Sometimes, like when I listen to Brenda Dayne, I get all fired up about knitting. Knitting is NOT the new yoga (journalists have been saying this for years)! The world thinks we make nothing but hideous Christmas sweaters and force them onto small children but in addition to this not being true of most of us, we are saving the world from mass production one hand-knit at a time! This is a REVOLUTION!! And we must all unite and be proud!!
And then I’m reminded of a conversation I once overheard on a playground when I was about 8. Some younger kids were arguing about the purpose of music: “It’s for dancing to!”
“Nuh uh it’s for listening to!”
“No! Dancing!”
My friend and I decided to intervene, since it was obvious that we were much older and wiser than they. We explained to them that music can be for all of those things–music is for whatever you want it to be for.
I think we can take from this that knitting can be the new yoga. For some people, it’s a revolution. For people in the past, it was a necessity. But I suspect most of all, and I think Brenda Dayne agrees with me, it’s about a very basic human need: to create.
To use myself as an example, I need to make things in order to be happy. I’ve known this about myself for a long time. And I always knew I would find my medium–it wasn’t pencil, charcoal, oil paint, acrylics, piano, welding (see: Burt the Skeleton Lamp), cross-stitch, pen & ink, marker, sewing, water color, print making, clay molding, crochet, book making, spray paint, oil pastels, or anything else I’ve tried–it just happened to be knitting. That doesn’t make it any less valid than any other artistic pursuit. I express myself through knitwear. The fact that it’s a form of resistance against mass production is cool, but it doesn’t mean I don’t buy 5 packs of socks. And sure, it’s relaxing in that it keeps me from peeling the paint off the walls, but…when I want to do yoga, I do yoga.
Really though, none of the reasons people knit define the urge. If you ask an artist why they make things, they might tell you they don’t have a choice. Or, more likely, they might have no idea what you’re talking about.
I don’t think knitters should have to constantly justify their craft by comparing it to yoga or a revolution. The fact that we make things–and we happen to use some pointy sticks and a really long piece of string to do so–should be enough.