Janie Day

Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Dean, Erin

Area of Concentration

Anthropology

Abstract

This thesis presents a multifaceted exploration of those who knit with others and form communities through the knitting hobby. Utilizing ethnographic research from three interconnected knitting groups in Sarasota, Florida, interviews with six knitters, as well as the existing literature on knitting, I look into three major themes. First, I explore the implications surrounding the evolving identity of those who knit through the concepts of “old knitting” and “new knitting” and focus on how the knitters I spoke with perceive their own identity as a knitter. I also write about knitting’s previous confinement to the home and its recent transition into the public sphere, drawing from the Sarasota knitters’ experiences and interactions while knitting in public. Secondly, I focus on the meanings that knitting holds for people, shown in the reasons why they knit, the importance of yarn, the hobby’s challenges, and through their understanding of knitting as an art. Lastly, I explore the ways in which knitting is a hobby made social through knitting for others, with others, and the transmission of knowledge. I emphasize that the knitters not only engage in specialized reciprocity as they reciprocate technical support and advice, but more importantly, generalized reciprocity. Knitting acts as a cover that facilitates the formation of friendships and a sense of community within these groups.

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