I found something I wrote some time ago (many words, questionable amounts of sense) :
It's an Irish thing really, having a cup of tea when you arrive home. And how often have you arrived in someone else's home where you're greeted by their automatically reaching to put the kettle on? Perhaps it's because there is a comforting something that can only be found in a milky cuppa or maybe it's the tradition in itself that's reassuring. Generations have grown up with it, unconsciously enforcing an act that ties us to our heritage. Country folk know it and the city folk, well, as cosmopolitan as they may appear to be I'm sure that if you were to ask any skinny-cappuccino-with-extra-foam-and-no-chocolate lover, you would find them hard pushed to disagree.
With an increasingly international feel coming over our urban centres we may struggle to be forward focused and look to the future as where we wish to be right now, but is the grass always greener on the other side? What if, bearing the line of tradition in mind, the past is where it really was all at? What if, in this desire to be as far away from where we are right now, we are losing invaluable connections with our own identity? What if we are ignoring our heritage in an attempt to connect with the European masses and to integrate ourselves as part of the "new generation?"
Not to come across as blinded with nostalgia I agree there's nothing wrong with progression, admittedly nobody would ever get anywhere if they were forever looking back, but remaining considerate of what the past has taught us is important. From drinking tea to knitting clothes our Irish history has adopted a 'granny' tag for Celtic Tiger children and it's sad to think that what was once considered a normal way of life has been labelled as out of date and hence shoved to the back of the shelf for so long. Which is why I' glad to see one of the side effects of the recession has been a return to the 'make, mend and do' attitude as well as a renewed interest in homemade crafts.
For many people learning to knit was a formative part of their childhood. Whether it was learned from an older relative or int he classroom in school, we all did it and most of us probably have a wobbly scarf or a stuffed santa somewhere in the attic. And now that knitting is 'cool' again we're no longer shy to say we loved it. With knitting groups popping up around the place it has become resurrected as a social pastime, bringing together people with a shared bond through a common interest. Perhaps we aren't reverting to the extremes of stitching our own socks, but it's a start; the step toward preventing the extinction of one of the central elements of Irish heritage. It connects us to the land and it connects us to the satisfaction of self sufficiency which is so easily forgotten in today's fast paced living environmnet. So even if the thought of approaching a pattern for an Aran sweater seems too mammoth a task I would encourage you to consider picking up your needles and casting on a few plain purl rows and see if it will reel you in.
So that was the long way around my saying I think knitting is important. It's not up there on the list of things I think everybody should know how to do incase there's a minor emergency like swim for example, but I still think it's pretty important. And for other reasons too, such as its sustainability. Maybe being from the west coast it's easier for me to get my hands on locally sourced wool, but I'm sure most places stock raw materials produced in their own country if not their own county. So in this way it's not running up a carbon footprint in flying across the world and it certainly isn't creating any pollution from the chimney in your living room, meaning it's excellent for the environment.
And on the point of eco friendliness, there is a British company called
'The North Circular' which was set up by Lily Cole and Katherine Poulton along with Alice Ashby (Central Saint Martin's Graduate)and Isobel Davies. Made with the wool from sheep in a North Yorkshire sanctuary the North Circular pieces are knit by a team that mainly consists of elderly English ladies whom you can read about on their website, which I think brings a really nice personal touch. And the company gets even more ethical - they use a minimum amount of packaging AND the sheep live off organic grass AND the dying of the wool is done locally with natural dyes.
The brand, whose mottos is "knitted by grannies, supported by supermodels", began with hats and gloves but are rapidly expanding to include more modern knitwear pieces such as the recently popular snoods and they plan to develop a ready-to-wear collection in the future. So there you have it - the North Circular: a good way to feel fuzzy and warm on the inside and out!
