This thursday night I joined the BreiwerkWest for a knitting-in-public evening at the TokoMC at the Westergas terrein. It turned out to be a bunch of die-hard knitters and crocheters of all genders and ages. They meet every now and then in a public space to craft together. They also unite together around common goals; one of their first achievements is the covering of one of the bicycle racks in the Westergas-terrain appx. 1 year ago.
More recently the sheep Dolly (polystyrene) had been dressed up and exhibited in the Westergasterrain. Dolly turned out to be so irresistible that she has unfortunately been abducted. As you see here, all gone!
The BreiwerkWest group is right now working on a supersize Picknick blanket that is going to be finished and used for the world-record picknick on saturday 9th of July in Amsterdamse Bos.
Inititives like this Wild-breien or BreiwerkWest demonstrate that crafting has new relevance in our society today. Crafting can be used to unite people, people that do not necessarily know each-other, but they share an interest or passion for crafting. They are going public, no more hiding away in living rooms, now they knit-in-public. I could certainly sense that it felt almost intimidating for some of the other guests in the restaurant, they don't quite know what to make of it. And the goals and objects that they unite around are far away from baby clothes and coasters. Now they make public statements sometimes with political undertones, and most certainly commenting on the state of our society today.
You could almost say that crafting is becoming a new mean of political expression.
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