Just to be clear, I didn’t knit this, because I don’t have magical skills. This incredibly beautiful rainbow scarf that is full of amazing detail that my cam just won’t pick up was knitted for me by a very good friend after I kind of guilted her by saying that I had never in my life had anything knitted for me, and after expecting to end up with a pair of scratchy socks (which I would still have loved dearly) this was the result several months of hard work later.
So, knitting! No longer just the preserve of sweet little old ladies who cook and clean, knitting has become recognised as increasingly badass of recent years; I tend to think that it actually was all along, but the rest of the world has only just caught up with this. I mean the tools of the trade are two large pointed spikes, so really, how could it not be?
Anyway, I know that lots of Goths are into crafting, making their own clothes and repurposing things, and I reckon there must be a reasonable amount of Goth knitters out there as well. The interwebs would seem to support this theory, with Pinterest boards such as this Goth and steampunk crochet and knitting one, and this punk, rock and Goth Ravelry board. For the uninitiated, Ravelry is the web home of crafting of all types, with a bajillion sub forums and sections (wait, how is bajillion a word that my spell check is ok with, and yet “goth” with a small G gets flagged?!) for all kinds of interests.
Now, I still can’t knit, but my brave and intrepid gal pal who made my awesome rainbow scarf for me still hasn’t given up hope of getting me going. While three sheets to the wind in the pub the other night, she let me have a little go at doing a knit on her latest project, probably against her better judgement, and I learned that the basics of it are actually fairly simple, and yet bizarrely hypnotic in the way of the biscuit tin; you’re going to stop in a minute, but just a couple more first…
If you’ve got better skills with the pointy sticks than me, you might want to check out this Gothic Knits book on Amazon, or this awesome Baby Goth Knits Facebook page for patterns and ideas.
In the meantime, my mate has promised to set me up with a pair of sticks and some pink wool so that I can maul something out at home without risking her excellent and intricate craftsmanship, so I’ll no doubt be posting frustrated updates about that as I go along too.
Are you a knitting Goth? Show me what you’ve made!
