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The Culture of Knitting

Much writing about textiles emphasises ‘how to’ processes and negates engagement in critical discourse. Where critique happens, hierarchical models pertaining to the fine arts are employed, which marginalises discussion of everyday textile objects. This book questions these approaches, presenting textiles as an aspect of material culture, thus levelling the playing field, so amateur crafts practice sits alongside industrial design and textile art. Each chapter addresses knitting and its objects from a different theoretical perspective, demonstrating that there is more than one way to understand knitting. New approaches to textile discourses emanating from this research include (but are not limited to the following publications: ‘Making Love with Needles’ (Textile Vol. 10. No.3, 2012, pp.302-11), Hemmings (2011), Dirix (2011),

Reviews of the text appeared in The Times Higher; The Times Literary Supplement; The Journal of Design History; Textile: the journal of cloth and culture (2010); Utopian Studies, (Vol.22, No. 2, 2011) and is cited in the following texts: Gauntlett, 2011 (ISBN -13: 978-0-7456-5001-2); Luckman, (2012, ISBN: 978-0-230-35542-2); Daley, Contemporary Aesthetics (2012); Myzelev, Textile (Vol.7, No.2, July 2009, pp.148-163); Textile History (Vol.41, No.2, November 2010, pp.256-268); Collier, Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy (Vol 28. Issue 3, 2011); Orton-Johnson, Leisure Studies (2012).

Knitting has undergone a recent revival, and the book is listed as a Berg bestseller, and is cited on many blogs, particularly those of amateur knitters. This popularity has facilitated my contribution to new books on handcrafts (Lewis [2012] 978-0753540657) and television programmes ('Fabric: Really Ripping Yarns', BBC4, 2013).