“I’m BOREDDDDD!” sing-shouted my twenty-something-year-old sister with the volume and zeal of an energetic four-year-old. Desperate to end her chanting, I turned to the internet’s lists of entertaining activities. With every suggestion, she promptly bellowed, “No.” Until I said, “What about knitting or crocheting?”
Suddenly, she was transformed. She began to excitedly list all the things she could craft: scarves, shawls, hats, sweaters, and vests. She even said she would embroider little black and yellow bumble bees onto the back pockets of my jeans. These ideas were not entirely, or even at all, original; her social media feeds were filled with tutorials on crocheting and beautiful things her crocheting friends had made.
This inspiration led us directly to Gather Here, a yarn and craft store in Inman Square, Cambridge. In addition to the more predictable patrons of a yarn store in Cambridge (gray-haired, kaftan-wearing, canvas-tote-bag-carrying), the store was full of colorful, opulent yarns reminiscent of the cover of Vogue. Above the cash register, an enormous calendar displayed classes and events aimed at young knitters.
We left with bags of thick, expensive yarn, intending to recreate the chunky sweaters we had admired in the fall Free People catalog.
My sister was not alone. Influenced by YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok, many 15 to 25-year-olds have jumped on the yarn-craft bandwagon in the last few years.
Staci Jones Carey, owner of Staci's Stitches and Skeins in Scituate, Massachusetts, notes that many young people “learn on YouTube.” In fact, Izzi Waitz, a 21-year-old architecture student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, started knitting when “balaclavas were trending.” She remembers seeing them online and deciding, “Oh, I can easily make this.”
Part of the appeal of knitting for young people has been the strengthened bond between knitting and high fashion. Carey explains that “we have spring designs and fall designs just like a fashion house would.” She believes that “keeping on trend brings in…a lot of young Gen Z and Millennials.” According to Carey, knitting has become “a form of artistic expression.”
Annissa Essaibi-George, owner of Stitch House Dorchester, concurs. She reports that she has seen a “real increase” in the number of “teenage girls…exploring crochet because of fashion.”
The link between knitting and fashion also holds true on the level of resources and marketing. In “Space as a Resource in the Politics of Consumer Identity,” Andre F. Maciel, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, performed ethnographic and theoretical analyses of knitters. Maciel points out that as yarn variety, knitting accessories, and prices of supplies increase, knitting moves closer to high fashion and away from a cottage industry.
These younger knitters, more focused on fashion and trends, stand in contrast to the traditional notion of knitting as an activity for older women.
Carey agrees that her original market base was retirees who knit traditional patterns in traditional knitting circles. Essaibi-George believes that “knitting and crafting are still very much seen as…a white older woman’s hobby.” Even Waitz, whose impetus to knit came from the internet, acknowledges that, in part, she learned to knit from her own mother and grandmother.
One of the most notable trends in the young knitting revival is the transition from knitting as a private, home-based activity to knitting in the public space. Maciel reports that knitting has undergone a “spatial repurposing.” Originally a strictly private and domestic hobby, knitting in semi-public places is now representative of the empowerment of knitters.
Few can forget English diver Tom Daley, a prime example of this trend, who sat in the stands at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics knitting between events. In fact, according to Dan Avery in an NBC News article titled “His dive won gold. His knitting won the internet,” Daley’s public knitting “fueled a huge resurgence in knitting.”
The social media display of knitting is the digital equivalent of this concept of spatial incursion. When contacted by email, Professor Maciel asserts that “using social media to show their pieces to non-knitters in ways that counter knitting’s stereotypes” is a semi-public example of spatial incursion.
Even more remarkable than the shift to semi-public knitting is the emerging trend of public knitting as a form of community activism.
Graffiti knitting, as defined by Samantha Close, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies at DePaul University, is “essentially knitting that takes place outside.” This knitwork is often used to cover an existing structure (usually without permission).
Close believes that graffiti knitting is closely linked to the increase in young knitters, who are “more interested in [knitting] in public.” She references headlines that acknowledge this, such as “Not Your Grandma’s Knitting.” Waitz agrees that “knitting has definitely been…kind of taken over…by our generation.”
However, Close also points out that this may be an oversimplification since many older knitters are involved in graffiti knitting. Another notable aspect of the graffiti knitting trend is that it tends to involve white and Asian women, who Close points out are quite divergent from the Black and Latino ethnicities traditionally associated with graffiti painting.
Graffiti knitting can exist in a way that is complicit with authority, such as in museums and organized public spaces. However, graffiti knitting has also bled into the trend of “craftivism.” Craftivism, according to Close, is when “people use traditional craft methods for activist purposes.”
The 2017 Women's March on Washington is one of the most visible examples of craftivism or knitivism. Hundreds of thousands of women wore hand-knitted pink pussy hats. According to Close, the hats served to reference both Trump’s comments and function as a “very visual way” of women “being proud of being women.”
Among the most interesting aspects of knitivism is the fact that it combines activism with the stereotypically feminine characteristic of being kind. Professor Close points out that while graffiti paint is seen as destructive and semi-permanent, knitting installations are easily removed. She reflects that even graffiti knitting has maintained a feminine sense of politeness, “mak[ing] a statement, but it’s not a statement that hurts other people.”
Although the age, coolness, fashionability, and domain of knitting have changed dramatically in the past ten years, there are several aspects of knitting that remain constant.
To some extent, even the new era of knitting involves building community. Like the knitting circles of grandmothers, even something as disruptive as the Pussyhat project involved connections and community building among knitters, primarily women.
Essaibi-George herself has knitted hundreds of hats to be used in homeless shelters and hospital neonatal intensive care units. She also uses her store as a venue for people to drop off hundreds of hats that they have made.
By using her store’s internet presence to publicize and recruit for these hats, Essaibi-George combines the semi-public space of the internet to facilitate the once very private and traditional activity of making baby clothing.
New knitters may also be using their knitting as a connection to previous generations of their family. Essaibi-George points out that knitters will come into her store wanting to carry on a tradition, such as family Christmas stockings.
The influx of new, young knitters has revitalized the traditional art of knitting. The provisions, products, and purposes of American knitting have changed dramatically in the last decade.
What happened to the expensive yarn and lofty aspirations of my sister? She has not yet taken up knitting. However, the beautiful yarn she bought was an irresistible temptation for her mother, herself a third-generation knitter. She has become a regular at Gather Here, where she purchases yarn to knock off designer sweaters. Inspired by the internet, her grandmother is looking for a graffiti knitting project to join. Even within our family, the relationship between knitting, yarn, and each other is circular, not linear, and still slightly tangled.
Knitting continues to evolve. Rather than following a strict pattern with a proscribed number of rows and stitches, American knitting is growing and spreading. Traditional knitters may be making less traditional products, like vagina-shaped hats. A new generation of knitters is using the craft to express political opinions rather than clothe their families. The final product is not yet visible. However, the last ten years suggest that it will involve a wider variety of knitters, purposes, and products than ever before.
Suddenly, she was transformed. She began to excitedly list all the things she could craft: scarves, shawls, hats, sweaters, and vests. She even said she would embroider little black and yellow bumble bees onto the back pockets of my jeans. These ideas were not entirely, or even at all, original; her social media feeds were filled with tutorials on crocheting and beautiful things her crocheting friends had made.
This inspiration led us directly to Gather Here, a yarn and craft store in Inman Square, Cambridge. In addition to the more predictable patrons of a yarn store in Cambridge (gray-haired, kaftan-wearing, canvas-tote-bag-carrying), the store was full of colorful, opulent yarns reminiscent of the cover of Vogue. Above the cash register, an enormous calendar displayed classes and events aimed at young knitters.
We left with bags of thick, expensive yarn, intending to recreate the chunky sweaters we had admired in the fall Free People catalog.
My sister was not alone. Influenced by YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok, many 15 to 25-year-olds have jumped on the yarn-craft bandwagon in the last few years.
Staci Jones Carey, owner of Staci's Stitches and Skeins in Scituate, Massachusetts, notes that many young people “learn on YouTube.” In fact, Izzi Waitz, a 21-year-old architecture student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, started knitting when “balaclavas were trending.” She remembers seeing them online and deciding, “Oh, I can easily make this.”
Part of the appeal of knitting for young people has been the strengthened bond between knitting and high fashion. Carey explains that “we have spring designs and fall designs just like a fashion house would.” She believes that “keeping on trend brings in…a lot of young Gen Z and Millennials.” According to Carey, knitting has become “a form of artistic expression.”
Annissa Essaibi-George, owner of Stitch House Dorchester, concurs. She reports that she has seen a “real increase” in the number of “teenage girls…exploring crochet because of fashion.”
The link between knitting and fashion also holds true on the level of resources and marketing. In “Space as a Resource in the Politics of Consumer Identity,” Andre F. Maciel, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, performed ethnographic and theoretical analyses of knitters. Maciel points out that as yarn variety, knitting accessories, and prices of supplies increase, knitting moves closer to high fashion and away from a cottage industry.
These younger knitters, more focused on fashion and trends, stand in contrast to the traditional notion of knitting as an activity for older women.
Carey agrees that her original market base was retirees who knit traditional patterns in traditional knitting circles. Essaibi-George believes that “knitting and crafting are still very much seen as…a white older woman’s hobby.” Even Waitz, whose impetus to knit came from the internet, acknowledges that, in part, she learned to knit from her own mother and grandmother.
One of the most notable trends in the young knitting revival is the transition from knitting as a private, home-based activity to knitting in the public space. Maciel reports that knitting has undergone a “spatial repurposing.” Originally a strictly private and domestic hobby, knitting in semi-public places is now representative of the empowerment of knitters.
Few can forget English diver Tom Daley, a prime example of this trend, who sat in the stands at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics knitting between events. In fact, according to Dan Avery in an NBC News article titled “His dive won gold. His knitting won the internet,” Daley’s public knitting “fueled a huge resurgence in knitting.”
The social media display of knitting is the digital equivalent of this concept of spatial incursion. When contacted by email, Professor Maciel asserts that “using social media to show their pieces to non-knitters in ways that counter knitting’s stereotypes” is a semi-public example of spatial incursion.
Even more remarkable than the shift to semi-public knitting is the emerging trend of public knitting as a form of community activism.
Graffiti knitting, as defined by Samantha Close, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies at DePaul University, is “essentially knitting that takes place outside.” This knitwork is often used to cover an existing structure (usually without permission).
Close believes that graffiti knitting is closely linked to the increase in young knitters, who are “more interested in [knitting] in public.” She references headlines that acknowledge this, such as “Not Your Grandma’s Knitting.” Waitz agrees that “knitting has definitely been…kind of taken over…by our generation.”
However, Close also points out that this may be an oversimplification since many older knitters are involved in graffiti knitting. Another notable aspect of the graffiti knitting trend is that it tends to involve white and Asian women, who Close points out are quite divergent from the Black and Latino ethnicities traditionally associated with graffiti painting.
Graffiti knitting can exist in a way that is complicit with authority, such as in museums and organized public spaces. However, graffiti knitting has also bled into the trend of “craftivism.” Craftivism, according to Close, is when “people use traditional craft methods for activist purposes.”
The 2017 Women's March on Washington is one of the most visible examples of craftivism or knitivism. Hundreds of thousands of women wore hand-knitted pink pussy hats. According to Close, the hats served to reference both Trump’s comments and function as a “very visual way” of women “being proud of being women.”
Among the most interesting aspects of knitivism is the fact that it combines activism with the stereotypically feminine characteristic of being kind. Professor Close points out that while graffiti paint is seen as destructive and semi-permanent, knitting installations are easily removed. She reflects that even graffiti knitting has maintained a feminine sense of politeness, “mak[ing] a statement, but it’s not a statement that hurts other people.”
Although the age, coolness, fashionability, and domain of knitting have changed dramatically in the past ten years, there are several aspects of knitting that remain constant.
To some extent, even the new era of knitting involves building community. Like the knitting circles of grandmothers, even something as disruptive as the Pussyhat project involved connections and community building among knitters, primarily women.
Essaibi-George herself has knitted hundreds of hats to be used in homeless shelters and hospital neonatal intensive care units. She also uses her store as a venue for people to drop off hundreds of hats that they have made.
By using her store’s internet presence to publicize and recruit for these hats, Essaibi-George combines the semi-public space of the internet to facilitate the once very private and traditional activity of making baby clothing.
New knitters may also be using their knitting as a connection to previous generations of their family. Essaibi-George points out that knitters will come into her store wanting to carry on a tradition, such as family Christmas stockings.
The influx of new, young knitters has revitalized the traditional art of knitting. The provisions, products, and purposes of American knitting have changed dramatically in the last decade.
What happened to the expensive yarn and lofty aspirations of my sister? She has not yet taken up knitting. However, the beautiful yarn she bought was an irresistible temptation for her mother, herself a third-generation knitter. She has become a regular at Gather Here, where she purchases yarn to knock off designer sweaters. Inspired by the internet, her grandmother is looking for a graffiti knitting project to join. Even within our family, the relationship between knitting, yarn, and each other is circular, not linear, and still slightly tangled.
Knitting continues to evolve. Rather than following a strict pattern with a proscribed number of rows and stitches, American knitting is growing and spreading. Traditional knitters may be making less traditional products, like vagina-shaped hats. A new generation of knitters is using the craft to express political opinions rather than clothe their families. The final product is not yet visible. However, the last ten years suggest that it will involve a wider variety of knitters, purposes, and products than ever before.