Young women take up old crafts as knitting goes online

Young women are using new technology to learn old skills in a huge revival of craft.

AUT University Bachelor of Communications Studies lecturer Christina Vogels says without the internet she would never have taught herself how to crochet.

A book was useless for learning something kinetic like crocheting, she says.

“YouTube just exploded my passion for crochet.”

A search on YouTube shows nearly 28,000 videos on knitting.

Vogels is part of a Stitch ‘n Bitch group.

“Eighty per cent of us are under 30.

“You sit around and talk and stitch. There’s not a lot of bitching.”

Nikki Whyte, a self-confessed craft nerd, has been knitting since she was 20. Four years on, she runs two blogs that display her work.

“Most of the stuff I make is to show off in the online world.”

Like others, Whyte is self-taught through YouTube.

“I was sucked into the vortex of craft through blogging.”

She runs two blogs: Red Headed Devil Child and OutdoorKnit.

OutdoorKnit focuses on graffiti knitting, another trend in which the craft is used for political or social commentary.

“We knit or crochet pieces and put them around trees or poles.

“Some of this outdoor work is social commentary. We put messages in our work commenting on the divide between craft and art, and street art and art.

“My friend did a piece with ‘Yes, but is it art?’ in her stitches and she put it beside a piece of street art.”

Whyte prefers to put her work against run-down industrial backgrounds.

“I want it to be cute and laughable in a bleak environment.”

For Whyte, the craft revival is about sustainability.

“How do we create things for ourselves?

“If everything turns to crap, we will need these skills.”

Vogels says the current trend is a bit like the 1970s feminist movement.

“There were great exhibitions in the 70s with women’s stories being threaded through what they were making. They reclaimed craft as a genuine art form.

“What our mothers were doing in the 1970s, we’re reclaiming.”

Jamara Ferguson, a 23-year-old mother, says this is about stepping back to our roots.

“It’s about less waste and doing it yourself.

“You know you’re doing something productive. You’re clothing your own children.”

She learnt through www.knittinghelp.com and YouTube. She describes www.ravelry.com as the centre of all things knitting.

Forums provide a means for members to buy wool for each other, she says.

“You send out a text or post a message about buying yarn. We’ve formed collectives to buy [bulk] yarn from Australia.”

She says you can also buy yarn from TradeMe. In May there were more than 1000 listings for wool.

All the women interviewed talked about their craft as an “obsession” or “addiction”.

“As soon as I learnt I became totally obsessed with it,” Vogels says.

“Last year I spent about 15 to 20 hours a week crocheting.”

Whyte says: “I have a yarn addiction. I’ve put myself on a yarn ban.

“I love creating unique things. It’s the best feeling in the world when people compliment you on your work.”