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	mistressrenet 2006-04-19 02:58 pm UTC (link)
	I love how no one wanks over how tacky they are. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	fourthage 2006-04-19 03:15 pm UTC (link)
	You beat me to it. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mistressrenet 2006-04-19 03:51 pm UTC (link)
	F33r my mad commenting speed. (Reply to this)(Parent)

caoilte
2006-04-19 03:30 pm UTC (link)

In most crafts (oddly enough) men are still so under-represented that yes, it IS a big deal when something like this happens. That's not to say that he deserved or didn't deserve it. It's just that they're such a rarity (rather like getting a bag of stamps and finding a penny black in it) that when they're out there, everyone has to make a big deal out of it.

(poor analogy I know, but...my brain died when I tried to think of something better *chuckles sheepishly*)

There's a bloke who does an article in one of the UK magazines for cross-stitchers...I imagine it's something like that. He got the gig, cuz yeah, he's a guy and he is also a cross-stitcher. I give them both major applause cuz there's sexism like mad. Stitching and knitting are for whomever enjoys it, not just women. *shrugs*

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queencallipygos
2006-04-19 03:35 pm UTC (link)

No, I followed you.

I think that the flip side of that is the whole point of many of the wanker's point, though -- i.e., "so, none of the thousands of women who did this ever before were artists, and now it becomes art once a guy finally deigns to knit?"

Which is a valid point. But still wanky.

Somewhere in there is an exchange between two people where one snorts that "all he did was knit an adult-sized pair of footy pajamas, and if it was a woman we'd just shrug, but since it's a guy everyone's going nuts," and then someone else very practically pointing out that SHE'D go nuts if someone showed off having knit an adult-size set of pajamas because "that's a lot of work, yo."

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caoilte
2006-04-19 11:16 pm UTC (link)

Well, as a crafter/sometime multi-media artist, there's some hotly contested debate about what is art and what isn't and suffice it to say, most people think of knitting as crafting (or artisan-ship) rather than strictly art.

Dunno if this is what you meant but yeah. Just thought I'd make that distinction/point.

At the same time, I can see where it would be totally wanky too - I agree that why all of a sudden is it that when a guy does it it's art, but when a woman does it it's crafting? It's the SAME DAMNED THING.

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kookaburra
2006-04-20 07:27 am UTC (link)

I think it's less the fact that it's a guy doing it, and more the fact that the person who is making them can write/talk about the "art" to the art community.

So basically it is B.S. skills that get you in galleries. We've been having raging debates about this sort of thing in the art dept at my college. I just get to sit back and laugh because I'm going into commercial illustration and don't care what sort of new-fangled whickety-whack is getting into the galleries these days.

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	janegraddell 2006-04-19 03:52 pm UTC (link)
	Sure, and I thought it was pretty cool...the first two times someone posted about it. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	mistressrenet 2006-04-19 03:54 pm UTC (link)
	I went to college near a husband-and-wife operation that was half cross-stitching supplies, half homebrewing supplies. I think they enjoyed confounding expectations by explaining they both did both. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	vigilanterodent 2006-04-19 04:37 pm UTC (link)
	This is a total digression, but they sell stamps in bags in the UK? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	jetwolf 2006-04-19 04:45 pm UTC (link)
	If I remember from my brief flirtation with philately, you can buy "grab bags" of stamps. For collecting, no so much for sticking on an electric bill. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	phosfate 2006-04-19 06:26 pm UTC (link)
	Cancelled stamps for collectors. You can get them in hobby shops here, or through the mail. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	caoilte 2006-04-19 11:18 pm UTC (link)
	Yep, for the reasons the above posters mentioned :) They sell 'em in huge-ass bags (or itty bitty ones, depending on where you shop) in WH Smith (a book/stationery shop) and the like. (Reply to this)(Parent)

princessdot
2006-04-19 04:56 pm UTC (link)

Go Fug Yourself. Or, "you knit WHAT?" is where that variegated one goes. Ick! Yea, loads of work but how boring that musta gotten. Just to add to the wank, do ppl understand that the original knitters were men? and that it wasn't until it became so devalued a craft that it was more relegated to "women's work"?

All that said, yet another reason each time I start thinking I just might add that comm I come here and yea...

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	janegraddell 2006-04-19 06:24 pm UTC (link)
	My favorite piece of debating logic: Looks like lorax1 strictly a commentor in knitting and knitting_snark - mabye she (or he) got her (or his) two communities mixed up. Because, as everyone knows, your point of view is invalid if you're "strictly a commentor." (Reply to this)(Thread)

	queencallipygos 2006-04-19 06:54 pm UTC (link)
	I think what she was trying to say was "those are the only two places she comments" rather than "commenting is the only thing she does." But that still doesn't make any sense, because having less places to keep straight would be easier on a person, not harder. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	janegraddell 2006-04-19 07:05 pm UTC (link)
	Re-reads Yeah, I think you're right. That does make a bit more sense, though it doesn't, alas, make it any more coherent as an argument. And dammit, I need some other knitting icons... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	amyheartssiroc 2006-04-19 11:08 pm UTC (link)
	Icon! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	janegraddell 2006-04-20 05:27 pm UTC (link)
	There was an animated version around, too, but darned if I can find it! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	puipui 2006-04-20 06:10 am UTC (link)
	Oh, but it's so beautiful, that icon! To this day, that wank never fails to make me laugh. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	janegraddell 2006-04-20 05:26 pm UTC (link)
	Truly a classic wank, and a shining example to us all that folks can wank about anything. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	catatonia 2006-04-20 02:09 am UTC (link)
	I'm more disturbed by the fact that there's a snarking community for knitting. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	puipui 2006-04-20 06:09 am UTC (link)
	Personally, I think I'm more disturbed by the fact that I really wasn't all that surprised to find that there's a snarking community for knitting. Actually, having seen our previous knitting wanks, I think I'd be more surprised if there wasn't. (Reply to this)(Parent)