Millennial Craft-Makers Embrace Arm Knitting

Millennial Craft-Makers Embrace Arm Knitting

 

Forearms Take Place of Knitting Needles to Produce Chunky Yarn Creations

 

By Rachel Dodes in the Wall Street Journal

When it comes to knitting, Lydia Schoenbein thought she had seen it all. The 73-year-old retired nursing-home supervisor from Morton, Ill., learned to knit and crochet when she was growing up in Germany and can make everything from socks and shawls to cable-knit sweaters.

So when her 22-year-old granddaughter, Carly Hill, visited and showed off her own creation—a crude-looking, ropelike cream scarf—"I was flabbergasted, to tell you the truth," recalls Ms. Schoenbein. The accessory hadn't exactly been handmade. It was the product of a new cultural yarn: arm knitting.

An increasingly popular activity among younger do-it-yourself enthusiasts, arm knitting uses the forearms in lieu of knitting needles.

The resulting scarves and blankets feature rows of loops that are 2.5" to 4" wide, depending on the diameter of a given knitter's arm. Owing to the large, holey rows, an entire project can be completed in less than 30 minutes—a fraction of the time needed to whip up a scarf using knitting needles.

Arm knitting combines several things that are appealing to millennials: crafts projects, chunky knitwear (featured on the fall 2013 runways), social media and instant gratification. It just so happens that a popular item to make is a so-called infinity scarf—a circular accessory that slips over the head.

Handily, the hobby doesn't require a kindly elder to show novices the ropes. Unlike traditional knitting, which has been passed down from generation to generation, the arm knitting craze has spread via technology.

"I learned how to knit and crochet from my grandma," says Ms. Hill, a substitute teacher from Chandler, Ariz. "I learned how to arm knit from the Internet."

While the yarn cage appearance of arm-knit items may not have universal appeal, there is demonstrable demand. Currently there are about 300 boutiques selling arm-knit scarves on Etsy.com, the online marketplace that promotes handmade goods. Most go for under $50.

Not everybody is convinced that the arm-knit aesthetic has staying power. "It seems like a thing for kids in a rush," says Rita Bobry, the proprietor of a well-known Manhattan knitting-supply boutique, Downtown Yarns. "It's probably not an enduring tradition."

Yet the trend has legs. Even folks at the Knitting Guild Association, a Zanesville, Ohio-based nonprofit dedicated to knitting education, are embracing it. "Our staff members often gather at lunch with socks on our needles or baby blankets," says program coordinator Debby Johnston. This year, she says, they are meeting to arm knit scarves for quick Christmas gifts instead.

Many arm knitters say they picked up the technique from a video tutorial that has been disseminated on Pinterest, the social networking platform popular among crafters. Shot by Amanda Bassetti, a part-time nanny in Uncasville, Conn., known for her blog SimplyMaggie.com, the 10-minute video goes through the entire scarf-making process. It begins with "casting on," with a slipknot on the right arm, then shows how to create rows of stitches, looping them from one arm to the other. Thus far, Ms. Bassetti's tutorial has been viewed about 500,000 times on YouTube, earning her $1,400 in advertising revenue from Google for the month of November alone.

Having so many comrades in arms "has been quite overwhelming," says Ms. Bassetti, 25. She has received so much feedback from viewers that she posted a follow-up video—"Arm Knitting: Your Questions Answered"—to respond to some of her acolytes' most pressing concerns. Among them: what to do if one has to use the restroom while in the midst of a project.

"You can always just move the stitches to one arm. That way you have another free arm to pick up the balls of yarn and go about doing what you need to do," she says.

Chloe Vignola, an 19-year-old college freshman from Wasilla, Alaska, threw up her hands in frustration after two failed attempts at arm knitting last April, during which she watched Ms. Bassetti's video tutorial. On Twitter, she posted a picture of herself shrouded in an unruly cocoon of gray yarn. The caption read, "Currently a representation of my arm knitting skills and life skills."

After untangling herself and taking some deep breaths, Ms. Vignola eventually figured it out. Ms. Bassetti's tutorial "makes it look so easy," she says. "But arm knitting takes a lot of resilience."

Indeed, Jessica Morgan, co-founder of the Go Fug Yourself celebrity fashion blog, says the look indicates that the makers must be "very resourceful."

"Whoever figured out how to knit with just her arms is going to do way better than I will once the zombie apocalypse comes," says Ms. Morgan.

The call to arm knitting most likely came from Italy—home to master textile weavers like the Missoni fashion family. While it is impossible to finger just one person for the trend, the technique's rise can be traced to an Italian-born aspiring designer named Andrea Brena. Last year, the 25-year-old student turned arm knitting into performance art for a project, called "Knitted Army," that he presented at a design festival in Berlin. In a sort of reverse Edward Scissorhands routine, he used strips of high-end fabric coiled around the length of his arm to create beanbag chairs, pillows and rugs. The technique generated lots of attention.

"The moment I started knitting in public I became very embarrassed, but then I realized it was an incredible tool to talk to people," says Mr. Brena.

A sped-up video of his installation was picked up by the architecture website Designboom.com, after which it went viral, generating about 45,000 views on YouTube. Ms. Bassetti acknowledges that Mr. Brena's video was one of a few that she closely examined to teach herself. ("She could have mentioned me!" says Mr. Brena.)

The noodle-y look of the scarves has baffled some observers. "Am I the only person who thinks this looks like a bunch of knotted rope?" asked one poster to Lifehacker, a blog—linked to Ms. Bassetti's video—that features tips for doing things more efficiently.

While most arm-knitters typically stick to making scarves and shawls, online commenters suggest using the craft to create everything from a hammock for stuffed animals (real pets might get tangled in the wide stitches) to a cargo net and a G-string.

Ann Denton, an associate professor in the textile development and marketing department at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, is somewhat puzzled by the droopy, wide-gauge style. "I am a cable person," she says.

Ms. Bassetti, meanwhile, insists she has only racked up compliments. "Normally people say I am a genius," she says.

 

The original link (with a video) can be found at:  http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304011304579220660554732336?mod=trending_now_4

A YouTube video on arm knitting, about 28 minutes long, can be found at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=070qaUxEyp4

There are many shorter videos (including the Andrea Brena video) on arm knitting, also.