Knitting on the net

Via CRAFT, check out this tidbit on Ravelry and the online knitting community on BoingBoing TV.

Related (kind of), there is a very enjoyable BBC Podcast (direct link here) featuring Jane Brocket of Yarnstorm (one of my favorite reads), which addresses some interesting issues of crafting and feminism, women's choices and prerogatives and so on.

Because so many craft-related blogs I read are unanimously supportive of crafting, it is strange to me to encounter opposing viewpoints. There was a particularly questionable article by Liz Hunt also discussing Ms Brocket's new book, and the tone was condescending, materialist, snotty, and really, backwards thinking in my view. Appalling grammar aside, this snippet really jumped out at me:

I suggest we treat the entire homemaking genre in the same way - domestic porn, something luscious to look at but, like all porn, not necessarily something we'd want to try at home. And why should we when we can buy it. It's what craft fairs and farmers' markets are for. Some hand-knitted bed socks and a jar or two in the cupboard with a paper lid and a handwritten label can do wonders for one's domestic self-esteem.

Do people really think this way, or was Ms Hunt being deliberately obtuse and argumentative? Does the origin of craft as elevated from domestic chores truly relegate it to the domain of domestic imprisonment? Would a man taking interest in carpentry, restoring cars, or building computers have a similarly problematic social outcry?

My idea of crafting is that at its best, it's a form of self-cultivation, a means to enjoy the sensory pleasures of the materials and process and to indulge one's creativity. This was the same premise under which Confucian scholars practiced self-cultivation, carefully constructing environments and activities for contemplation and sensory experience of the material world, as a means to better understand oneself and the greater wholes of the universe.

Every day I see people validating and celebrating traditional fine arts on a purely aesthetic basis, without questioning the historical systems of patronage and problems of class which used to tie into painting. That's not to say these things shouldn't be questioned, or that we shouldn't consider the history of craft... but at some point, I'd like it if we could enjoy our hobbies without it becoming a political debate. Mostly, I don't want other people assuming they know and understand why I choose to knit or do the other crafts I love. It's rather like telling me what I think.