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Why do you knit?
Have you ever considered what it is that you enjoy about knitting?
Knitting has recently been given a bit of publicity in the British press. The Guardian tells us that activities such as knitting can make us both greener and happier, whilst The Times calls it ‘the trend that won’t die’, but one story that keeps on being re-hashed is that more and more of us are learning to knit to stave off the effects of the economic crisis. In an article called ‘The wonder of wool… or how knitting is once again helping us through the hard times’ Daily Mail hack Andrew Levy tells is that the knitting revival has ‘clicked into top gear’ thanks to… the credit crunch.
Andrew Levy is not the first journalist to attribute the popularity of knitting to the misguided notion that making your own clothes is cheaper than buying them, and he will not be the last, but if you don’t knit to save money on clothing… why do you do it?
I remember having a conversation with another knitter when I was fresh to knitting, and my knitting friend telling me that she was a ‘process’ knitter. I asked what she meant by this, and she said that some people knitted for the enjoyment of the physical movement of knitting – the relaxing, quiet, meditative action of needles and yarn, whereas other people were what she termed ‘product’ knitters – those that knitted because they wanted to have a hat that was turquoise with a lurex kitten motif intarsia knitted into the earflaps, and to be able to tell all subsequent admirers ‘Oh, this old thing? I knitted it myself!’.
I hadn’t been knitting long enough to question why I enjoyed my new-found hobby, so didn’t quite understand the distinction. I suspect that most of us will fall somewhere between the two states. I enjoy both the relaxing process of knitting and the wonderful items that are borne of it, which I enjoy more than mass-produced and generic designs, but I certainly don’t knit because I find it to be cheaper than purchasing items in the shops.
So… Why do you knit?
Process knitter, for SURE, me. It calms me, it keeps me occupied, I can choose brainless or thinking-heavy, I love the feel of it.
I originally started knitting because I wanted a pair of knit fingerless hand-warmers and didn’t want to pay for over priced, mass produced ones when as a craft lady I knew I could figure out how to make my own.
I keep knitting because I love the act of creating. Having a creative outlet is very important for my overall sense of satisfaction in life and knitting is a bit more portable than my sewing machine. I love the feel of the yarn as it slides over my fingers and creates fabric between my needles. I love the challenge of learning new stitches and techniques. I love how relaxing it is to sit down at the end of a busy day with a hot cup of tea after the kids have gone to bed and let the rhythm of the needles work out stresses and worries from my day. I love making things for friends and family because the whole while I’m thinking of them…about the memories we share and about why this color of yarn or pattern or item is so “them.”
And, I love my hand-warmers.
PS I love, love, LOVE your little illustrations!
I am probably a bit of both – product and process. I like the challenge of new techniques (I started knitting again this time to learn how to knit socks) but I also like to wear the end product. However if it doesn’t turn out quite right I’m not overly upset. I also find it relaxing because I am a bit highly strung!
I knit because it’s a way to watch TV without feeling guilty. I like knitting itself, I hate the sewing up part, but I love the oohs and aahs from the recipients, plus my kids think it’s cool – so, ego satisfaction also comes into it ;)
I’m a terrible fidget and can’t sit still without doing at least two things at the same time.
I used to cross stitch while watching TV and the reason why I now knit is basically for the clothes. You can’t do much with a finished cross stitch. Also, you can look up at the screen fairly often while knitting so now I can watch the occasional subtitled film.
[...] « living with the downs of chronic illness Why knit? October 17, 2009 Eskimimi recently asked “Why do you knit?” I then started writing about how I started knitting [...]