The Revolutionary Knitting Circle

"Talking with the general public has always been a real challenge for activists," Neufeld said. "Because when [activists] start out with [talking about all these problems in] the world, most people just shut down because they feel so overwhelmed," he said. "So finding a way to ease them into the discussion is pretty necessary."
"Also," Neufeld adds, "the knitting creates a much friendlier environment for a dialogue. It is hard to associate knitting with anything really bad."
The aim of the knit-in was to demonstrate that people do not have to depend on big business for their needs.
"We need to be able to feed, clothe and shelter ourselves so that we can escape those dependencies [on large corporations]," Neufeld said.
Once that is done, he says, people can engage in fair trade and not free trade. The distinction, according to the RKC, is that in fair trade either party involved can walk away at any time whereas free trade can involve one party being dependant on the other, and therefore in a position of less power.
The RKC has several goals, the first of which is building a sense of community through knitting.
"It means a lot more if you can be wearing something that you have made for a friend or for yourself," said Richard Norman, a 20-something knitter and graduate from the University of Calgary.
Janice Kerfoot, another participant in the knit-in, pointed out that actions like the knit-in shows non-activists that violence and protest do not have to go hand in hand.
"People can watch us being creative," she said. "Demonstrators definitely have a reputation of being destructors rather than creators and we couldn't be farther from that."
The other goal of the RKC is bringing on the revolution through knitting. Other acceptable textile activities include crocheting and quilting.
"For certain personal reasons macramé is being excluded," Neufeld says. "There's a bit of a controversy over that, but I don't see macramé as a tool for social change."

The knit and purl of the revolution is here.