(incli)NATION: "Knitting for a New Millennium," a manifesto by Lisa Anne Auerbach

This is a call for a dynamic, new direction for knitting!

Lay down that eyelash yarn and giant needles and pick up a project that’s thoughtful, elegant, and odd. Let each sweater be something completely new. Forego patterns in favor of making it up yourself.

Go beyond.

Go above.

Figure it out for yourself.

Do not by shy. The time is now; there will never be a better one. Use technology if you have to. Computers are your friends. Knitting machines are ungainly buy useful. Reclaim knitting! It is a noble craft; it is NOT the new yoga. Repetitive and unthinking motions will kill the soul. Knitting is creating. Custom sweaters are the new tattoos. Why make the same thing everyone else is making if you don’t have to? You have choices: make use of them.

THEN: Knitters who have come before us are remembered for cabled guernseys, paper thin stockings, mittens and gloves adorned with sonnets or sobriquets, and undergarments fluttering with lace. Our forebears learned to knit at a young age. Small children were started on stockings, knitting in the round. Adolescents turned heels and decreased at the toes.
Look back at the history of knitting and you will see tiny stitches, fancy flourishes, and complex shaping. Aesthetically speaking, the knitters of yore had it going on. Totally badass, persnickety, and adorable. And, as if incredibly good-looking and fashionable weren’t enough for these long ago knitters, old-time chicks with sticks transformed American culture, no joke. In the 1890’s, when a bicycle craze swept the nation, ladies were still wearing duds that might get stuck in the spokes, or worse. Knitting came to the rescue, providing the fashionable a new and sporty choice. Hemlines started to rise, and jaunty knitted stockings became all the rage. It wasn’t long before sweaters went from underwear to outerwear and the rest is history.

Thank our feminist ancestors with yarn and vision for getting us out of the corset and into the sweater. The early part of the 20th century plugged along just fine, and many a garment was stitched for soldiers, grandchildren, schoolmarms, bachelors, fishermen, and whores. Those who wanted to knit for the war effort used patters published by the Red Cross for sweaters, vests, gloves, and socks. Fashioning garments was a talent taken for granted. Knitters, it seemed, knew how to knit. And then what happened?

NOW: Like many other things, recent times saw the history of knitting take an unfortunate turn for the worse. Though the popularity of the craft has gone through the roof, we are now faced with an unprecedented epidemic of mediocrity characterized by ultra-bulky yarn and loosely knit skinny scarves. Yarn companies are laughing all the way to the bank as the introduce more yarns and patterns that will satisfy knitters with a “scarf in an hour” or a “sweater in a day.”

If the current crop of madness does not cease, we in the here and now will be remembered by future knitters at the generation who collapsed the craft. We cannot and must not let this happen! Knitting is not supposed to be easy. Knitting takes time and thought and patience and attention. A well made sweater will last a lifetime or longer. There’s no point in wasting time and money on ugliness.

Down with simple and boring!

Up with thoughtful and complex!

Chart your message and wear it proudly. Mix yarns and colors. Spice it up. Try the materials of today: Kevlar, retro-reflective, stainless steel, dynamite, yak. Resist fashion. Manufacture your own brand. Embrace tradition. Learn from history. Shatter the present. Create the future. Stitch by stitch, we can and will change the world. The revolution is at hand and knitting needles are the only weapons you’ll need. Stop making scarves; start making trouble.

Consume less.

Create more.

Knitting is political.

BEGIN IMMEDIATELY.