Journal Two

October 4, 2004

When I was a sophomore, I took a class with Barb Willard called “Rhetoric of the Women’s Movement.” That class gave me a thorough understanding of the experiences in the lives of the women who were integral to the first wave of the women’s movement. In this class, I also learned about how many men—and sadly, women—were afraid of women who spoke in public, organized themselves around the cause of suffrage, and performed other outrageous acts of independence. Throughout the years in history that we studied, I always noticed a pattern: as women in the movement gained bigger audiences and more momentum, a backlash also grew against them. I think that backlash, and the negative reactions that women in subsequent movements have received, is grounded in fear.
The reading for this class has reminded me of what I read in Barb’s class two years ago. I find it humorous that knitting became a threat to men’s power in society. Women were not learning how to use nuclear weapons—they were performing a utilitarian chore that had been demanded of them for centuries. When women formed knitting circles, naturally issues about the war and domestic issues appeared in their conversation. This scared some of their husbands, who were uncomfortable with their wives’ use of intellect outside the house. The economic power and potential in knitting has especially stood out for me in our readings. During their wartime knitting efforts, women discovered the liberation they could achieve by forming knitting circles and contributing handmade pieces to the soldiers. This eventually translated into women selling their handmade pieces.
I think it is ridiculous that men would feel threatened by the financial contributions their wives made to the households from selling their knit pieces. I would expect that, especially during a world war, men would be thankful for their wives’ abilities to earn money from their knitting. And the women could work from home! Women who sold their knit pieces knitted at home, so it isn’t like women were abandoning their families to earn money from knitting! Throughout history, and even still today, women have been disenfranchised economically. As knitsters discovered their economic power, many men felt threatened by their abilities to transform a household chore into profit. Thankfully, this seems to be largely a thing of the past, and I hope never to encounter that personally.
This class has given me a small understanding of the communal feeling women have from knitting circles. I have often considered joining a stick n’ bitch or some other knitting circle, but my excuse has always been that I am too busy to have a scheduled time to knit. I usually enjoy knitting at the end of a long day, so that all the tension I have in my body is released through my hands. But coming to class twice a week has also shown me the healing powers of knitting in a circle. I always come straight to class from work. I work in a fast-paced environment, so I am happy to unwind while I knit in class. After class is over, I always feel 100% refreshed and ready to utilize the rest of my afternoon effectively.
I have also enjoyed watching other students learn to knit. Almost three years ago, my friend gave me my first set of needles and my first skein of yarn. Her birthday present to me was teaching me how to knit. This is possibly the best present anyone has ever given me. I remember the exhilaration and the frustration of learning to knit like it was yesterday. I remember flipping through pattern books and convincing myself that I would one day know how to knit every single thing in there. These are feelings that academic classes have never given me. Learning to knit, and then learning to play the piano, which I took up in April, are the only two things that have ever given me this feeling. Since I learned to knit, I have taught at least a dozen other people how to knit. Teaching them and also coming to this class reignites those excited feelings I had when I first learned to knit. And so, even though knitting in this class works wonders for me after a hard day at work, the best part about it has been watching other women learn to knit and reliving those feelings with them.