Politics & Knitting - Now It’s Personal February 8, 2007
Posted by threadingwater in crochet, home, iraq war, knitting, politics.trackback
political knitting sample
OK. It’s official. Michelle Malkin really has nothing to blog about any more. What else could explain her attack this morning on - wait, wait, it’s coming - what she calls the “new left-wing hobby,” subversive knitting, as reported in this NYT story.
Poor Michelle. She is utterly incapable of wrapping her pigtails around the concept that a craft such as knitting can in fact be a political statement.
As knitters, we make decisions constantly about what projects we will undertake, which yarns to purchase, the fiber content and color. But if we choose to pay attention, we begin to realize that all of these choices are weighted with political implications. How much of our knitting do we donate to charitable organizations? How are certain fibers collected, grown and processed into the yarns we use? What impact do color dyes have on the environment?
I would even go so far as saying that choosing NOT to acknowledge or even consider the political ramifications of our choices is itself a political statement.
But where Malkin truly reveals her simple-mindedness is when she suggests that “non-subversive knitters” knit goods for the U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, linking to projects that have been distributing handknit and crocheted items to servicemen and women since 2001. Way to jump on that bandwagon, Michelle! These are projects that have been promoted by knitters and crocheters of all political persuasions for years. You see, Michelle, it is possible to support our troops while working to bring them home.
And might I suggest that you, Ms. Malkin, consider employing your hands with needles and yarn to produce something - anything - worthwhile, because as far as I can tell, the world doesn’t need any more ass-wiping reams of blogarrhea from you.
FUCK! You got to this before I could send it to you. Fab, dahlink.
And I think a little don’t sugarcoat it award is earned here, too. xoxo
blogarrhea, i like that… and btw, it is a known fact that women rule the world and always have… and everyone turns to mom when the going gets tough, and mom usually treats her kids with something, even handknit goods…
Your political knitting sample looks rather, shall we say, conservative?
DANGIT. I screwed up my subversive, super-contrary track record by knitting for a charity auction to fundraise for a kids’ (boys’
baseball team! Here I was, knitting to fundraise for breast cancer and the homeless and being truly subversive, and I had to go f’it up.
I don’t remember how you got off my bloglines list. Putting you back on now…
Hi. Welcome to my friends list.
Another day, another conservative mind blower:
The HooHaa Monologues
Did Michelle dream this one up, too?
OK, now I have to go celebrate that I’m involved in a new left-wing hobby. But I must agree with the critic in the Times; curatorially, the show leaned heavily on knitting with alternative stuff rather than on knitting with radical intent. Lisa Anne Auerbach’s work, a glaring omission. Check her out at http://www.stealthissweater.blogspot.com/
I found you through threadingwater and you can bet I’m gonna be pimping those body count mittens.
Thanks.
Oops I meant that comment for steal this sweater. Sorry.