Knitting, often perceived as a passive and gentle pastime, has a rich history of being wielded as a tool of civil resistance. Throughout the ages, the innocuous clack of needles has accompanied the silent symphony of subversion and protest.

During World War I, a Belgian grandmother sat by her window (1) knitting patterns that were far more than mere decoration. Each stitch was a coded message, a silent witness to the passing trains, which she relayed to the Belgian resistance, aiding in the fight against the occupying German forces. This art of stenography, embedding secret messages within the mundane, turned knitting into a craft of espionage. Another example was seen in the Tales of Two Cities by Dickens, where Madame Therese Defarge as a leader of the Jacques during the French revolution used pattern stitches as a code and knit a list of the upper class doomed to die at the guillotine.

The thread of knitting as a form of activism stretches to the shores of America, where, during the American Revolution, women spun homespun cloth, boycotting British textiles as a form of economic rebellion. They knitted liberty caps and uniforms, intertwining each loop with the spirit of independence and defiance. In more recent times, knitting circles have become spaces for communal solidarity and political discourse. The Yarn Mission (2), formed in the wake of the Ferguson protests, exemplifies how knitting can foster discussions on racial injustice and support the work of black creators. The pink “pussyhats” of the Women’s March in 2017 is another great example as powerful emblem of collective identity and resistance. Two women started to knit hats with pussycat´s pointy ears, as a protest against vulgar comments Donald Trump made about the freedom he felt to grab women’s genitals, to de-stigmatize the word “pussy” and transform it into one of empowerment, and to highlight the design of the hat’s ’pussycat ears’. Sparking the global knitting community, word was spread and the fuse was lit. “A Pussyhat now resides in the Rapid Response collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, the permanent collection of Michigan State University’s museum, and other collections as an important piece of feminist history. What started as a simple means of protest, participation and solidarity, has become an iconic global symbol of political activism.” (3)

Recently, in 2019, the Montreal city councilor and borough Mayor Sue Montgomery learned to knit while studying in Germany, then took it up again once she was elected in 2017. She uses knitting as a tool to maintain focus during council meetings. Despite not being a native French speaker, she finds that knitting in various colors—red for when men speak and green for when women speak—helps her concentrate better. Her knitting project gained significant attention online, sparking discussions on gender communication styles. Montgomery plans to auction her knitting for charity, turning a simple concentration aid into a statement on gender dynamics and an act of philanthropy. (4)

Various civil organic movements have been created in different parts of the world and with different views, for example Common Grace in Australia or Women´s Climate Action network. Most recently, the mothers and allies from Norway and Sweden, together knitted a scarf long enough to go around their own parliaments, with a symbolic and yet clear message: this is a red line. We won´t let governments, greenwashers and politicians go further. The Paris agreement must hold. Must live.

As we stated here, knitting, with its dual threads of creation and communication, has proven to be a versatile instrument in the hands of those who seek to weave change. It has been instrumental in civil resistance movements, providing a voice to the voiceless and offering creative ways to oppose injustice. As it is a testament to how ordinary tools can acquire extraordinary significance in the hands of those committed to the tapestry of civil liberties.

References:

(1) - The Wartime Spies Who Used Knitting as an Espionage Tool - Atlas Obscura

(2) – Stitch by stitch, a brief history of knitting and activism | PBS News Weekend

(3) - https://www.pussyhatproject.com/our-story

(4) - https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-48278772