its so nice to hear someone who has never knit a stitch, and has listened to one radio broadcast state with confidence 'stitch and bitch groups' are not about radical knitting.

stitch and bitch groups are very loosely organized, and many are nothing more that koffee klatches for knitters. but many (especially urban ones)are hardly just koffee klatches-they are frequently more. (NYC has several SnB's.) and there are many other groups besides SnB's (Meet Up --(NYC meetup group has 900 registers members, about 5% are guys) or knitting guilds--the Big Apple Knitting Guild (BAKG.org) had 400 or so members (and about 25 are guys(Meet up membership is basicly free, BAKG is a paid organization)
NYC annual KNIT OUT (see The Craft Yarn Council web site) attracts thousands of people--and many major (and minor) US cities have Knit OUT's every year.

radical knitting? a view. Unconventional knitting? been around for years. (its finally being noticed)

i posted links to geek knitting(NOT IN Q&A about words!)--lots of guys like geek knitting, but most of the stuff was actual desiged by women.
like:
klein bottle hats
moebius scarves (i just completed one--knit in a single piece, knit with 1 side 1 edge(cast off)
DNA double helix scarves
a perl (the other purl/pearl!) script for turning
ASCII code (ie, ASCII code values for keyboard symbols) into hex then binary, then knit and purl stitches.
and bordering on geeky and on art,
knit images of color coded fractals, or other number theories.

and there are non-geeky knitting
Knit art, (lots of stuff)
knit body parts (some serious, some fun)
like knit a uturus
serious--(used by midwifes to explain changes during pregnacy and childbirth) and fun ones used as objects d'art.
knit boobies--
knit vagina's (georgia okeefe like, worn as 'brooches')-the first i know of, was desinged by a little old lady in scotland)
knit elvis wigs, (in black, but also in neon colors)
(other knit wigs too)
knit dildo covers--NOT USUALLY KNIT BY GUYS
coats knit from plastic garbage bags.

or knit food, (and knit saucer, tea cups, plates and platters to serve the knit stuff on) everything from soup so nuts!

and then there are designer like deborah new--(A knit boat--that actualy works)who's Unconventional Knitting book is several years old.

and most of this stuff is well, not old, (some is almost 5 years old, some is as old as 10 years) but not new (yesterday)
there are hundreds of knitting BB's, and more blogs devoted to knitting, and books, and groups.
most knitting is still 'conventional' but... knitting has been subversive and radical for years, (says M.duFrarge)

as for guys knitting, they have always have knit in some cultures(scotland, scandinavia, SA, ) today there are more guys who knit publicly. but alot of radical knitting is the work of women--but then the bulk of knitters are women.

historical footnote: Silent Cal knit his own socks perhaps not when he was busy running the nation, but at times.

but this is Q & A about words, in a word forum.. if you are interested in knitting, go to a knitting BB. or at least post in a more appropriate area


my other obsession