Crochet and Knitting News: This Week’s Hottest Links in Crochet Art, Fashion, Health Benefits, Events, and More

Last week we started sharing weekend craft news. Every week there are just so many inspiring things happening in the yarn world. It’s hard to keep up with them all. Therefore, we thought that you might find it helpful to see a weekly roundup of some of the best stuff that might have escaped your attention. Here’s this past week’s crochet and knitting news.

It’s Time For the World Heavy Metal Knitting Competition

It’s almost time for the annual Heavy Metal Knitting Competition. Yep, you read that right. This year’s event is virtual due to COVID-19. It takes place on July 9, 2021.

Crafting to Heal

Good Morning America shared an inspiring video about Jacqui Fink. She’s an extreme knitters who uses arm knitting and huge needles to make big, chunky knits. But specifically, she uses knitting to cope with anxiety, depression, grief, and getting through tough times. It’s a beautiful video that shares how crafting heals us.

In related news, “according to a survey published in The British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 81 percent of respondents described feeling happier after a session of needlework.”

The Cost of Fast Fashion and Crochet as a Trend

Every spring and summer we see a lot of crochet hit the runways. It filters down to the fast fashion stores. This article provides important insight into why this is problematic. Crochet can’t be done by a machine; it’s a handcrafted art form. As we all know, it takes time and effort and skill. And yet, fast fashion stores are selling these items at a discount. Sometimes, it’s not “real crochet” but instead a machine lace. But sometimes it’s really crocheted. And that likely means that someone is getting paid very little for their work. So, it’s important to know where your clothes come from. If you’re not making your own crochet, then make sure you’re buying it from slow fashion makers!

More crochet and knit fashion news:

• Australian-made crochet and knitwear taking over Instagram (some great accounts to follow)
• Trending knitwear designers. (Note that hand-knits can be problematic for the same reasons as crochet. However, knitting can be done by machine whereas crochet cannot.)

What’s Old Is New Again

Victorian Knitting Manuals, published in the 1830s, are now newly available online. What an amazing resource for knitting history. This article includes an interview with someone from the University of Southampton’s Knitting Reference Library. Yes, there’s a Knitting Reference Library out there! The American Craft Council also has a large craft library.

Crochet and Knitting News: Art

My Modern Met did an article about an amigurumi artist’s cute bonsai tree. When I first saw the article, it said the tree was knitted. However, they must have gotten a bunch of message, because they’ve updated the title to correctly say it’s crocheted.

If you’re a fan of amigurumi then you might want to check out the AmiguruMay hashtag / challenge on Instagram this month. In related news, ABC10 featured amigurumi artist Prescilla Ann Fajardo.

More crochet and knitting art news:

• In New Zealand, a couple if building a crochet wharenui. A wharenui is a traditional Maori communal house. Of course, it’s not traditionally made of crochet. However, they’re bringing bright colors to this “House of Joy”.
• A colorful crochet art piece created during the pandemic now hangs at a library. It’s the first stop in a creative scavenger hunt.

Inspiring People Who Crochet and Knit

• A school janitor crocheted roses for each kid to give to their mom for Mother’s Day
• Mayor recognizes kids’ crochet club
• Women prisons give back by crocheting teddy bears for children in hospitals; in an unrelated news article, a female prisoner explains how crochet helps them
• College students crochet and vent to de-stress
• Aged care home residents craft scarves to donate to charity plus to pass time during pandemic
• A 95 year old woman knit more than 4500 hats in her daughter’s honor. Similarly, a 96-year old woman has spent the past ten years knitting premature baby clothes.

Pandemic Crafting

Lots of people turned to crafting during the pandemic. It connects us to our communities while keeping our hands busy. It gives us something to do during long hours of streaming TV. In particular, Gen Z started crafting a lot, giving rise to the term “sew bros” for cool young guys who knit, crochet, quilt and more. Many of these kids are sharing their works on TikTok.

Other related crochet and knitting news:

• Glamour did an article about how crochet is making a comeback. Honestly, it’s a little ridiculous. For example, it cites Bella Hadid as among the first to make this trend new again. Of course, many of us have been crocheting this whole time (other celebrities included; there are lots of celebrity knitters as well including Tom Hanks and Sarah Jessica Parker.) But it does show more about how crochet is trending among Gen Z and millennials.
• British Olympic diver Tom Daley brought knitting and crochet to pass the time during Olympic quarantine. UPDATE: LEARN ALL ABOUT TOM DALEY KNITS!
• Swiss Turn to Sewing and Knitting During Pandemic as Sales Soar
• Hobbies, like knitting, have helped Wisconsites cope with COVID

Other Crochet and Knitting News

Here are a few of the other crochet and knitting news articles you might take interest in from the past week:

• Feature Article with Crochet Now Maker. She started a crochet business in India a few years ago. Now she wants to help others do the same.
• Mint Lounge suggested some crafts you could try with mom for Mother’s Day. Crochet was one of them. However, also check out the others which include shibori and kantha stitch.
• A new yarn shop opened in Bedford, VA. That reminds us, don’t forget to pop on over to The Hook Nook and congratulate her on opening her new brick-and-mortar yarn store in Salem, OR.
• Knit and crochet are useful in spreading the joy of math
• New book review of Unravelling Canada: A Knitting Odyssey

Make Sure You Didn’t Miss

In addition to this crochet and knitting news, over here on the Marly Bird blog, we shared:

• What Would Frida Do? Applying Frida Kahlo’s Creativity to Your Knit and Crochet
• 28 Free Picnic Patterns to Knit and Crochet
• 41 Free Wedding Patterns to Crochet and Knit
• 16 Free Golf Patterns to Knit and Crochet
• How to Knit 1×1 Ribbing in the Round (BiCrafty Boot Camp)
• 10 Free Knit and Crochet Spring Shawls Patterns
• Great Deal: One Year of Creativebug Classes for Just $25
• May the 4th Be With You: A Collection of Free Crochet Star Wars Patterns – there’s also a cute related story in the news about an Illinois couple whose child, born on May the 4th, donned a crochet Star Wars hat. They named him Luke.