Although knitting’s well and truly established in the mainstream, there are some artists taking the medium to the extreme. In the Loop: Knitting Now looks more closely at this phenomenon.  We asked our resident knitting ninja, Katy of Girl Industries for her take on it…

In the Loop focuses on the resurgence in popularity of knitting, and its rediscovered role in activism, identity and culture.  Published by black dog, and edited, or rather curated by Jessica Hemming, this book was born out of an academic conference held in in England in July 2008.

It’s a thought-provoking collection of writing by academics, artists, historians and a poet, amongst others.  The predominantly scholarly tone of the book meant that I did have to cast my mind back to my university days in Paris to recall exactly what the Lacanian theory of the gaze was, again, but the majority of the book is accessible and enjoyable if you have an interest in grassroots homespun activism, or the sheer joy of knitting.  And fear not, there are lots and lots of illustrative photographs, which quite often speak for themselves.

One of the first essays in the collection acknowledges knitting’s image problem, and from there, a succession of theorists show how the profile of the craft is being raised on an international basis.  I was delighted to see the International Fiber Collective’s Gas Station Project featured here.

It is refreshing to read about like-minded knitters in Africa, North America and the UK as well.  Everyone’s heard of Shetland wool, but did you know that Lerwick and points north had cultivated an edgy fibre arts scene?  Even the murky world of knit lit (yes, really) is explored in this fascinating collection of pictures and words.

All in all, an inspiring read, that balances a sense of humour and a do-it-yourself aethestic alongside more lofty concepts of art and activism.

In the Loop: Knitting Now by Jessica Hemmings, Black Dog publishing, £24.95

And we’ve got a copy of the book to give away!  To be in with a chance, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post, making sure you include some kind of contact info.   The winner will be chosen on Wednesday June 17.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 10th, 2010 at 10:00 am and is filed under Competitions, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.