If you think knitting is some boring pointless hobby, think again.
Hand knits fall under the category of Arts and Crafts an idealism established in order to promote artisan work in the climate of industrial mass produced products.
Power to the people!
Oldham Cotton Mill
My Grandmother was born in Oldham, a mill town in North West England. Whilst industrialization certainly created employment for the masses, little if any personal input was required. My Grandma was an excellent knitter, she had a very keen eye and was very talented at most hand crafts.
Aims, Aesthetics and Ideals http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/arts-and-crafts.htm
The Arts and Crafts movement was a social/artistic movement of modern art, which began in Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century and continued into the twentieth, spreading to continental Europe and the USA. Its adherents - artists, architects, designers, writers, craftsmen and philanthropists - were united by a common set of aesthetics, that sought to reassert the importance of design and craftsmanship in all the arts in the face of increasing industrialization, which they felt was sacrificing quality in the pursuit of quantity. Its supporters and practitioners were united not so much by a style than by a common goal - a desire to break down the hierarchy of the arts (which elevated fine art like painting and sculpture, but looked down on applied art), to revive and restore dignity to traditional handicrafts and to make art that could be affordable for all.
As outlined in this essay by Canadian author...
“In Canada today, knitting continues to be used as a craftivist medium, and is being employed by such groups as the ‘Revolutionary Knitting Circle’ and ‘Blankets for Canada Society Inc.’, as well as by Canadian artists like Janet Morton and Barb Hunt. The craftivist movement, an offshoot of the Arts and Crafts movement, coincides with established Western feminist thought, thus empowering the craft realm and forcing knitting to be understood by the greater public as more than a mere “craft hobby”, but as a medium to both promote social change and improve Western society at large.”
Rebel Rebel...
Sounds pretty exciting to me! Since the beginning of this century, I feel there has been a growing interest in finding alternatives to mass produced products. There has been an awakening to the true cost we pay for cheap goods, in that the products are often constructed by workers who receive little compensation and poor working conditions.
I believe knitting and craft revolution will continue to thrive.
Viva La Knitter!