Welcome to the website for Juliana Block's final project/capstone project for her Communications and Media Studies Degree at Goucher College. While here, you will delve deep and further your understanding of the online knitting community. You will learn about the historical aspects of both the Worldwide Web as it relates to this online community, and the history of knitting, and craftivism. This study also includes research into the contemporary online knitting community, and how it has influenced others during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are the key concepts and theoretical frameworks in order to further my knowledge and connection between course discussion and this topic.
The final analysis within this project is that, though it is usually just seen as a hobby, knitting has actually been involved in many political events. Through the research on craftivism and current-day examples, it seems as if knitting activism would not have been as widely successful, had it not been for the presence of the worldwide web. Women and children used the art of knitting during wars, as a form of activism, without access to, or influence through anything like the WWW. However, in the setting of wars, knitting became activism to provide support and clothing to soldiers. Ideas like the PussyHat and the Wombs On Washington would not have achieved as much participation on a global scale without the impact of circulation online. For example, the creators of the PussyHat pattern published it on Ravelry, not realizing it would circulate on the internet.
In conclusion, knitting has a much wider influence on different communities, and it all comes together with the formation of cyberspace in order to make it a more accessible craft for all. It was a craft that was picked up by thousands of people during this very unusual past year of the Pandemic, many of whom created social media platforms for their own journey of growth. Those who were interviewed shared how they agree that the Pandemic opened up a pandora's box for knitting, creating an online environment that allows people to further develop their skills and expand their own networking.