Dirty, Sexy, Knitting

Knitters are sexy! Yep! I said it and I meant it. Anyone who can take an item that looks like rolled up spaghetti or worms (I mean the yarn) and make it into a garment or a blanket or some other lovely, useful item is dead sexy! I am so tired of the 'my grandmother knits' line of discussion that I realized that it is time to represent. Finding this photo (and the associated calendar project) made me realize that I'd heard it again recently and I didn't react to it. I usually react and respond to such generalizations with polite, though often pointed, comment but I didn't that time. Shame on me!

I simply cannot tell you the number of times that someone has approached me when I am knitting in public and said those 3 dreaded words "my grandmother knits." I know that they are trying to relate and that seeing me knit might be taking them back to a lovely memory but really folks! What do these folks think? Every woman learns to knit when they become a grandmother?? Some might say that this is just to make conversation but I don't really think so. Do these same people go up to groups of older knitters and say "my cousin knits", "my teacher knits", or "my little brother knits"? No, they do not. This happened the other night when I was knitting with Sweetpea and Bunny (two young knitters) at the local tea house.

There is a renewed movement to knit lingerie - as was done decades ago. There are wonderful books out there with some great patterns. Just have a quick look at this book. There are some beautiful pieces in there.

Like creating in general, this is sexy to me; making sweaters is sexy and knitting lingerie is sexy. Gardening and sculpting and welding are sexy. Anything where one uses their imagination to create is sexy. Cripes, making furniture is sexy to me.

There isn't time or space to go into the arguments that we are all sexy regardless of age, size, etc., etc. We can be knitters (spinners, weavers, stitchers, quilters, etc.) regardless of age. When did the link between knitting and maturity set in? There was a time, not so long ago, when women had to master (mistress?) these skills before they wed in order to keep their families clothed and warm. There was also a time when knitting was a man's business. When did this change? Why do we need to categorize?

The photograph of the beautiful, sexy knitter at the top of this post came from a knitting-related calendar project you can find at Kickstarter.com
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1583990304/off-the-needles-a-knitting-pinup-calendar?pos=1&ref=search)

Go and give a dollar or two in support of this calendar. It is fun and seems like a great idea. Also, the concept of Kickstarter is great. Post a concept to get funding. Wow!

So, remember . . . knitters are whatever they want to be.

Carry on.


(P.S. I am not saying that grandmothers aren't sexy. I am simply merging a few concepts and attempting to increase awareness for the calendar project and the website.)