Greer - Knitting for good! : a guide to creating personal, social, and political change stitch by stitch

Knitting for Good! is thought-provoking, asking us to examine our ideas and preconceptions about the craft of knitting and the use of the work of our hands to benefit others.

Tara Jon Manning, author of Mindful Knitting

Knitting for Good! provides a platform for progressive, forward-thinking knitters and non-knitters alike who are interested in the idea that creativity can be a positive way to change the world we live in. It is chock-full of motivation, ideas, and inspiration to get you going or to keep you on the path you are already on.

Faythe Levine, director of the documentary, and coauthor of the book, Handmade Nation

ABOUT THE BOOK

Every time we knit, we have the opportunity to create positive change in ourselves, our community, and in the world. Thats Betsy Greers fervent belief, and in this book she shows us how. Betsy explores the ways we can use knitting to slow down in a fast-paced culture, while using the craft to benefit charities in our communities, to advocate for worthwhile causes, and to support individuals and communities across the globe. Filled with insights from knitters and crafters on how they use craft to benefit others, Knitting for Good! will get you thinking about knitting in a whole new way.

To learn more about the author, visit her website at craftivism.com.

BETSY GREER is the founder of Craftivism.com, where she writes about the role craft can play in activism. Widely known in craft circles, she has contributed to a number of books, including Super Crafty, Get Crafty, Making Stuff, The Crafter Culture Handbook, DIY: The Rise of Lo-Fi Culture, Bead Simple, and Handmade Nation, and has written for Vogue Knitting.

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ROOST BOOKS

An imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

roostbooks.com

2008 by Betsy Greer

Illustrations 2008 by Joy Gosney

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Greer, Betsy.

Knitting for good: a guide to creating personal, social, and political change, stitch by stich/Betsy Greer.1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN 978-0-8348-2248-1

ISBN 978-1-59030-589-8 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Knitting. 2. KnittingMiscellanea. I. Title.

TT820.G828 2008

746.432041dc22

2008017179

Your hobby may be pie-baking, playing the piano, or potbelly-stove collecting, and you can sympathize with my enthusiasm, having an obsession of your own. Will you forgive my single-mindedness and my tendency to see knitting in everything?

Elizabeth Zimmerman, Knitting without Tears

FIRST AND FOREMOST, MANY THANKS TO MY EDITOR, Jennifer Brown, for her eagle eye and enthusiasm. Thanks also to Karen Steib for her keen copyediting skills and Joy Gosney for her wonderful illustrations. Many thanks to Judith Shangolds knitting expertise as she looked over the patterns included in this book. To all the pattern and sidebar contributors and people who allowed me to interview them: I am so grateful for all of your hard work and wise words.

Second of all, thanks to everyone, friends and family alike, who listened and helped and kept me supplied with conversation that had nothing to do with craft when all I could think about was knitting! Thank you for the long walks, short runs, yoga in the living room, pep talks, cups of coffee, cupcakes, bad reality TV, pints of beer, glasses of wine, drives in the country, and late-night, long-distance phone calls. And most of all, thank you for your support and kind words over the past yearthey have meant the world to me, and then some.

WALK INTO ANY KNITTING SHOP, AND CHANCES ARE THE first thing youll notice is all the different types of yarn. Suddenly you find yourself immersed in a vast sea of color. and texture and endless possibilities, with each needle and skein ready to abet you on whatever journey you may dream up. When I first started knitting, I was ecstatic to learn how to create something wearable, armed only with two sticks and some string. Watching yarn slowly turn into a scarf, hat, or sweater awed me. And this was the first thing that really struck me about knittingI could make whatever I wanted in any color of my choosing. It was a possibility as ultimately liberating as it was initially daunting.

While my mind envisioned a wardrobe full of cabled sweaters and hand-knit hoodies, as a new knitter, I was a bit concerned about the seemingly incredibly repetitive nature of the craft. Only two stitches (knit and purl) manipulated in various ways continuously? For long periods of time? For fun? By far there was a definite time when the end product seemed much more desirable than the act of creativity that preceded it. How could repetitive motions that created something at a snails pace really capture my heart and mind for long enough to finish a scarf (much less anything bigger) in todays world of instant everything?

Thankfully, this concern, while understandable, was fleeting. When I was finally comfortable enough with knitting that I no longer had to concentrate on every movement my fingers made, I discovered that after completing a few rows, the chatter in my mind dulled to a whisper. As I was used to a mind filled with lengthy to-do lists and things to remember, this newfound respite took some getting used to. While I had been a fledgling practitioner of yoga and meditation for years, I was gob-smacked by the way knittingeven more than meditationconnected me to that inner rhythm I had been trying so hard to find. There was something about the way they both allowed me to bring myself into the present, to just hang out and get comfortable (instead of trying to relive the past or jump ahead to the future) that was absolutely brilliant. Not surprisingly, soon after knitting helped me get acquainted with an inner stillness, I found myself better able to practice meditation, and once I found that rhythm, I was golden.

In time, knitting became more than just a simple way to pass the time or create my own garments. It calmed me, it connected me, it inspired me. It soothed me with the repetitive movements that also symbolized the growth of a garment or an accessory, each stitch simultaneously a push forward and a mark of time. Eventually, as I sought out knitting groups and took to knitting in public, this activity allowed me to talk to a whole host of people I never would have met otherwise. Thanks to the common denominator of knitting, I was able to connect with individuals who were older, younger, richer, not-so-rich, foreign, and localall of us coming together through our love of craft.

As I became more proficientand when I had given practically everyone I knew some sort of hand-knit itemI began looking for others, both near and far, who might benefit from my craft skills. During this quest, I realized that as I walked around town and watched the news, I was constantly bombarded by images of both humans and animals in need all over the planet, and it began to sink in that there were things I could do to help others just by knitting. I started with knitting scarves and hats for local homeless and domestic abuse shelters; the thought of bringing warmth and comfort to people with something soft and tangible seemed natural. The idea that my scarves were keeping people in my own community cozy allowed me to start processing how charity and compassion truly start in the smallest of actions. For far too many years, I got lost in the notion that to help the common good, you had to do big things or write big checks, but then again, thats what happens when you dont take the time to see how you as an individual are best equipped to aid others. While some people are meant to donate large sums of money, others are meant to donate their time, knowledge, or skills.