we're starting out the semester in design research/user experience with a group research project about a subculture. after some initial backpedaling, lillie and i chose from the list of possibilities the culture described as "hipster knitters." here is our initial cultural research.
history:
•knitting is thought to have originated in arabia before evolving all over the world throughout history.
•knitting with needles, as we know it, began in 8th century spain.
•it has been a long time since knitting has been a practical necessity like it was in earlier eras, but that doesn't mean it's gone away entirely.
•knitting comes and goes from popularity in waves.
•during the 1980s, teenagers who knitted were scorned, doomed to social outcast status.
•since then, knitting has grown in popularity and scope into something that can be useful, meditative, meaningful, powerful, artistic, political, personal, or communal.
knitting & technology:
•the recent resurgence of knitting among young, urban, tech-minded people can be traced to a number of different factors.
•a lot of the new popularity of knitting probably comes from how easy it is to find others who share the interest, and communicate with them about products, patterns, and pieces.
•the internet has made it possible for knitters to find each other and group in real life as well as congregating online.
•knitting blogs are extremely popular and the website ravelry, a social media/message board site for knitting and fiber arts, already had more than 30,000 users waiting to sign up by the time it opened its beta in 2007.
•today, ravelry has 1.4 million users, 400,000 who are active every month.
•ravelry raised $71,000 from their users to keep the site up before selling small yarn-related ads to keep it going.
•other sites like etsy provide opportunities to sell handmade work to individuals who want it through an online marketplace made up of artists and craftspeople from all over.
•another facet is the need, in our digital culture, to do something real and tactile with your hands, to actually create rather than virtual or theoretical activity.
•knitting circles have gotten increasingly common as an alternative to chatting online or on the telephone in an attempt to revive in-person social interaction,
knitting & the economy:
•another common explanation is that when the economy falters, homemade crafts pick up.
•crafts act both as hobbies and as potentially more inexpensive methods for creating goods.
•knitting has always picked up during the tough times.
•the last time knitting was as popular as it is right now was the great depression.
knitting in culture:
•the throwback action of knitting also has, in our postmodern/ironic generation, some intrigue as a vintage or retro hobby, or a nod to the past.
•our agegroup tends to put a lot of social value in doing things (like knitting) that are unexpected or old-fashioned
•knitting exists at a crossroads between punk and cutesy "twee" or "indie" culture, given its democratizing "anybody can do it" possibilities (punk) and its charming anachronism (twee).
•knitting has also taken its place as a statement.
•knitting is a stance in the community through people "yarn bombing" their surroundings, or using knit work as street-art to add color and unexpected delight, surprise, confusion, or contradiction to their cities.
•magda sayeg, who began the collective "knitta" in the form of graffiti artists, is credited with beginning the movement.
and some sources:
http://www.urbanartsandcrafts.com/default.htm
https://www.ravelry.com/
http://www.xojane.com/fun/knitting
http://www.helium.com/items/602614-a-look-at-the-resurgence-of-knitting-in-the-21st-century
http://www.helium.com/items/907105-a-look-at-the-resurgence-of-knitting-in-the-21st-century
http://www.helium.com/items/587832-a-look-at-the-resurgence-of-knitting-in-the-21st-century
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/09/william-morris-arts-craft-knitting
"amid the economic rubble, a revolution is being knitted."
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/07/a_tightknit_community.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7sCT_Eeut8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uI7qVsGuvc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53iM9M1qZY8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcLBSQ7x5J0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIW2nGrHEBA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz8eaoEMRfM&feature=related
as well as an "on point with tom ashbrook" npr radio show.
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