Anytime I see something out of the ordinary 4 different times in the same day, I have to assume that it is the ‘next cool thing’. I don’t receive whatever memo gets sent around, and I’m not on the same wave-length as whatever pop-star, or reality show actor (did I just say actor?) is setting the trends these days. As a result I’m often late to the party. I’m just a stand-by passenger on the ‘cool plane’. The last to board assuming I even get a seat. I do ride the subway system though, so if I seem to have my finger on the pulse of urban trends, it’s because if I can stay awake long enough, it will smack me in the face. What smacked me in the face this past week was young people knitting…..EVERYWHERE! Guys too! I mean girls get a pass on this, but young guys knitting? I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so I compromised with subtle indifference, followed by a Monday blog.
As a proud owner of several Hawaiian shirts for a 3 month stretch in 2001, I would like to state that knitting being an ‘in thing’ kind of took me by surprise. I mean, you see old people knitting all the time, but they’re from a different time, and that’s something that people did back in the day. If you needed some socks, and there wasn’t money, or a store nearby, you knitted a pair. Done! If you got good at it, maybe you made a sweater for Johnny’s birthday, or a toque for baby Felicia. There were lots of acceptable reasons to knit back in the day, and when I see old people still doing it, it’s just part of their charm, like sending handwritten letters in the mail. When I see young people doing it in thriving urban locations???? I just don’t buy it.
Is this some sort of strange and wonderful renaissance where people have discarded their ‘does everything but scratch my nuts’ mobile devices in exchange for the simple pleasures of an old school hobby? Or is this just some weird extension of hipsterism that I don’t get (not that I got any of it before this)? I think it’s a fabulous thing for the universe, that something like this could actually be ‘coming back’. It’s skillful, crafty, and all of the things that this generation doesn’t seem to be. That’s why I’m having trouble believing that this became cool for the right reasons like it’s practical and creative. I believe that a hot teen vampire must have done it in a movie. That’s the only possible explanation. Am I right?
Whatever the case may be, I saw this 4 times in the same day. Is it the next big thing? Maybe. Is it just some crazy randomness? Possibly. If you want to be on the cutting edge of cool, best to not follow my predictions. I’m full of all sorts of wonderful information, but don’t hitch your wagon to what I think is the next big thing. Also, if I can give any advice, don’t buy into a fad too early. It’s always awesome to say that you were doing ‘whatever’ before everyone else, but if not everyone else ends up doing it, and ‘whatever’ was knitting on the subway??? It might not look as cool as you think.
My favourite example was in Chinatown on the bus. There was a young guy talking to these 3 Chinese chicks (he was white). He had just the right amount of calculated deshevelment to his appearance to pull off that ‘I’m interesting, but not a bum look’. He was charming these girls, and they were eating it up. I could tell that they had just met (they might have been from out-of-town though, and giving him that ‘happy tourist’ flirting), but I was sure he was saying/doing all the right things (based on no audio, but just visual cues as I was listening to my Ipod instead of him). Then in a move that I’m sure he thought was going to put him over the top, he pulled out the knitting he was working on. They started to giggle, I’m sure he thought in a ‘wow this guy is sooo interesting’ way, but to those of us who’d been around the block a few times it was more of a ‘wow this guy is fuckin weird’ way.
The moral of that story is that even if knitting is the next big thing, if you’re a young guy, you have to make sure that everyone is fully aware of how cool knitting is before you make a play like that. It’s like holding an ace which can be the best card in the deck depending on the rules of the game you’re playing, but it can also be a one. My Chinatown guy left the bus without any phone numbers, and I’m pretty sure it’s the knitting that cost him. It was a ballsy, cutting edge move, but not a universally cool one. Maybe in 6 months after this thing takes off a bit better he would have reaped the plentiful rewards that ‘knitting for cool’ had to offer. Not yet. He’s a trailblazer though. I know that for sure! Someday he’ll be able to wear his ‘scarf of Chinatown rejection’ like a hipster badge of honour! I salute him!
November 20th, 2012 at 1:45 am
Guys knitting?! I was going to say…were you on westbound Queen street car? I really do love that part of town but everything and everyone there is f*cking weird.
With regards to Mr. Hipster Chinatown…to an innocent bystander, he may have been a spectacle, but those Chinese girls were eating it up with a spoon. I actually think he probably didn’t ask them for their number. From the sounds of it, I doubt he’s into ladies.
November 20th, 2012 at 5:56 am
Wasn’t Queen west, but not far from there. I think my guy was definitely into the ladies. He just couldn’t close the deal. Having a knit scarf seemed cute to them, but when he revealed that he in fact knit it himself, I could see the situation start to deteriorate. Women want a man that doesn’t knit. I’m almost sure of this.
November 20th, 2012 at 1:12 pm
Its true. Unless a man busts out a pair of knitting needles to stab rapists, most women wouldn`t want to see their man giving old Dorothy-Mae a run for her money or woollen socks.
November 22nd, 2012 at 5:37 am
When my son was 9 years old, he was the only one to sign up for Knitting Camp at his school. The teacher is super passionate about knitting and was willing to teach just 1 student. Teacher turned out to be male and a retired surgeon! Said it was great for dexterity and meditation. My son spent 4 hours everyday for a week learning and loving the art of knitting. Now we knit together. Sometimes, I have to take his knitting away at night so he’ll go to bed. Go figure.
November 23rd, 2012 at 1:44 am
That’s a nice problem to have. Hopefully he too will be a surgeon!
December 4th, 2012 at 5:27 am
I’m a bit of a history buff. In my spare time, I love to read the newspapers in online newspaper archives. (You can find so much interesting history that’s not quite important enough to make the history books.) Anyway, I’ve read in newspapers from the 1930’s through the 1950’s about men knitting. In fact, it was quite common in the old days of the sea, for sailors to knit. Somebody had to make the sweaters, socks, etc. and when you’re sailing with an all-male crew, you had to learn to knit. I think it’s more uncommon now than it was in the past … not that it was ever considered a “male pastime”, but in times past, it wasn’t considered strictly a feminine pastime.
December 4th, 2012 at 11:12 pm
I can see men knitting out of necessity. In this day and age though, there is always an alterior motive.
December 4th, 2012 at 5:27 am
By the way, I’m loving your posts. Great stuff!
December 4th, 2012 at 11:12 pm
Thank you 🙂