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Looks like Of Troy is on the leading edge of the next big trend! Knitting has taken a radical turn in London, England, led by a group of young male and female radical knitters called the "Castaways" who purl in bars and on subways (which trace a circle so they don't have to get off), and they teach the curious for free. But they're not much interested in traditional knitting. They knit soft hand grenades, penises, giant spider webs, advertising panels, whatever. One couple from Israel says they're in it to see how they can "subvert" knitting. Apparently, knitting classes are packed in London. A CBC Radio broadcast telling this story can be heard word for word [direct from London] online at: http://www.cbc.ca/dispatchesEngland swings to the new rock'n'roll. From Mayfair to Muswell Hill, folk are doing the "stitch and bitch."
Knit one, purl one, knit one, purl one...Knitting; it's not just for your Gran anymore.
And instead of wondering why knitting is on a manly, manly show like "Dispatches", ask yourself this; are you man enough to sit in a pub and purl? Who's the tough guy now?
To tell the story, Brandy Yanchyk braves the dangers of a Karaoke bar.
Listen to Brandy's dispatch
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Stitch and Bitch clubs have been around for as long as I've been teaching, which is about 150 years.
No, really. I've only been teaching for 28 years, and I heard about stitch and bitch clubs when I first started teaching.
And since I don't do either, I can't give you any inside information.
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"Stitch and bitch" is probably a misnomer for what this is really all about, Wordwind.
The CBC Radio broadcast says this is very new, very trendy, attractive to young males as well as females, not traditional but "radical" knitting, with London, England as "ground zero" for the new trend.
I've never stitched a purl myself. I just heard the broadcast and thought I would cast some purls. :)
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old hand
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old hand
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It must be a bit of a trend to take domestic activities outside the home and 'subvert' them. I've heard about all sorts of odd ideas in the last couple of years, such as 'extreme ironing' ... http://www.ironing.de
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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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
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its so nice to hear someone who has never knit a stitch ... state with confidence 'stitch and bitch groups' are not about radical knitting.
Sorry, Of Troy. I confess I did say "Stitch and bitch" is probably a misnomer" but I didn't say "probably" with a whole lot of confidence.
The program director and CBC radio reporter interviewing "Castaway" knitters in London evidently thought this was a new trend so I guess I was trading on their confidence, not my own, Of Troy.
Just goes to prove you can't believe everything you pick up in the media. Thanks for straightening me out.
re "if you are interested in knitting, go to a knitting BB. or at least post in a more appropriate area"
I thought the word "radical" describing "knitting" was a new twist on an old yarn, but maybe I should have put this post in "Miscellany" or maybe in "AWAD in Schools".
I'll try to stick to my own knitting in the future, Of Troy. [Now there's a purl of wisdom. Maybe I've learned a stitch about knitting after all. :) ]
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Carpal Tunnel
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Why do we say 'knitting of the brows'?
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Why do we say 'knitting of the brows'?I think it's 'cause of all those stitches in a knitted brow, Wordwind. Every one of those stitches represents a mess of trouble. We stitch up something when it's coming apart, usually at the seams. A knitted brow is nature's way of making amends. Here's a good antidote for a knitted brow. It's the poor man's Botox: Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
and smile, smile, smile!
While you´ve got a lucifer to light your fag
Smile, boys, that´s the style!
What´s the use worrying?
It never was worth while
So, pack up your troubles in your old kit bag
and smile, smile, smile!Pack up your troubles in your old kitbagComposed by Felix Powell; Words by George Asaf http://www.westfront.de/packup.htmThe other verses are fun as well. :)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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perhaps because when we 'knit our brows', --which involves tighten the muscles of our face-- the eyebrows come together like the points of two knitting needles, over the bridge of the nose. --the hair of the brows would look like yarn, too!
the effect would be more noticable on men, (their eyebrows tend to be longer) but it would also be apparent on women who didn't pluck, or otherwise shape their eyebrows.
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Oh goodie, a haiku. Women who don't pluck or otherwise shape their eyebrows. Sorry. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Anyone for tanka? In those years -- 9th - 12th centuries -- when tanka was so fashionable, poets competing in contests revived an old Chinese form by linking tanka poems together in a novel way. The poem was "broken" in half so one author wrote the 5-7-5 part and another responded and finished the poem by adding his (mostly men did this though it was first done by a woman!) 7-7 part. Instead of stopping there, someone else wrote a new 5-7-5 poem to "answer" to the previous 7-7 link and they named the genre renga -- meaning linked elegance. This proved to be so much fun poets were soon writing poems of 1,000 and even 10,000 links.http://www.ahapoetry.com/haidefjr.htm
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This proved to be so much fun poets were soon writing poems of 1,000 and even 10,000 links.
Horrors! What did they do when they reached the dreaded 100 threshold? Soft carriage return?
Or red alert? Guess not. That was before Mao's time. :) [It was also before the younger Bush's time, that seems fair to state.]
From Maverick's link:
Because of the popularity of renga and the extreme necessity for a really good hokku (starting verse), poets began to collect a backlog of "good" hokku to stick up their sleeves in case anyone asked them to start a renga.
Anyone got a "good" hokku up their sleeve?
Who would want to tanka with a renga without a good hokku?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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hah, don know nuthin bout good but.
Gimme a minute, better be sumptin bout language I reckon...
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