I have a confession to make: I have never knitted before in my life. It’s one of those things that I’ve never been exposed to: my family members aren’t knitters, my friends aren’t knitters, and we weren’t forced to learn this at school. We learned how to sew a button in, though! Very useful! 

So, I will be falling upon experts of the craft or those who’ve been mesmerized by its simplistic complexity and the alchemy that turns a regular piece of string into an artistic expression of fashion. Or a warm cozy blanket at the very least… 

One of those experts is Whitney Cant, who’d been sharing her knitting creations with the world since 2015. As a plus size knitter, she’s been bringing attention to the importance of size-inclusivity in knitting patterns, and encouraging others to share their knits, regardless of their size, as well as promoting self-love and body positivity. 

She got into knitting thanks to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, as she loved the vest the main character, Katniss, wore, yet couldn’t find one readily available. So what did she do—make one herself, of course! Ever since that first project, knitting has become a creative outlet and a means of crafting garments that fit her perfectly. 

When asked what the knitting process is like, she laughed: “It can honestly feel like herding cats sometimes!” She proceeded to describe the different ways knitters take on projects. “I’m a monogamous knitter, which means I work on one pattern at a time and don’t start anything new until I finish it. However, I’m in the minority—most knitters have multiple projects going on at the same time, but that is too chaotic for me, so I prefer to keep things simple with just one pattern.” 

Although knitting may seem to be a purely physical process of moving about needles and pieces of yarn, it can also be a beautifully artistic and therapeutic practice. 

Robbin Derry, an associate professor at the University of Lethbridge, believes that “the act of knitting is an opportunity to create and express ideas visually rather than verbally, to learn from our senses, to engage in active loving even while at work, to inspire others by actions and beauty.” 

In other words, the world of knitting opens up doors for deeper insights and self-understanding than just what is beyond the yarn. The craft of knitting, thus, has a multitude of purposes: from the construction of warm and cozy garments to the construction of a more self-confident, more generous, and calmer self. 

Robbin argues that the process and products of knitting may become “the outward expression of attitudes, emotions, and aspirations, well before these are articulated in words.” In simpler terms, what we carry inside of us is easier to come face-to-face with when we’re working on a creative project, requiring us to work together with the one person we argue with the most—ourselves. 

“I have experienced and described knitting as performance art, as active loving, and as an expression of strongly held values,” states Robbin, portraying the craft as a means of making sense of the world. “Reflecting on my adventures with yarn and needles, it feels like I am knitting my life into one integrated fabric,” she continues. 

“When we knit, we create a row of loops and then build another row of loops on top of those and keep going until we have a finished garment. When we live, we loop the relationships, moments, activities of our lives together; pile them on top of each other, creating links, making abrupt turns occasionally. Starting anew, and then sewing it onto the section we already had, we continue through to the end.” 

For Whitney, it’s done wonders to her mental health. “I have minor anxiety that spikes when I’m in certain situations, and the physical act of knitting helps me alleviate that anxiety so much, either during the situations or immediately afterwards,” she said. “The creative side of knitting helps stimulate my mind and helps me just have fun in my spare time.”

“I wouldn’t have the self-confidence I have now without knitting, and I desperately want other plus-sized women to feel as confident as I do, and to normalize sharing bodies that look like mine because we are ALL beautiful,” she continued.

Although it seems that knitters usually form an emotional connection to the craft, the fact remains that the traditions and techniques of knitting have been passed from generation to generation. What that means is that knitting is a deep-rooted part of our culture. 

Rebecca Elaine Schuiling argues that the artists who use knitting as a medium are “part of an ancient lineage of women around the globe who have transformed fibers into clothing to protect their families for tens of thousands of years.”

With the power to create comes a great responsibility. Does life imitate art far more than art imitates life? It’s a philosophical debate my straightforward brain cannot even begin to fathom. I understand the interconnection of both—one is not whole without the other—and the fact that soft colorful socks make me happy.  

Whitney has some thoughts on that debate, however. “I think knitting can be a form of artistic expression, but it’s really a craft with a purpose that has been passed down through generations of knitters, mostly women. Knitting is primarily about making something functional—yes it helps if it’s also beautiful, but it’s more important that it’s wearable and useful. I don’t think you can clearly say whether it’s art imitating life or life imitating art because it was never meant to be art in the first place. It’s capable of being art, but that’s not its true purpose.”  

Knitting is a living tradition, yet in modern times, it’s become more of a meditative act. “The notion of actively disengaging from the technologically saturated world is appealing to many artists,” Rebecca explains. “By engaging in a slow process of creation like knitting, artists feel connected to the medium through its therapeutic qualities.” 

The repetitive motions, much like a mantra, the feel of the yarn in the hand, and the sound of the clicking of the needles are soothing to the soul. Rebecca argues that we can take back control over our daily lives by engaging in a process that has a long production time, such as knitting. 

Many scholars believe that knitting as an art form surpasses the powers of paint and marble because of its association with everyday life. Peter Stallybrass states “Cloth … [is] powerfully associated with memory, or to put it more strongly, cloth is memory.” Knitted fabrics can be understood by many, bringing art to the regular day of regular human beings, doing their most regular things. 

Buying a bunch of yarn, then trying to read a knitting pattern can be pretty intimidating, yet one should remember that there are a lot of resources available to help guide you through. Whitney has 3 key pieces of advice: Use YouTube for tutorials (she recommends Very Pink Knits), find patterns on Ravelry, and keep trying! 

“I knitted my first sweater pattern after less than a year of knowing how to knit. It was a complete failure. So were the next three sweaters I knitted. I didn’t knit a successful sweater until the fifth one I made, and I still have that sweater and wear it all the time,” she said. Practice makes perfect, after all!  

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk on knitting! And a big thank you to Whitney for sharing all her insight with us! Hope it was helpful or, at the very least, interesting. I definitely had a blast diving deep into it! For now, please enjoy the rest of this colorful list and refer to the links all the way back in the introduction for more crafty goodness! I bid you a good day and happy scrolling!