RadioOpenSource is a smart and wide-ranging podcast and blog with host Christopher Lydon. The concept was to create a public radio show that would exist as a podcast, radio broadcast and blog, and that it would hinge on the conversation between listeners and producers.  I worked for the show's blog for a summer while I was in grad school in 2005, and it was the type of work experience where one's head explodes on a daily basis — in a good way, with tons of new ideas. One of my first posts on the RadioOpenSource blog was about a knitting Craftivist named Grant Neufeld, and now that I think about it, this was around the same time I first heard about Etsy. And since we're doing the Storque Podcasting series, I wanted to re-post the piece below.

I recently contacted Chris Lydon to see if he'd be interested in podcasting a RadioOpenSource show live from the Virtual Labs as part of our Storque Podcasting series. He's into it! Ever the brave frontiersman, Chris — along with Berkman Center for Internet and Society fellow David Winer — is credited with being one of the "Neil Armstrongs" of podcasting. So I guess that would make a radio show from the Virtual Labs some sort of space station.

Our introduction to knitting activism was through Grant Neufeld’s photo set on flickr. 

Residing in Calgary, Grant has been an activist for most of his life, and a few years ago, he become a knitter. I spoke with Grant on the phone and he told me how knitting and activism first intersected in his life.

While brainstorming protest maneuvers for the 2000 World Petroleum Congress in Calgary, one of Grant’s fellow protesters mentioned a European activist group that had incorporated knitting into their demonstration. Grant was impressed.

"The protesters spent the day standing on the corner knitting. At rush hour, they had knit together a huge net and they threw it across the intersection, stopping the traffic. It was such a strong image. Forceful but peaceful. That sort of contrast was very exciting for me. These kinds of jarring contrasts can get people to think.

Although I started the Revolutionary Knitting Circle in 2000, I finally put in the time necessary to properly get the hang of knitting in March, 2002. Since then, I’ve done many projects ranging from scarves, hats and socks to peace armbands and protest banners. I’m also an organizer of the Calgary Knitting Meetup."

Grant Neufeld, Flickr profile

Grant’s Revolutionary Knitting Circle website promotes peace and the right to protest. That exciting contrast of which Grants speaks not only serves to catch people’s attention but it also makes members of the Revolutionary Knitting Circle approachable.

"Instead of me trying to go out and engage people, when I’m knitting in public, people come up to me and ask me what I’m knitting. I tell them it’s for a peace banner and it’s a way of starting a conversation that’s not just 'how’s the weather?' ends up being about political or community issues."

Grant feels that the mainstream media in Calgary has not been very kind in its coverage of protests. But, he points out, “It’s really hard to see someone who’s kntting as a scary terrorist.” Many people who might have political views in line with Grant’s often feel uncomfortable or scared at protests. Revolutionary Knitting Circles are a way of being less in-your-face or easing into full-on demonstrations. According to Grant, knitting is helping to brake down the image of protesters as “hooligans destroying property.”

Is there something about knitting today that is inherently political? It seems like knitting with other people instantly elevates the activity to something greater than the sum of its parts. Perhaps not necessarily political, but at least community oriented, knitting stands as a great example of social networking.

If you care to get involved, you can find a Knitting Meetup in your area. Meetup.com is a website that facilitates real-life social activities, activism, or in this case, knitting circles, according to your geographical area. For instance, I just put in my zip code and found that there’s a Boston Knitting Meetup Group with 260 members. Knitting.meetup.com also informed me that United Knitting Meetup Day is the third Wednesday of every month. And “It’s big. It’s everywhere. It’s soon.”

[microRevolt has a free web service that converts images you upload into patterns]

I find that both these knitting activities—political activism and taking the time to meet up with other knitters—both relate back to what Lisa Williams said in her post. Activists like Grant take up knitting in direct response to the industrialization of the textile industry as it relates to global economic policies. However, Lisa points out the irony in this.

"Knitting at this time is very definitely a luxury — it’s impossible for me to make a sweater for less than I could buy it for… Women were the first targets of outsourcing and globalization — clothing, for example, was one of the first big markets for industrialization…Of course, making stuff for yourself has a value that’s not quantifiable in market terms."

Lisa Williams, post on Open Source blog

Grant admits that the materials are expensive these days. But he sees knitting as a decision to “slow down” and a conscious choice not to buy into corporate entities. There is a history of textile protest: Gandhi weaving his own clothes in protest of British control of the Indian textile industry being the most notable example. A Marxist reading of knitting would cast it as a reaction to the co-option of leisure time as a resource diverted to more capitalist consumption. Lisa also shares with us the term “time porn.” Meetup.com could be seen as flying the face of time porn because you’re actually taking the time: to meet new people, to be part of a community, to do something. What this comes down to is how we, citizens in post-capitalist Western society, spend our time.

[Sonia Eemnes, blog da soni@]

And knitting seems to slow time down. Or at least, makes it pass more smoothly. Grant explained to me how knitting has actually changed the quality of time at activism meetings and events.

"They [meetings and events] tend to get really intense and talk heavy. But with the knitting, it’s calming and I find I listen better. Other people have commented on how meetings are calmer with a knitter present. Sometimes meetings get frustrating because you feel like you’re not accomplishing anything, but with this, at least you get some knitting done. It makes things nicer."

Steal this Sweater wants you to “Get all cozy and radical”

microRevolt has a free web service that converts images you upload into patterns to be used as anti-sweatshop activism

Flickr’s Crazy for Knitting group shares photos of their handiwork [see the ones we’ve tagged “radioopensource” for our favorites]

About.com, the web’s largest archive of free knitting patterns

Barb Hunt’s antipersonnel knitting, anti-war art

More coverage of MicroRevolt on the Storque too.

For me, this was the first time blogging, radio, and crafting intersected. What was your first experience making radio? I was a shy college radio dj! Any pirate radio folks in the house? Comment below and share your favorite things to listen to as well! Are there any craftivism podcasts you know of?