Tiny Choices Book Review: Knitting for Good
By Karina | November 10, 2008
I recently received an advance copy of a great new book that I am so excited to tell you all about: Knitting for Good, by Betsy Greer. Now, full disclosure: I’ve “known” Betsy online since the early 2000s, and also Jenn and I have a little Tiny Choices quote in the book. But without all that background I can honestly tell y’all, it’s a great book! I love it!
Betsy is one of the first coiners of the word “craftivism,” and she has a website and blog of the same name. This book is aptly subtitled “A Guide to Creating Personal, Social, and Political Change Stitch by Stitch.” Craftivism is, simply, the intersection of craft and activism. And Knitting for Good goes from explanation of this concept, to discussing easy ways you can become a craftivist. The book is organized into three sections: Knitting for Yourself, Knitting for Your Community, and Knitting for the World, and it takes you through the evolution of a craftivist. It’s interspersed with sidebars featuring crafters in their own words, and knitting patterns at the end of chapters that can be easily made for charity projects.
So how does this book relate to Tiny Choices? Knitting for Good sets up a discussion that is based on how the individual can become an activist by making a series of little tiny decisions - sound familiar? And also it talks about using creativity as a driving force instead of consumerism - a concept which is very familiar to all of us who are trying to reduce our purchases and to focus on buying what we *really* need, rather than what we are told we need. Plus in the comments and discussion here on Tiny Choices we’ve seen a creativity in how we tackle problems that I think is universal with the DIY community, of which Betsy is a large part and which she talks about in depth in her book.
Something that I love is how Betsy points out that “I was finally discovering that I didn’t have to be perfect in order to do something.” Here at Team Tiny Choices we entirely agree - it’s about digging in, making the choice, and then refining your action as you learn and move on.
There are a lot of other suggestions in this book that we can learn from when we talk environmental acts at Tiny Choices - for example, Betsy talks about how when she puts together a package to send off to a charity, she gently asks around (without pushing) if anyone else would be interested in adding to the package. We’ve all done this ourselves, when we let it be known that we’re collecting weird items for recycling, for example.
There are so many other excellent parts of this book that I would love to point out to you, but I already have a habit of writing epic length posts. I’ll just have to say: trust me on this one, this is a really wonderful book and a resource for any craftivist, knitter or environmental. Take a look for it! (and also look for our Team Tiny Choices shout-out!)
Craftivism is available starting November 11th.
Do you have any craftivism stories?
Related posts:
- Tiny Choices Book Review: Green Chic
- Tiny Choices Book Review: Plenty
- Tiny Choices Survey: Betsy Greer!
- Tiny Choices Weekly Round Up
- DIY: Scarves for Charity
- Tiny Choices Weekly Roundup
- Tiny Choices Weekly Roundup!
I’m so excited about getting my hands on this book. Thank you for reviewing it for us. Some knitting friends and I have been knitting baby hats for newborns, and I’ve started making Tit Bits for our local Cancer Society.
Hooray for making things for charity! I love knitting things for newborns as it takes so little time, and when I’m finished, I adore looking at all the teeny tiny hats sitting in a row waiting to be packaged up and set to where they can be put on teeny tiny heads!
Congrats, Betsy!! I can’t WAIT to see your book!
I’d also like to point out that Betsy took the TC Survey recently, too!
I’m curious to see this book!
I don’t knit for charity, but what I do instead is when someone asks me to knit them something, instead of having them pay me I ask them to donate to a charity, usually of their choice but I have suggestions. It’s not necessarily eco-related but it makes me feel good to get to make something for someone and see $ going to a charitable organization.
What a fantastic idea, Adrienne!
In a way, you are very much are knitting for charity, as the proceeds of your creations are going to the greater good, and the person who received the knitting item is wearing one less mass-produced item. It’s a completely win-win scenario!
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