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hobbitknitter
Permanent Resident
USA
2284 Posts |
 Posted - 08/13/2003 : 12:03:06 PM
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>>>How do you look at knitting? As a grass roots thing, or as ultra-cool high tech? I recently (within the last year) was watching TECH TV's prime time show, "The Screen Savers." And guess what we saw! NOT "how to build a Mac Computer," like my brother thought he was going to see (and why we were watching the show in the first place) but How To Knit!!!! Never so surprised in my life. There was this girl showing this nerdy spikey hair guy how to knit. It was pretty hysterical, I laughed through the whole thing, but she was protraying it as a high tech ultra cool thing to do. Now, I agree that it is "ultra cool" but high tech????
>>>For me knitting is very grass-roots. It is something that has been passed on from our ancestors for hundreds of years, along with spinning, weaving, cooking and everything else. It has it's techy side, especially with the new synthetic fibers and titanium needles, but the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of knitting isn't that it's high tech. I would think that it's a practical art.
>>>Anyway, what do ya'll think about this? Lets hear views from all sides, that's what makes this BB so much fun!
Sarah
S. Eliz.
Keep on knitting on!
See my gallery: www.pagebypage.com/board/index.php
(In photo gallery pages, under S for Sarah Elizabeth) |
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fmarrs
Guardian angel
USA
9776 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 12:10:16 PM
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When you knit you are creating a three dimensional sculpture and using advanced math techniques to do it. I am not sure what the definition of "high tech" is, but it is its very simplicity that makes knitting complicated.
fran
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fmarrs
Guardian angel
USA
9776 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 12:10:16 PM
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When you knit you are creating a three dimensional sculpture and using advanced math techniques to do it. I am not sure what the definition of "high tech" is, but it is its very simplicity that makes knitting complicated.
fran
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fmarrs
Guardian angel
USA
9776 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 12:10:16 PM
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When you knit you are creating a three dimensional sculpture and using advanced math techniques to do it. I am not sure what the definition of "high tech" is, but it is its very simplicity that makes knitting complicated.
fran
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vicky by the bay
Permanent Resident
USA
4768 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 12:20:07 PM
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So S. Eliz....are you sure you are just 15? Or was it 14 almost 15? I consider knitting for myself an artistic craft that has it's main taproot firmly imbedded in history. Thank God it has been passed down from generation to generation!!! It could have become one of those lost art!
Vicky(new knitter-HELP!!) |
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vicky by the bay
Permanent Resident
USA
4768 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 12:20:07 PM
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So S. Eliz....are you sure you are just 15? Or was it 14 almost 15? I consider knitting for myself an artistic craft that has it's main taproot firmly imbedded in history. Thank God it has been passed down from generation to generation!!! It could have become one of those lost art!
Vicky(new knitter-HELP!!) |
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vicky by the bay
Permanent Resident
USA
4768 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 12:20:07 PM
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So S. Eliz....are you sure you are just 15? Or was it 14 almost 15? I consider knitting for myself an artistic craft that has it's main taproot firmly imbedded in history. Thank God it has been passed down from generation to generation!!! It could have become one of those lost art!
Vicky(new knitter-HELP!!) |
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fillyjonk
Permanent Resident
1127 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 12:41:11 PM
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I tend to think of it as "grassroots" or "low-tech".
I think one of the big appeals of knitting (and some other handcrafts) is that they go against the grain of increasing technology and increasing impersonality/being divorced from what you "make". You can point to a sweater and say "I made that" and anyone from anywhere on the planet (or someone from the deep past) would understand it. But what a lot of us do (with computers, with data analysis, etc.) is hard for us to explain even to our immediate families. Knitting feels more accessible to me.
I keep thinking of a quotation in a book about books, from a person who worked on computers (I think he was an IT guy but I can't remember exactly). He was asked if he thought the book was "doomed" to be replaced by e-books or virtual books. His response was, that as he worked with computers all day, it was a joy and a relief to come home to a book - a physical object that has a degree of "realness" that computer programs don't seem to have - to read.
One of the things I love about knitting is thinking about my ancestors who knit or worked with fiber - the woman sitting by the peat fire in Ireland, the French-Canadian fisherman mending his nets, the Scots lady weaving blankets to make sure her children were warm in the winter, the young girl in Kansas dreaming of her husband-to-be coming home safe from the Civil War as she knitted stockings. And how I have a little bit of each of their DNA in me, and how I do something they would immediately recognize, despite any barriers of language or time or culture.
(Of course, this is all fancy on my part, but it's still fun to speculate on). |
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fillyjonk
Permanent Resident
1127 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 12:41:11 PM
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I tend to think of it as "grassroots" or "low-tech".
I think one of the big appeals of knitting (and some other handcrafts) is that they go against the grain of increasing technology and increasing impersonality/being divorced from what you "make". You can point to a sweater and say "I made that" and anyone from anywhere on the planet (or someone from the deep past) would understand it. But what a lot of us do (with computers, with data analysis, etc.) is hard for us to explain even to our immediate families. Knitting feels more accessible to me.
I keep thinking of a quotation in a book about books, from a person who worked on computers (I think he was an IT guy but I can't remember exactly). He was asked if he thought the book was "doomed" to be replaced by e-books or virtual books. His response was, that as he worked with computers all day, it was a joy and a relief to come home to a book - a physical object that has a degree of "realness" that computer programs don't seem to have - to read.
One of the things I love about knitting is thinking about my ancestors who knit or worked with fiber - the woman sitting by the peat fire in Ireland, the French-Canadian fisherman mending his nets, the Scots lady weaving blankets to make sure her children were warm in the winter, the young girl in Kansas dreaming of her husband-to-be coming home safe from the Civil War as she knitted stockings. And how I have a little bit of each of their DNA in me, and how I do something they would immediately recognize, despite any barriers of language or time or culture.
(Of course, this is all fancy on my part, but it's still fun to speculate on). |
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fillyjonk
Permanent Resident
1127 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 12:41:11 PM
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I tend to think of it as "grassroots" or "low-tech".
I think one of the big appeals of knitting (and some other handcrafts) is that they go against the grain of increasing technology and increasing impersonality/being divorced from what you "make". You can point to a sweater and say "I made that" and anyone from anywhere on the planet (or someone from the deep past) would understand it. But what a lot of us do (with computers, with data analysis, etc.) is hard for us to explain even to our immediate families. Knitting feels more accessible to me.
I keep thinking of a quotation in a book about books, from a person who worked on computers (I think he was an IT guy but I can't remember exactly). He was asked if he thought the book was "doomed" to be replaced by e-books or virtual books. His response was, that as he worked with computers all day, it was a joy and a relief to come home to a book - a physical object that has a degree of "realness" that computer programs don't seem to have - to read.
One of the things I love about knitting is thinking about my ancestors who knit or worked with fiber - the woman sitting by the peat fire in Ireland, the French-Canadian fisherman mending his nets, the Scots lady weaving blankets to make sure her children were warm in the winter, the young girl in Kansas dreaming of her husband-to-be coming home safe from the Civil War as she knitted stockings. And how I have a little bit of each of their DNA in me, and how I do something they would immediately recognize, despite any barriers of language or time or culture.
(Of course, this is all fancy on my part, but it's still fun to speculate on). |
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lizzi
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
553 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 4:03:41 PM
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I'd never considered it that way until just now, reading this--before it was always "old-fashioned" vs. "hip".
Reflecting on it now, I think knitting is a low-tech craft moving into a high-tech world of its own. Yes, we still knit with wool, just like our ancestors did--but we also knit with polyester popcorn-bobble yarn, rayon eyelash, sequined yarns...all man-made products of a technology age. Yes, sweaters and whatnot are still designed on paper, with a pencil (it's how I do it!) but there's also software available to help you design just about anything you can think of. Yes, knitters still gather in groups to knit together and talk (yay Stitch-n-beach!) but we also gather online. I've never met any of you face-to-face, and yet we share our ideas about knitting here just the same.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
Lizzi
http://amimono.blogspot.com
"You killed a hundred thousand people? Well, you must get up very early in the morning." --Eddie Izzard, Dress to Kill |
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lizzi
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
553 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 4:03:41 PM
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I'd never considered it that way until just now, reading this--before it was always "old-fashioned" vs. "hip".
Reflecting on it now, I think knitting is a low-tech craft moving into a high-tech world of its own. Yes, we still knit with wool, just like our ancestors did--but we also knit with polyester popcorn-bobble yarn, rayon eyelash, sequined yarns...all man-made products of a technology age. Yes, sweaters and whatnot are still designed on paper, with a pencil (it's how I do it!) but there's also software available to help you design just about anything you can think of. Yes, knitters still gather in groups to knit together and talk (yay Stitch-n-beach!) but we also gather online. I've never met any of you face-to-face, and yet we share our ideas about knitting here just the same.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
Lizzi
http://amimono.blogspot.com
"You killed a hundred thousand people? Well, you must get up very early in the morning." --Eddie Izzard, Dress to Kill |
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lizzi
Gabber Extraordinaire
USA
553 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 4:03:41 PM
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I'd never considered it that way until just now, reading this--before it was always "old-fashioned" vs. "hip".
Reflecting on it now, I think knitting is a low-tech craft moving into a high-tech world of its own. Yes, we still knit with wool, just like our ancestors did--but we also knit with polyester popcorn-bobble yarn, rayon eyelash, sequined yarns...all man-made products of a technology age. Yes, sweaters and whatnot are still designed on paper, with a pencil (it's how I do it!) but there's also software available to help you design just about anything you can think of. Yes, knitters still gather in groups to knit together and talk (yay Stitch-n-beach!) but we also gather online. I've never met any of you face-to-face, and yet we share our ideas about knitting here just the same.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
Lizzi
http://amimono.blogspot.com
"You killed a hundred thousand people? Well, you must get up very early in the morning." --Eddie Izzard, Dress to Kill |
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Milinda
Permanent Resident
USA
3816 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 4:23:39 PM
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fillyjonk, well said.
M L |
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Milinda
Permanent Resident
USA
3816 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 4:23:39 PM
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fillyjonk, well said.
M L |
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Milinda
Permanent Resident
USA
3816 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 4:23:39 PM
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fillyjonk, well said.
M L |
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Susan T-O
Permanent Resident
USA
2481 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 6:09:39 PM
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Gosh, I never really thought of it as either. I just think of it as fun or frustration, depending on if I'm knitting or frogging  . But all in all, isn't it really a little of both? The means of making the yarns you buy, and all the novelty yarns now available, are about as far from "grass roots" as you can get. On the other hand, the very act of creating a garment by hand rather than buying one from the store is as "down home" as anything I can think of, right up there with making homemade preserves.
Heh, heh, fillyjonk, your "knitting history/fiction" reminded me of my only "genetic" knitting link. During the war, when all the housewives were knitting scarves for the soldiers, my mother was actually asked NOT to make anymore. With each row, her stitches would get tighter and tighter so that the end row was about half the length of the cast on! Glad I didn't inherit that trait
Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes. |
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Susan T-O
Permanent Resident
USA
2481 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 6:09:39 PM
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Gosh, I never really thought of it as either. I just think of it as fun or frustration, depending on if I'm knitting or frogging . But all in all, isn't it really a little of both? The means of making the yarns you buy, and all the novelty yarns now available, are about as far from "grass roots" as you can get. On the other hand, the very act of creating a garment by hand rather than buying one from the store is as "down home" as anything I can think of, right up there with making homemade preserves.
Heh, heh, fillyjonk, your "knitting history/fiction" reminded me of my only "genetic" knitting link. During the war, when all the housewives were knitting scarves for the soldiers, my mother was actually asked NOT to make anymore. With each row, her stitches would get tighter and tighter so that the end row was about half the length of the cast on! Glad I didn't inherit that trait
Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes. |
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Susan T-O
Permanent Resident
USA
2481 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 6:09:39 PM
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Gosh, I never really thought of it as either. I just think of it as fun or frustration, depending on if I'm knitting or frogging . But all in all, isn't it really a little of both? The means of making the yarns you buy, and all the novelty yarns now available, are about as far from "grass roots" as you can get. On the other hand, the very act of creating a garment by hand rather than buying one from the store is as "down home" as anything I can think of, right up there with making homemade preserves.
Heh, heh, fillyjonk, your "knitting history/fiction" reminded me of my only "genetic" knitting link. During the war, when all the housewives were knitting scarves for the soldiers, my mother was actually asked NOT to make anymore. With each row, her stitches would get tighter and tighter so that the end row was about half the length of the cast on! Glad I didn't inherit that trait
Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes. |
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amber
Seriously Hooked
USA
758 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 6:34:35 PM
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It better be low-tech or grass roots. I spend my whole day at work in front of a computer (I work at a computer animation studio). One of the reasons I started knitting is that I needed to escape the "hi-tech" world in the evenings. I think of knitting as soothing... and very few hi-tech activities are what I would call soothing. I'm think of all the time I spend building my web site... I did enjoy it (sort of) but it was not soothing.
Amber (wanna be low-techie)
A friend will help you move..
A really good friend will help you move a body. |
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amber
Seriously Hooked
USA
758 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2003 : 6:34:35 PM
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It better be low-tech or grass roots. I spend my whole day at work in front of a computer (I work at a computer animation studio). One of the reasons I started knitting is that I needed to escape the "hi-tech" world in the evenings. I think of knitting as soothing... and very few hi-tech activities are what I would call soothing. I'm think of all the time I spend building my web site... I did enjoy it (sort of) but it was not soothing.
Amber (wanna be low-techie)
A friend will help you move..
A really good friend will help you move a body. |
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