Knitting, often seen as an activity solely for the eldery, is actually practiced by many OU students.
The words “Muslim Lives Matter” hung on Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium on Feb. 13 during a vigil honoring the deaths of three Muslim students who were fatally shot in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, days before.
Claire Seid and other members of Ohio University’s subversive crafting collective made these knitted, colorful words possible. Knitting and crafting is a decades-old hobby, but some groups on campus — such as the collective — use it to make a difference.
Seid started the collective, which is not recognized by OU as an official club, in January as a resource for other protest groups that would like to show public art pieces. Members meet Thursdays in the Women’s Center (Baker Center room 403) at 6 p.m.
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“Every meeting of the activist groups I’m in I was like ‘well, let’s do this public art project, what about this, can we do this?’ and then I was like ‘you know what? We could be doing this more effectively,’ ” Seid, a sophomore studying sociology, said.
The act of knitting during activism specifically is to make an underlying point about femininity, said Hannah Koerner, who has been a member of the collective since its start.
“Knitting is a traditionally feminine craft, which means it isn’t typically associated with radicalism or protest,” Koerner, a sophomore studying English, said. “Using yarn and crafting as protest tools is a feminine statement because work traditionally viewed for women is often devalued.”
Seid’s love of knitting started when she was five, after both of her grandmothers taught her how to knit. Her “really ugly Christmas ornaments” soon turned to better-made gloves. When she turned 15, her hobby turned into a borderline obsession.
“I was knitting all the time,” Seid said. “Gloves for all, everyone I knew, it was so obnoxious.”
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Seid can attribute some of this love for both crafting and social activism to her mom, who is a subversive quilter. Because quilting is seen by society as a women’s hobby, her mom quilts to make social statements.
“She has this gardening quilt where she quilted a picture of our dog digging up the garden and it says ‘f--k this,’ ” Seid said. “The expectations of a woman working in her garden and then quilting are not profanity, they’re not edgy, but she takes them and makes them arts. She takes these norms and subverts them.”
The group’s first project of the year was decorating a sapling tree outside Baker with 30 to 40 knitted pom-poms. This decoration was partly inspired by the social movement of “yarn bombing.” Yarn bombing, or taking knitted things and putting them on objects, is about public beautification, Koerner said.
OU’s club “A Stitch In Athens,” holds a couple sales of items made from the club’s members to benefit My Sister’s Place, a local domestic violence agency. These include knitted and crocheted wares.
Similar to knitting, crocheting involves only one needle and has a slightly different look in the stitching. Hannah Podratz said her hobby started in middle school while she crocheted chains of yarn and she has since made hats, scarves and full-size blankets.
“Lots of people think it’s just something old ladies in nursing homes do but I do it while I’m watching TV all the time.” said Podratz, a junior studying computer science. “I think it’s always important to use any talent you have to help others whether it’s physically, financially, or emotionally. It’s helping them and it will make you happy knowing you made a difference.”
@rachel_hartwick
