The soundtrack to most of my recent knitting has been “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century” by Thomas L. Friedman. For those not familiar, the book is about globalization, the forces that created it, and how it is continuing to shape the world we live in today, and it’s infinitely interesting. At times, I’m not sure how much I agree, as Friedman glosses over a lot of tough issues surrounding global labor and education issues… but his arguments for acceptance of the globalized condition and what steps need to be taken in order to survive as an individual in this world are pretty solid.
I can’t stop thinking about how art and knitting, my main pursuits these days, fit into this flat world picture. The resurgence of knitting has often been attributed to the internet, to the availability of finding local and worldwide knitting communities to step in and teach what our mothers and grandmothers didn’t have time (in an increasingly competitive, coed and global world) to show us. We have videos, photos, online knitting magazines and individual blogs showing and talking us through every basic stitch and technique out there – and all for free. Those patterns which aren’t free are available for immediate download.
And here I am knitting socks with yarn from Germany (Opal Prisma with some of my leftover Hundertwasser scraps), which was mailed to me from Indiana (SimplySockYarn.com), using KnitPicks needles (which I assume aren’t made in America, but I don’t know where), listening to a recording of a book written by a man from Bethesda, Maryland (actually quite close), which was downloaded to my Chinese-manufactured iPod, and which I hear through Brooklyn-made headphones, mailed to me from a place in Montana. And now I’m uploading photos to Flickr, and writing this blog entry, all so people from all around the world can see.
Mr. Friedman, eat your heart out.
Anyway, I am really curious – what do you knitters think about knitting in a global world? Whats the first thing you think of when you hear “globalization” and “knitting” in the same sentance? Anyone else read this book and had similar thoughts?
I definately don’t see this as a negative thing – if it weren’t for Friedman’s flattening of the world, I don’t think I would have ever learned to knit in the first place, and I think that’s true for many people. But I think I’m just starting to realize, there is a lot more potential to this than just posting photos and talking about the mods I’ve done on a particular pattern. The Dulaan Project is only one example of many, but maybe the more well-known… I really can’t stop thinking about this. Things are a-brewing…
5 Comments
This post is awesome.
I still kind of feel that knitting can represent the opposite of globalization too at the same time. Like when I see people who live near farms and they spin the wool from the local animals.
Another point to consider when discussing the two terms together would be like how Manos supports the women’s business in Uruguay. Our global knitting economy can join together to support each other on multiple levels.
Are you stalking my bibliography?
I really enjoyed the book and would read it again… it’s some pretty scary stuff but the important argument of the book is that this stuff is happening, so deal with it.
What you are finding is not globalization — but global localization. You’re able to curate your own experience, and you know where your headphones were made, where your yarn came from. The distribution network is flattened, and you can learn about and purchase these materials that would have been otherwise inaccessible.
I think it’s a wonderful thing – I learned to knit from the ‘net, obtained nearly all my stash from Ebay and various on line yarn stores. I would be lost without it!
Hi! I just found your blog through Flickr. I love it! I was looking at your Snicket socks; they are beautiful. So is your artwork!
About globalization and knitting…I think people are in a way trying to revert to crafting as a way of finding meaning and establishing connections in a world that is increasingly alienating and devoid of humanity. I agree that globalization helps bring us closer together…yet it is also part of the larger mechanism that separates us.
Interesting, isn’t it? It’s the accessibility of goods and information the internet provides that is so amazing to me. Travelled all my life, reasonably exotic travel. The work that went into planning a trip thirty years ago compared to now, when at the touch on a keyboard, everything is revealed but the smells.
BTW, Knitpicks needles say made in India!