Rewards
Written by Jon Serrano
Crafters of the world do not get the respect they deserve on the big screen. The public perception of knitting holds a very incomplete picture of the craft, and half the time it’s not even knitting that they see!
First Glance Mistakes
All the fiber arts get lumped together as if when you do one, you do them all. This is obviously not always the case. While inconsistencies in films are abundant, it does feel like they get knit and crochet mixed up more often than they get it right. There is usually knitting on screen but all around them you see crocheted projects. You would think that a set designer would be able to notice these sorts of things. Or at least acknowledge the existence of crochet.
The act of knitting itself is rarely done well in movies (for the times they actually show knitting needles instead of crochet hooks). Hollywood’s favorite technique seems to be the chopstick style. Now I love ramen more than most, but those noodles work a little differently than yarn.
Limited Perception of Crafters
The stereotype for knitters is that they are all old ladies just making sweaters all day long. However, especially in today’s world, fiber arts appeal to people of all ages and genders. Plenty of movies still portray crafting as exclusively feminine and if a man is working on a project, it is for a punchline. It’s the big, hulking man holding tiny knitting needles. Hilarious. Thankfully with the internet boom, there has been more access than ever for anyone to learn how to knit or crochet. This led to a new wave of interest. Pair that with two years of isolation and the face of crafting changes.
What’s Next!
One search on Tik Tok for either knitting or crochet and you will find all young faces. Hundreds of thousands of views, all sorts of fun and innovative projects. The crafting world is ever changing. Hollywood pretty much never consistently got it right, but now we will have more and more crafters to call it out when we see it. And if you have come across this page and have not begun your crafting journey yet, I implore you to try out one of our all inclusive crafting kits. You can find tutorials on our YouTube page and more to get your start. If even I, a 20-something former MMA fighter and personal trainer, can find the joy in crafting, so can you.
Jon has been working at Darn Good Yarn since the winter of 2021 as our video guru. As a personal trainer, he is also the most physically healthy on the marketing team!
