Review: Knitting for Good!

By: Riva

I don't know how to knit.

In eight grade, my friend's mom cast on some knitting for me, showed me a basic stitch (knit or purl I can't recall), and away I went...for about a dozen rows. Then I got bored or lost the needles. Or something.

But by the time I graduated from university, crafting was in. In and getting bigger every year.

As a graduate student, I was on the outside watching what was fast becoming a worldwide crafting movement, wondering how I could merge my two interests -- social inquiry and DIY. Asking myself what social inquiry can tell us about contemporary crafting. Wishing I knew how to call serious attention to the social benefits of 'making our lives'.

Then I heard about Betsy Greer.

Finally...here was someone who not only believed in the revolutionary power of DIY, she actually wrote a Master's thesis on it and runs a website devoted to the discussion of what she calls 'craftivism' (craft + activism). And what's more, Greer has recently wrapped her warm, straightforward philosophies into a motivating soft-cover book called Knitting for Good! A Guide to Creating Personal, Social, and Political Change, Stitch by Stitch. In it, she makes a case for using knitting (and other kinds of craftwork and DIY) as a practical, tactile, effective way to make the world a little bit nicer for everyone.

Chockablock full of accessible, readable stories about knitting, DIY, activism, and social connectedness, this book is also a friendly pedagogue, offering how-tos on everything from knitted cushion covers to dog baskets to cozy silk socks. Thanks to Betsy, DIYers can now cite almost a dozen good reasons to craft (eg., building community, expressing emotion, making statements, reaching out to others, and supporting microeconomies). Readers will also learn more about the history of knitting, buying local, caring for pets, how to knit through grief, upcycling and repurposing, transient lifestyles, making home, and doing your part.

The best of this book, however, is Betsy. Her openness and generosity comes across in the book's conversational narrative and in the intuitive progression of its three sections (Knitting for: Yourself, Your Community, The World). It's plain that Betsy wants offer you the benefit of her experience, and it easy to take what she is giving you. Reading Knitting for Good! is a bit like getting a pep talk from your BFF. You know, the rare friend who says what she means, always offers perfectly-timed anecdotes, and introduces you to all her fabulous friends when you first move into town. This book literally accomplishes the latter with contributions from nine women DIYers.

So, while I can't knit (yet), I do share Betsy's sense of pride in 'honoring and taking back the domestic' (18) and the great meaning she attaches to such activity. This book is an honest celebration of the everyday, the mundane, the invisible, and the handmade. I rarely come across an author with such a unique aptitude for knitting together the personal, the political, and the practical.

See Also

Review: Alabama Studio Style
Review: Kids in the Garden
Flora Alchemy