, knitters of all kinds of backgrounds gather to learn from each other and to share the joys (and the aches and pains, too) of the craft they love.
How Long Can it Last?
No one can predict how long the knitting boom will continue. Maybe knitting will fade away once again, and the hip, young knitters of today will be knitting grannies of tomorrow, their tattoo of a ball of yarn and two needles hidden under their housecoats, their granddaughters shunning them for being so old-fashioned. Or maybe, as our lives become even more high-tech and hands-off, more of us will turn to knitting as a source of both relaxation and stylish handmade sweaters.
But for now, knitters will knit on-knitting bags at their sides, handmade scarves around their necks, finishing a few rows here and there on the bus or at the airport, eager to share their craft with those around them.
