MacDonald, Anne L. - No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting

[oyceter]

This was a really interesting read. MacDonald explores the history of America knitting, just as the title says, going from the arrival of Europeans in America. I am guessing American Indians didn't knit? Since knitting from all accounts seems to have originated in the Arabian peninsula? Though I suspect MacDonald is operating under the unexamined assumption that America began with the arrival of the Europeans.

Anyway. She covers knitting as a means for women to earn money, as by the 1700s, knitting had already moved from being a men's craft to a women's craft. Much of the book is on knitting and its ties to war; namely, how women used knitting in war as a means to contribute to war efforts, from the American Revolution to the Korean War. I don't particularly remember if there were any concerted efforts to knit socks for soldiers for the Vietnam War; I suspect there wasn't as much. The biggest push seems to have been for WWII; after that, knitting died down a little as a craft. And the book was published before the Gulf War.

Part of me wishes that MacDonald came to her source from a more feminist POV; she clearly loves the craft of knitting, but because of that, I feel she doesn't examine some things as critically as she might. I am thinking mostly of knitting as a symbol of hearth and home and traditional femininity. I would have loved to see how this changed over the years (or didn't). MacDonald writes a little about the industrialization of knitting, particularly of knitting as one means women could earn some money, though she notes that knitters were paid horribly. She also covers the (still) rare spectacle of knitting men, along with women knitting for their boyfriends and husbands. One of the things that I found interesting was how knitting was a vehicle for female social activities (which I knew) and how husbands complained about this (which I didn't know) -- it's a neat reverse of knitting as a symbol of traditional femininity. But again, MacDonald reports more on knitting trends instead of examining underlying social principles, which I regret a little.

The book was valuable as a history; there are a lot of things in it that I didn't know. I only wish that it had a "twenty years later" update; it was published in the eighties, when knitting had a bit of a downturn. I'd love to see MacDonald's POV on knitting's current resurgence and how the knitters of today are the same as or different from knitters of previous times.

Comments

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I don't remember much about the fiber arts from my days of anthropology classes, but I think the Indians wove and knotted more than knitted. Although I'm hazy on the distinctions between knotting and knitting. :)

[jinian.livejournal.com]

IIRC, the PNW native peoples didn't know how to knit until Europeans taught them, but several groups rapidly formed cottage industries as soon as they learned how and commercial yarn was available. It was all women in those groups, since women's power was in spinning and weaving. It's not surprising that there wouldn't be a lot of fiber-art innovation in this part of the world; wool was hard to come by and tree-bark fiber is less flexible, plus the spiritual connotations and conventions surrounding weaving probably discouraged it.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I've read this! I'd love to see an update, as well.

Feminism in the knitting community

[atuinsails.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, there isn't alot of writing in the knitting community from a purely feminist point of view. To my knowlege, Debbi Stoller's intro to her first book Stitch and Bitch comes closest. Most knitters who are writing their craft seem to lean more to the spiritual side of it.