Knitting

The pattern for my current knitting project. Huge needles, yarn that has to be pulled apart, it is simultaneously delicate and robust. Like a spider web.

Today I got an email from Kirsty Robertson, who has just completed her PhD in Art History at Queen's and has started a new research blog: My Ugly Sweater.

She talks about webs of writing and the viral knitting project: "we knitted the binary code of the code red virus - an early computer virus known for its virulence. we wanted the finished garment to be both comforting and threatening - a wearable, tradeable, portable virus." She also writes about how the viral knitting project became a chapter in her dissertation and took on a life of its own. Throughout all of this run themes of art, craft and activism. I think of the Luddite revolts of 1811 and she mentions Calgary's Revolutionary Knitting Circle - which reminds me of the work of microRevolt and to a lesser extent Freddie Robins - and I hope she writes more about the limitations of such activism.

All good stuff.