I love knitting - not because I think it's subversive to take back traditionally feminine things, not because I find it to be a comforting coping mechanism, but because it's a fun thing to do with my hands that gives me another outlet for my creativity - AND helps me make relatively cheap gifts that don't buy into the consumer mentality. You know, DIY kinda stuff.
Plus, the knitting trend on my particular college campus definitely includes guys. When I took a student taught knitting workshop, it was over 50% male.
I think it's important to disassociate knitting with stay-at-home femaleness (and being an outspoken young college woman who happens to knit is a step in that direction), but it's also a mistake to refuse to engage in a fun, relaxing practice just because you fear it would make the wrong statement. There are just bigger battles out there.

It's one more tally in the Roni's not that kewl column. ;)

seriously, I think it's awesome. I use to knit and craft as a girl. I use to think then that it was too girly, but I loved it. I was really wrapped up into trying NOT to be girly. I stopped when my mom when back to school and we didn't have the time or money to hit Franks Crafts (RIP) every weekend. I love that it's back in 'fashion'. I can't wait to break out my door wreath accessories for Halloween!

I noticed a comeback starting before 9/11 actually, as knitting and traditionally female crafts began getting notice in magazines like Bust. It does make sense for a kind of revival to really take off after 9/11, I guess, because it is a creative outlet and knitting or crocheting are almost like a kind of meditation.

However, one time I was crocheting at a music show and some young kids picked up and moved away from me because I guess I was being too square for them.

I think there is this opportunity for female bonding, but I also totally support these traditional crafts because they work with my other politics as well. If you are knitting a sweater or scarf, you are not using sweatshop labor. If you know how to spin, then you don't need to buy yarn from the store.

If women were permitted to only knit or crochet, I would have an objection, but this is yet another avenue for creativity that is also functional. I have a gorgeous blanket that was crocheted for me, and a purse that was handmade. I know who made these. I know that people weren't making these objects in factories that force workers to take pregnancy tests. I'm not sure how knitting supports the war.

My grandma taught me to knit a very, very, very, very long time ago and it was something that I let fall away until recently. After the fascination with the frat boy t-shirts I thought that nothing could be funnier than wearing a chick magnet t-shirt while knitting. Knitting has always fascinated me for a number of reasons. As an African American I remember stories of grandmothers who made soap, made culinary masterpieces out of scraps, and did a variety of fiber arts, all out of necessity.

As I grow older (and probably because of the fact that there are few folks of color around who share my history/experiences) I find myself drawn more and more to my heritage. It is almost a spiritual thing to me. I have been reading about the Self-Improvement Club, a group of black women who knit for black soldiers and wrote them letters of encouragement. Not a "keep the home fires burning" thing, but rather another way of combating the effects of racism and oppression. You can bet your boots (all puns intended) that those nice home knit socks being knit by the general American public were not being earmarked for black soldiers.

Knitting is, to say the very least, DEEP!

I don't think the increase in crafting has anything to do with 9/11. Crafting supplies have been an enormously lucrative industry in the US for decades. There have always been trends in what's popular.

As for its being a reversion to "women's work" - no. I don't think hobby knitting and sewing are "work." It's optional. Before the mid 1800s, many women had to knit and sew or else they and their families wouldn't have any clothing. Nowadays, clothing is mass-produced and inexpensive, and hand-made items are more expensive than ready-made both in terms of time and money. So knitting and sewing are luxuries in a sense.

Second, if I recall correctly, the author of that article made a point of how knitting was a stay-at-home activity, but also mentioned that she frequently saw people knitting on the subway. She needs to make up her mind! (But I'm on the side of saying that knitting has nothing to do with staying at home. I took up crocheting partly so I would have something to do at parties, where I tend to feel socially inept otherwise.)

I don't think that crafting is communal or empowering, in and of itself, either. It can be part of a social gathering of any type; said social gathering can be consciousness raising or not. It depends on how one goes about it.

I personally find it very rewarding to create things with my own hands; it gives me a sense of skill and accomplishment; and I think those are good things to promote. But of course different people have different reactions.

Thanks for all of your responses! I finally got around to answering it myself; my response is up here.

Finally got my response written up here

I've just started knitting. For me, it's a return to when I was a child and had sweaters, mittens and hats hand knit for me by my grandmother. Having a child and a years maternity leave has prompted this. Perhaps it is a return to home fires burning times, but it has nothing to do with 9/11 for me. Or perhaps it's a need to be creative since it's harder to do websites now and beading is out of the question with a grabby baby. I can knit with a baby on the floor, I can't figure out why a table isn't working in IE with the same baby. It's a less involved version of design, as I can put it down after a row is done or sit on the floor with him as opposed to webwork (I just had to fix a problem on meowpower.org that required my husband having the baby and keeping him calmed down).
Perhaps it is traditional. But for me, it's an outlet for creativity.

The Italians seem to have a recurring problem with military operations like this. They sure have long experience in how to pay ransoms, witness the ongoing business back in Italy. But this thing about co-ordinating military operations is beyond them. In WWII, in Libya, their chief of the Italian airforce, General Italo Balbo, was going to make an inspection. However he failed to co-ordinate his arrival witht the Army anti-aircraft batteries protecting the Italian Air Base in Libya. His own Army shot him out of the air and killed him! So the intelligence officer wass following a tradition in the Italian military snafus- never co-ordinate wirh your allies.