The Resurgence Of Knitting

In the age of high tech and ready-made, old-fashioned knitting is making a comeback via social media. We’ll ask why.

Knitting is as old as the hills and as new as the wifi, Blackberrry, do-your-yoga generation. Your grandma did, or does it. So – it turns out – does the hotshot next door.

With needles and yarn and the old clickety-clack of fingers flying, it is may be the humblest of clothing crafts. Its popularity has risen and fallen over generations depending, historians say, on national stress and the economy. (See imgages of knitting over the years.)

Right now it’s come back. A way for information workers to make something that feels real. To chill out. To feel back to the land. To make community.
- Tom Ashbrook
On Point visited the new generation of knitters at the the Chestnut Hill School outside Boston, Massachusettss.  Hear what they had to say.

Guests:

Susan Strawn, professor of apparel design and merchandising at Dominican University, where she teaches courses on the history and culture of dress. She is author of "Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art."

Franklin Habit, he writes "The Panopticon," currently one of the most popular knitting blogs. He is author of "It Itches: A Stash of Knitting Cartoons." Started the “1,000 Knitters Project,” a long-term photography prospective to celebrate and preserve the portraiture of knitting.

Jenna Woginrich, sole owner, operator and blogger for Cold Antler Farm — an online community-supported sheep farm in Jackson, NY.  She is a homestead blogger and web producer, who often writes for HuffingtonPost.com’s Green section and Mother Earth News.

Street Color, a self titled “yarn bomber,” or knitting street artist. She puts up her colorful, hand-spun pieces on parking meters, existing statues and street signs all over the Bay Area.