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Making Love With Needles

Developing from research into the socio-cultural contexts of knitting, this article addresses the ways in which knitting can be considered as both familial and unhomely. It thus challenges the popular view that knitting for the family is a sign of unconditional love and critiques the cosy readings of activity and object This discussion develops ideas seen in additional research papers that draw from an interdisciplinary methodology that includes oral history, crafts theory and psychoanalysis including ‘The Bigger the Better or why Size Matters: knitting as reparation’, Fashion Theory [Russia], 2010, ‘Crafty Chats’ in L Sandino & M Partington (ed.s), Oral History in the Visual Arts, Berg, 2012, and the forthcoming article 'S(M)other's Love', in Moran, A and O'Brien, S (ed.s) Emotion, Design and Material Culture, Bloomsbury, 2014. By providing this oppositional critique, the limiting understanding of knitting is redressed, as too are the motives and power of the knitter.