It seems as if the “community” is not in a state of well-being unless there is some issue to be debated and to get angry about. Yes, yet another issue has come to the fore in the knitting community. I am deliberately using knitting in this context as the issue arouse around a knitting pattern. But all of this applies to any yarn craft. I am not going to say what the issue was because, in reality, that is not what is important. What is important is that string wranglers have to be angry about something. If you are not up-in-arms about THE issue then YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.
When did knitting and community first go together and why do we think there is a community? We are social animals and like to be around people with a common interest, we interact on the internet with other knitters, we can communicate with pattern designers and yarn dyers, the commonality of working with yarn. We are part of a world-wide group of people and we are good. But are we? Knitters are people and people are not the same as each other. Why do you hang out with this person and not that one? So how can you expect to like or get along with all knitters just because you manipulate string with two needles? In other words do not be fooled by the idea of a community. It’s a bunch of disparate individuals with a common interest.
Which brings me back to the title. There is no knitting
community – where is the feeling of fellowship? [i]
The community is a few people being angry over a perceived slight, the band wagoners
joining in and a few brave voices putting their heads above the parapet to say
this is wrong.
What I have seen over the past couple of years. We must
support individuals big companies are bad; now it is buy that cheap yarn: support
pattern designers they deserve a living wage; now it is patterns cost too much,
we want this, this and this included and the pattern to cost less.
How dare you disagree with us we are right and it is our right! But when you are always angry how do knitters decide what is important and what is someone taking their bad day out on someone? In other words the issue is not even going to be looked at by the majority. It just turns into a fight between the loud minority saying this is bad and the loud minority saying nothing is bad. There is no room for discourse about why something might need to be changed, people are put off by the never ending issues and any semblance of community disappears.
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