Knitting, Charity, and the “Virtue of Selfishness.” (plus, CONTEST!)
It’s no secret that Ayn Rand
We are, according to many pundits, policymakers, observers, and critics from across the political spectrum, witnessing one such resurgence alongside new forms of right-wing activism and policymaking in the US. I’m an unapologetic leftist (certainly this is wildly shocking for my regular readers, yes?), but I don’t think you have to be particularly radical to take issue with Ayn Rand’s brand of philosophy, or the US federal and state policies that are increasingly inspired by its vision of the world.
As one recent article summed it up:
During her lifetime, Rand advocated “the virtue of selfishness,” declared altruism to be “evil,” opposed Medicare and all forms of government support for the middle-class and the poor, and condemned Christianity for advocating love and compassion for the less fortunate. Rand also dismissed the feminist movement as a “false” and “phony” issue, said a female commander in chief would be “unspeakable,” characterized Arabs as “almost totally primitive savages,” and called government efforts to aid the handicapped and educate “subnormal children” an attempt to “bring everybody to the level of the handicapped.”
Which brings me to a particularly … surprising example of this most recent wave of Randianism: The ATLAS SHRUG.
Image (c) yarnmarket.com
The pattern blurb reads:
Who is John Galt? Inspired by the blockbuster book by Ayn Rand, the Atlas Shrug is more than a fashion statement. It’s a statement about modern society. The construction is reminiscent of railway lines, in the color of the metal created by the brilliant industrialist. Knit your own Atlas Shrug in Caledon Hills yarn and tell the world that you value your independence.
Let me be clear: I don’t know a thing about the shrug’s talented designer, Sandi Prosser, who has given the world some really beautiful patterns in the past, or about YarnMarket’s business philosophy (though I do know from personal experience that they offer excellent customer service, and speedy shipping at a reasonable cost). I have no interest in badmouthing a hardworking designer or an independent yarn shop. And I have no idea why this pattern exists. Maybe it’s truly intended to inspire some kind of Objectivist fashion movement. Or maybe it’s just meant to be an apolitical literary reference, like a Doctor Who scarf or a Gryffindor tie.
What I do know is that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this damn shrug since I first saw it. So I’ve been asking myself, WHY does it bother me so much? It’s just a knitting pattern, after all. And I’ve realized that part of my problem (other than what I’ll freely admit is a fierce mistrust of all things Randian) is the use of knitting in particular to celebrate Rand’s “virtue of selfishness,” and to promote individual self-interest as the key to social, political, and economic good.
Knitting can be a solitary or individual activity, of course, particularly within the consumer cultures that have recently emerged around fiber crafts. But the history of knitting in many parts of the world is, as Anne Macdonald and Joanne Turney tell us, also the history of knitting circles, of stitch-and-bitch nights, of women-friendly social spaces and of radical collective action.
Baby blanket that a bigass group of us made, collectively, for a dear friend.
And the history of knitting is also, very clearly, a history of charity — a legacy of, in Christian language, “caring for the least among us.”
While Rand and her followers celebrate the “virtue of selfishness,” the history and current practice of knitting is actively contrary to that philosophy. Many knitters give away more handmade goods than they keep, and many of those knitted items are unselfishly given not to friends or loved ones, but to strangers in need.
Where Rand saw “subnormal children,” for instance, knitters see the loving parents of premature infants, or people living meaningful lives with disabilities, all of whom could perhaps use (as could we all) a bit of comfort, encouragement, humor, or warmth. Dozens of charities deliver hand-knitted toys, clothing, and blankets to those families and individuals.
In fact, read any list of knitting charities, and you’ll find a testament not simply to our generosity, but to our humanity — to our common desire to reach out to one another at our most vulnerable moments. We devote countless hours to crafting gifts of love and support for the sick and injured, for the displaced, for the dying, for the bereaved. We knit for people we will never know or meet — caps for cancer patients, shawls for hospice residents, burial clothing for those mourning a miscarriage or infant death.
Like knitting, charity has, in many cultural traditions, been a feminine pursuit, and having leisure time to devote to recreational crafts or charitable works is a sign of class privilege. In modern European and US history, benevolent charity toward the “lower” classes and races has been central to the definition of white middle-class women as morally superior. In some later post, we’ll talk more about how craft-based charitable endeavors have been and still can be totally fucked-up, imperialist projects (for instance, when white American missionaries taught Native women to knit in an attempt to forcibly assimilate them into Euro/American heteronormative gendered behaviors and family arrangements). Charity is always political, and it’s always about power. But for the moment, let’s look at what charitable knitting gets right.
For one thing, charitable knitting has the potential to make the personal political, to create spaces not only for sharing, compassion, and cross-class solidarity, but also for critical consciousness and social support in a world where women’s lives are too often marked by violence, victimization, and isolation.Those lists of charities tell us something about ourselves. We knit for the women and children who have survived family and relationship violence, but whose continued survival depends on underfunded shelters and volunteers. We knit for pregnant teens, and young women caring for their new infants. We knit to celebrate new life, to commemorate the dead, and as a testament to the possibility of survival. One charity gives comfort shawls to the mothers and sisters of women murdered by their husbands, boyfriends, or intimate partners. Through another organization, survivors of sexual violence make scarves that are given to victims of sexual violence when they enter the hospital for emergency treatment.
We knit when we encounter the violence, poverty, and loss that are endemic to modern, white supremacist, heteropatriarchal, capitalist societies. And, as they brandish Atlas Shrugged in one hand and the federal budget in the other, US policymakers bank on it. They know that women’s charitable and unpaid labors the world over are the only way to make up, however inadequately, for the injustices of global capitalism, and for the disappearing safety nets of a steadily-dismantled welfare state. When Medicare and Social Security are successfully gutted and the old folks’ homes don’t have money to pay the heating bills, Grandma is going to need those handknit shawls.
In other words, knitting actually has a long history of ameliorating the suffering caused by the individual selfishness — and the corporate and state greed — that Rand and her followers find “virtuous.”
Where the profit motives of the pharmaceutical industry make millions of mothers and fathers in sub-Saharan Africa vulnerable to early death from HIV/AIDS, knitters send handmade bears and dolls to their surviving partners and children.
Where the arrogance of militarized war and empire-building wreaks violence and havoc, knitters send blankets, sweaters, socks, and hats.
When women in the US are brutalized by their intimate partners and the state is unable or unwilling to support them, knitters send afghans to make life in the shelter a little more livable.
When the selfish greed of global capitalism and imperial power create surplus populations and impoverished classes of wage workers, knitters literally clothe the poor, sending warm handknits to homeless shelters in New Jersey, tribal reservations in North America, and people living in poverty all over the world.
And when those surplus people in the US — the poor, marginalized, addicted, and mentally ill — are disproportionately funneled into a profit-driven prison system, knitters send yarn, needles, and supplies. And then they volunteer to teach inmates to knit.
Clearly, no charity is a solution to any real social or economic problem. None of these gifts or organizations can touch the structural causes of poverty, injustice, violence, or war. A crocheted teddy bear does not cure AIDS; a handknit sweater does nothing to combat homelessness; knitting lessons don’t move us any closer to abolishing the prison industrial complex. If your neighborhood is studded with deadly landmines, maybe a pair of socks sent from the country that helped put them there is actually an insult. Those are problems that we need to confront in direct, collective, big-picture ways.
In the meantime, though, what our charitable practices might do is make the individual hardship, suffering, and violence wrought by those problems a little easier to survive. And yeah, I’ll take these small, hopeful acts and gifts of love over the cynical “virtue” of selfishness any day.
Listen, shit just got real earnest in here. Clearly we need to tell some jokes before this becomes a blog about my Feelings. You know what we need? A CONTEST.
Okay! There are two ways to enter this contest:
(1) SATIRE! Write some alternative instructions for a Randian knitting pattern! Like “bind off all stitches. Block your finished shrug in the sweat and tears of the workers.” Or, “continue knitting until sleeve measures 17 inches, or until John Galt finishes his interminable monologue, whichever comes first.” Or…
(2) SINCERITY! Post a comment telling us about your favorite knitting or craft-based charity.
I’ll pick a comment at random, and the winner will receive the fabulous prize of: one skein of Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica or Manos Lace in the colorway of their choice, AND … my charitable labor! I’ll make and send one handmade hat, shawl, or toy to the charity of their choice.
ETA: And let’s say the contest ends May 1 when I wake up in the morning.
ETA: For all us so-called “selfish” knitters who knit mainly or only for ourselves: This post is by no means meant to be a prescription for charitable knitting, or an indictment against knitting for oneself. Just a comment on how the feminine, middle-class history of recreational knitting is inseparable from the feminine, middle-class history of charitable works. And I think there’s something to celebrate there, even if it’s not a 100% awesome thing.
And surely, in a world that depends so much on women “selflessly” caring for others — on an exploitative sexual and global division of labor and on the wide range of unpaid and underpaid domestic work done by women all over the world — some forms of selfishness might be badass forms of resistance (e.g. the refusal to care for others at the expense of one’s own wellbeing). Rand’s “rational self-interest,” though? Doesn’t get us there.
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April 19th, 2011 at 2:18 pm
i would love to do the satire, but i haven’t actually read the book (for shame).
so instead i’ll advocate for Project Linus, which donates handmade blankets to children in need. i know there are a lot of other great organizations out there, but PL does good in my community and it’s just a small way to give back.
http://projectlinus.org/
thanks for the post, Pam!!
April 19th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
You already linked to it. Mother Bear Project is pretty cool. I made them a bunch of bears in the past.
I should definitely look into some of those others charities.
Great post!
April 19th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
My favorite knitting or craft-based charity is knitting itself! Especially since Ravelry, I see so many opportunities to donate to worthy causes while still knitting something I love and giving it to someone I know. I think that knitting itself gives a warmer hug when the person receiving it appreciates it, and so generally I don’t end up doing a lot of charity knitting or giving away of knitwear to people in need — I want to know that my hours will be cared for as much as the yarn and skill put into it.
But when I can buy a pattern on Ravelry (whether it helps a face I know, like Crush’s pattern, or a face I don’t, like the Mitered Blanket for Japan), I feel like my $5 can make a difference. I’m in a transitional period in my life right now, and I don’t always have a ton of time or money. By buying a pattern, I make an investment in someone I know (charity for the home) and an investment in someone I don’t (the base charity for the cause). So I guess that I celebrate a little ‘virtue of selfishness’ by not imposing myself to a deadline or the stress that charity knitting inevitably gives me (I knit for a mitten tree sometimes and it really drives me nuts), but at least my giving is at least twofold, right? And instantaneous!
April 19th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Like you, I’m puzzled by this shrug. It’s kind of cool looking, but the name is a complete turnoff. I wonder if the designer or yarnmarket heard the name and thought “oh, fun buzz word!” and didn’t understand the implications of the name choice. “Atlas Shrug” is a witty play on words - but when the words are unpleasant, the play on words isn’t really funny.
On your points re: knitting as a charitable act, I completely disagree. I am 100% a selfish knitter and I have no issues with saying that. I don’t do charity knitting, period. I give charities that I believe in my support, my monetary donations, and some of my time, but never my knitting. Monetary donations can go a heck of a lot further than something I knit, so that’s where I focus my resources.
April 19th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
I’m always intrigued by seeing Rand in pop culture and newspaper articles, etc. Perhaps because I find Ayn Rand so utterly fascinating! I’ve read a good amount of her writing and some biographies. I do not believe in her philosophy, yet I can’t help but look at her, as a “philosophical,” political, and literary figure with a quizzical brow. I have found 2 of her novels quite entertaining, The Fountainhead and We the Living. But then again, I really do view them merely as fiction. I’m probably in the minority on that.
As for charitable knitting, I think that gifting knitting to anyone in need is a great thing, whether that be through an official organization or through a small gathering of individuals collaborating together for someone in need.
April 19th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
My favourite knitting-based charity is p/hop. P/hop stands for ‘pennies per hour of pleasure’ and was set up by a UK indie dyer, Natalie Fergie, to raise money for Medecins Sans Frontiers/Doctors Without Borders. A number of designers have donated patterns which are available for download or in hardcopy at knitting shows; in return knitters are asked to make a donation based on how many hours of pleasure they’ll get from knitting the pattern. There are also p/hop yarn swaps run on a similar basis, online swaps via the Ravelry group and collaborative projects such as blankets which are raffled off. In just two and a half years we’ve raised nearly £25,000!
April 19th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
@Kimu: Oh, totally! And I actually wondered how “selfish” knitters would take this post.
But beyond our individual habits (I don’t knit a great deal for charity either, though I know lots of folks who do), it’s clear that the historical and social practices of knitting have *always* been tied up with charity and giving. So even if some of us tend to hang on to our knitted items, it’s jarring, IMO, to see knitting as a practice associated with individual selfishness.
April 19th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
I live in ignorant bliss apparently. I do not know who John Galt is and I don’t keep up with anything Ayn Rand does or doesn’t do. I think life is too short to keep up with things that raise my blood pressure. I love the Red Scarf project and think it is a wonderful program!
April 19th, 2011 at 2:44 pm
@Andrea: That makes sense! I’m also pretty fascinated by Rand as a figure, and have read most things she’s written. You might check out the Jennifer Burns book I link to in the first paragraph — suuuuper fascinating.
April 19th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
I don’t knit for charity, but every year I adopt a Single Mom and pamper her at Christmas. There’s usually a pair of handknit mits and a cashmere toque in her care package.
April 19th, 2011 at 3:03 pm
My favorite charity isn’t an organized charity. One of my SnB friends spends so much of her knitting time knitting hats. She calls it Hats for Cold People. She generally gives her hats to the local rescue mission, but will give them away to anyone she thinks could use a warm head.
April 19th, 2011 at 3:05 pm
I started a knitting group at my school. We are making an afghan to donate to charity (such as the friendship home where families are secretly relocated to escape the abuse of a spouse) and we will make another to raffle off at our school’s fun night. Proceeds will also be donated to charity.
I’m trying to teach the students in my school to pay it forward. Everything we use is donated or made, so none of my students feel like they need to spend money to do something worthwhile. I LOVE IT!
April 19th, 2011 at 3:06 pm
I want to satirize Atlas Shrugged, but first can I tell you the story of how the school made us read The Fountainhead in high school? There is a scene in that book where the hero rapes the heroine, and it’s OK, because secretly, SHE WANTED HIM TO. This is what they were having us read as high schoolers, and I don’t really remember discussing the rape scene much in class, and having the teacher explicitly say, “Hey, kids, THIS IS NOT OK.” Maybe they did and it failed to stick with me, because what I remember mostly is thinking how much I hated the book and everything it stood for and then the utter shock of finding out that classmates and friends loved it. Smart, caring, fun, even liberal classmates fucking loved it, because, in retrospect, we were in high school, and what’s better than a philosophy that places selfishness as a virtue, and says that good looking people ARE morally superior? Except maybe free cupcakes?
Anyway, that rant over with, here’s my attempt at instructions for an Atlas Shrug: “Bind off without binding the arms of the producer, for society will try to bind him and bring him down to mediocrity without your help. Find an inferior and tell him or her to block the shrug to your specifications. Use shrug to adorn the perfect, tall, Aryan body of a titan of industry. WARNING: Do not disconnect the attached profit motive from Atlas Shrug or society may collapse.”
April 19th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
I remember reading Atlas Shrugged while in high school, and marking the page where John Galt would eventually finish rambling on. It was, in the mass-market copy I had, at least 50 pages long. I became so fixated on getting to the end, I barely paid any attention to what he was saying, though I got the sense he was repeating himself a LOT. Such a boring diatribe.
This is such a thoughtful post. Love it.
April 19th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
No satire or charity suggestions from me. I just wanted to say how much I enjoy reading your philosophical/political posts. Everything is connected to politics–even knitting!
I would say that about half my knitting is for me and half for gifts. Even if 100% of my knitting were for me, why would that be “selfish”? Or, if it were, who cares? It’s a hobby and how I occupy much of my spare time. What other require people to feel selfish or guilty if they don’t share the product of the hobby with others? Are hobby potters in trouble if they don’t make pots for their friends? Are stamp collectors supposed to give their friends stamps? I just don’t get it. (Maybe it’s because knitting is so feminized that our labor is supposed to be in service to others, as usual.)
I find that I have so many projects that I want to make for myself and my friends and family that I don’t have time for charity knitting. I figure that someday, when I have more scarves and sweaters than I can reasonably wear and when no one wants another knitted gift, I may start doing some charity knitting. However, it will be just as “selfish” as my “selfish” knitting because it is allowing me a non-wasteful way to pursue my beloved hobby.
April 19th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
I’m not good with the satire, so I’ll have to put my vote in for Project Linus as well. I love to knit and I know I can’t keep everything I make, and it’s good to know that something I made might give someone else a little bit of happiness or comfort down the road, even if I never meet them.
What an awesome idea for a giveaway! Love the John Galt shirt, too. (I really did laugh out loud.)
April 19th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
How funny — and timely! I’ve wanted to teach an economics through the lens of literature class that compares Ayn Rand books (namely Atlas Shrugged) with muckraking books like Oil! by Upton Sinclair and The Financier by Dreiser and definitely a dash of Edith Wharton, and then I couldn’t freaking finish AS (even read through a critical gaze) because I could not get past the hamhandedly bad writing. (Plot she has, and not much else.) I make a point of asking anyone that likes her books why they like them, and it usually (I think) boils down to her tapping into that sense that many people get of frustration when no one else in the world seems to care or contribute as they do. (Which is a problematic stance, to begin with, though I think we’ve all been there, in some way.) I even named my new blog a parody of “Who is John Galt?” because I find the phenomenon so … something. I completely understand being bothered by a pattern with that blurb — it takes the ‘fun’ parts of the book (pretty people in pretty clothes and Reardon metal did sound pretty and sleek industrial design and independent ladies getting stuff done!) without addressing the core of all the other stuff (which is increasingly icky at each step — nature is best when it’s been improved to man’s service? only man can progress in a straight line and not a circle? only ladies that don’t like to have sex think that it hurts? WHAT??) It goes without saying, but I’ll do it, that I adore your shirt.
However, any knitting pattern as Rand would write it would have to have something like this:
“For attractive, freethinking, intelligent, and passionate knitters only — anyone planning to knit this for charity is too snivelly, mealy-mouthed, and pathetic to be worthy of my effort in writing this, and furthermore, won’t finish it (because they’ll get distracted by ‘poor people in Mexico’ or something).”
I see the potential for a photo essay describing the beautiful, proud, intelligent and passionate people wearing beautifully knitted things, while gross, ugly, weak people gaze resentfully at them, since they want the state to give them such pretty things.
April 19th, 2011 at 3:48 pm
this really hammers home that i have to read this book (but still don’t want to!) can you believe i’ve STILL not touched it? i read “the fountainhead” (well, i read 80% of it..) and found the main character to be very inspiring in his “i’ll do it the way i want to” attitude, mainly because i really love avant garde architecture.
but this book has been sitting on the shelf for 7 years and i still haven’t touched it because i know what it means to the conservative movement. i’m afraid i’ll just be pissed off reading it, and what fun is that?
April 19th, 2011 at 3:57 pm
No satire here, and I haven’t read the book myself because of all the horrible reviews friends have given it. I don’t want to support that kind of author.
I knit for my daughter a lot, and for various family members as well. I’ve done one charity project in my knitterly life and after this post I’m thinking that it might be time to find a charity I want to knit for on a regular basis.
April 19th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
I also feel that, in general, knitters are givers and people with good hearts. I always have more items I want to knit (for myself, family or friends) than I have time, but I try to do charitable knitting whenever I am reminded of it. I’ve knit a few hats for preemies (given to a local NICU) and a few hats for Caps for Good. It wasn’t a lot of time invested in each, but it was a conscious decision to invest that time in a charitable knit vs. one for myself or someone I love. To me, all knitting is a labor of love.
April 19th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
I have complicated feeling about Atlas Shrugged. I’m a pretty left-wing socialist type, so Rand’s philosophies are certainly not in line with my own (although I think there *are* freeloaders and that can be frustrating at times. And I think that taking care of oneself is very important). I really did not care for The Fountainhead, but I’ll admit it: I enjoyed Atlas Shrugged. I didn’t expect to, but I did. Certainly not for the philosophy (I skimmed or outright skipped most of Galt’s interminable ramblings), but I don’t know. I found the plot remarkably compelling. I liked Dagny, I liked Hank, and I really wanted some jewelry made of Reardon metal (which, by the way, that colour does not remind me of at all. I always pictured it as looking almost like an oil spill, with that rainbow sheen, just with that teal maybe a little more predominant). Not sure what that says about me, but there it is.
April 19th, 2011 at 4:42 pm
@kingshearte: Ha! I think it just says you like books and characters and stuff!
April 19th, 2011 at 4:42 pm
“Use whatever yarn you like. Cast on what you will. Knit and purl as you see fit. Bind off when something worthwhile finally exists. Credit no one but yourself. Share with no one. Let them all figure it out for themselves.”
April 19th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
“I would say that about half my knitting is for me and half for gifts. Even if 100% of my knitting were for me, why would that be “selfish”? Or, if it were, who cares? It’s a hobby and how I occupy much of my spare time. What other require people to feel selfish or guilty if they don’t share the product of the hobby with others? … (Maybe it’s because knitting is so feminized that our labor is supposed to be in service to others, as usual.)”
jamy- well said.
April 19th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
I really appreciate what you had to say here. I feel that I often live to much in ignorance and I am grateful to have someone help me pull my head out. I hope that my ‘charity’ can extend beyond help now for problems that society caused in the past. I hope that my efforts of help will affect future generations in a positive way. I have a friend who makes quilts and donates them to http://www.operationasisterslove.org/ in wisconson.
April 19th, 2011 at 6:25 pm
Wow I have about 9000 things to say about this post. So I guess that means - good post.
First about the shrug: it seems your blog is developing an overarching argument, which is that representation MATTERS. And I couldn’t agree more with that. And to that end, via representation through naming - what a TERRIBLE name for this design! I mean, I think naming designs is hard and I frequently do a crappy job at it, but damn - to pick a name (probably without putting a lot of critical thought into it, I’m guessing?) that is going to get visceral reactions out of most of the American populace is maybe not a super great idea. I’m usually hesitant to criticize others’ designs a whole lot, because obviously everyone has different tastes, and the crafting world is very small and it behooves every single one of us to make positive connections with one another … but wow, that name. That’s a bad PR move on somebody’s part.
And in a totally different vein, I have really mixed feelings about charity crafting, honestly. I’m definitely a selfish knitter, first of all. I completely agree that very powerful and intimate connections are formed by working together on charitable projects, or by making something with your own two hands to comfort and support someone you’ve never met. I absolutely love the handmade items I have that other people have made for me; I think about that person every time I wear the item, and I smile. That said, I never knit things for charitable organizations. I would much rather give money. Partially for me this is an issue of time: I don’t have a ton of time, and when knitting is partially a business practice that time spent starts to take on real monetary significance. If I’m going to forge personal connections through crafts, I’d much rather do that on an individual basis. As for organizations, those that I’ve donated money to when I’ve been able to include Chicago’s Anti-Cruelty Society and the ACLU.
April 19th, 2011 at 6:32 pm
Beverly got it!! that would be THE Rand pattern. I would just add something about raising a sheep for its wool and carving your own knitting needles so the finished product is ALL yours.
I am part of the group of liberals who liked (some of) the characters and story. I read it as a senior in high school that had just been dumped, so I was on a roaring ME ME ME kick. I realize now how much of an asshole I was.
April 19th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
Atlas Shrug instructions:
Row 1: No one can make you cast on if you don’t want to cast on, it’s your yarn and no one has the right to tell you how to use it.
Row 2: Only a slacker would need instructions.
Rows 3-99: Focus on your own self interest, indefinitely
Row 100: Don’t be confined by conventional wisdom about binding off, use inductive logic to find the objectively true way to bind this project off.
Finishing: the shrug exists independently of your consciousness.
April 19th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
I’ve always had a soft spot for Afghans for Afghans . . . I’ve been meaning to make squares for a blanket drive out of my leftover yarn and/or frogged FOs for so long now. But as a pacifist I feel like that would have to be my charity to send things to, because over and over and over I just want to say that I am sorry for every bomb.
April 19th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Here’s a knitting (can be adapted for crochet too) pattern Ayn Rand wrote (I swear I saw it in the archives at her Institute). She tentatively entitled it “The John Galt”
Instructions: Do not knit.
The time it costs society for an individual to produce by hand an item which can be purchased for less money than even the supplies is not in the interests of the corporation for which that individual undoubtedly works. Furthermore, any individual entertaining the notion of knitting is suspected of being subnormal.
As for knitting & charity, I admit it, I’ve done it and I’ve even had fun doing it. I’m not convinced that knitting has cornered the market on hand-maders donating the most to charity (though you’re not claiming we are the champions, I don’t think). The quilters are pretty amazing when it comes to donating quilts for charity drives, homeless shelters, post-disaster situations, etc.
That said, I agree with a sentiment raised in at least one comment above, in many charity scenarios, my money is more valuable to the recipients than my hand-knitting. But, I also think that depends on the situation. It’s not appropriate for me to go to a pediatric cancer ward at a hospital in which I don’t work and hand out $5 bills. However, knitting costume hats to be given out there for Halloween dress-up? Hell, yes.
So I think that the impulse to donate of one’s time/ energy/ money is always a good impulse. What you choose to donate should, in my completely not so humble opinion, always be measured against the need in question.
As per usual, great post, Pam.
April 19th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
I’ve been reading your blog for a few months - I love your intersection of craft and politics. Thank you especially for highlighting this Rand stuff - I have noticed it too and found it to be confusing. For the contest - My friend and I like to collaborate on blankets for Mott Children’s Hospital at the Univ of Michigan Health System.
April 19th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Pam, do you remember when the US Postal Service release the Ayn Rand Stamp? a government produced stamp honoring someone who inveighed against government. Got it! That was some serious mise-en-abyme craziness right there! Never could stand her much, or the creepy guys that used to be way into her, for that matter…my knitting charity of choice is the project that comes together on the fly when knitters see someone that is hurting, needs a reason to celebrate, or could use the boost that only handmade things can give.
April 19th, 2011 at 11:17 pm
Given that the only “book” I’ve read by Ayn Rand was Anthem and that was about 5 years ago, my take on the Randian knit is vague. But here goes:
There would need to be a reasonably large number of casting-on and bind-off stitches, so they would not be perceived as individual stitches. And probably no decrease stitches, as that would mean encouraging the pairing of two stitches and allowing those stitches preference for each other over the rest of the stitches. This knit would have to be in an un-unique color and size, so as not to identify one recipient. In fact, it may need to be mass produced. With these directions, I’m guessing it’d be something along the lines of tunic. Oh, with an extremely tight “I”-cord collar (get it?).
April 19th, 2011 at 11:26 pm
I think my favorite charity for knitting right now is Caps for Good. I knit 20 baby hats earlier this year, and it was a meditative, and stash busting project for me. I always feel like my knitting is making a difference when I donate. Thanks for another great post!
April 20th, 2011 at 12:53 am
Holy cats. I just saw an ad for the Atlas Shrug on the Ravelry Designers group. It seems to be a movie tie in, at least the way the ad is phrased. Bizarre.
April 20th, 2011 at 4:10 am
I couldn’t have put that better myself. Atlas Shrugged has always been on my list of books I must read ‘one day’. The most memorable book according to my husband. Now I’m starting to wonder what it is I don’t know about him. Maybe I should read it myself. I was unaware however, that Ayn Rand could be attributed to the other comments you mentioned. I find that so abhorrent, I would find it difficult to pick up any of her books.
Sue, Terang, Australia
April 20th, 2011 at 10:00 am
Good God, Pam, (and I think I’ve said this before), every time I think I couldn’t love you more, you go and write something like this that just blows me away. Like Lauren, I have more things to say than the time to say them, so let’s see if I can summarize without getting all Galt-rambly.
Like you, I am a leftist, but I simply cannot understand how those who are not - especially those who identify as the “Christian Right” - can agree with political philosophy that is informed by an ethic of selfishness. It baffles me.
Thank you for the tour of very cool knitting charities. I personally have never knit for charity (except for local charity auction fundraisers for local schools and for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation). Instead, I do as others above have mentioned, I do a good bit of gift-knitting, with my favorite kind being done with other knitters for a knitter-friend in need. I prefer my knitting to be gifted to those I know personally - I like the intimacy and the connection - and usually, with charity, I give money or other donations. I have participated in Project Linus at my church, by making fleece no-sew blankets with the children in our church. It’s hard for me to imagine at this time in my life spending the time on knitting a blanket for charity, though maybe someday I will. But right now, I’d rather give to charity in other ways.
Honestly, I consider myself mostly a “selfish knitter,” but I consider the time I spend knitting to be so renewing that I feel it makes me a more charitable person overall.
One last thing - I’ve been the recipient of charity crafting, and it still blows me away that people spent time and energy on gifts for someone they would never meet. When my boys were born, they each spent some time in the NICU. We received handknit caps and handquilted blankets for each of them, donated to the hospital by kind crafters. This was before I was a knitter, so I hadn’t made any items for the babies myself. During a very stressful and scary time in the hospital, it meant a lot to have a bit of handmade love to wrap around my babes.
April 20th, 2011 at 10:15 am
Yep, I read or heard an article recently about the new film of “Atlas Shrugged” coming out soon. I’m sure the pattern is just a clever marketing thing, quite probably named by someone who really doesn’t know the connotations. I mean, it IS clever, isn’t it?
Knitting instructions? “Cast on how many stitches work for you, knit however you think is best, and finish when it’s done to your satisfaction. Whatever you make, it’s bound to be better than what somebody else tells you to do!”
Charity? Mother Bear is great, and there’s a group that makes hats & warm things for an orphanage in NE Kazakhstan, called Mittens for Akkol. I’ve knit socks and mittens for them. They try to provide warm handknits for every kid in the orphanage who ages out each year.
April 20th, 2011 at 10:42 am
This is such a great post–thank you for such a thoughtful post on charity, handwork, and this baffling bit of marketing. I kind of hope this is just a little bit of tie in with a clever phrase, rather than an effort to pull in young people to Randian thought. When I was in high school, the only college scholarships available through the school required an essay on either The Fountainhed or Atlas Shrugged. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now that I know what they’re about, it seems kind of insidious.
I don’t do much charity knitting, except occasionally to donate items for a fundraising raffle at a local historic site. The item usually stays in the community and the site gets much needed operating funds. Thank you for the roundup of links to other charities, though, it’s gotten me thinking more about doing charity knitting.
April 20th, 2011 at 11:06 am
I haven’t read Ayn Rand, nor do I plan/see the need to, and I don’t currently do charity knitting; surprisingly, I have many requests from friends and family to knit socks (and sweaters) for them, and my queue is pretty long right now. I knit for them because it’s love; a knitted object is a token of my feelings for them. I chose a pattern and a yarn and I invested my time and my talent, and I think that charity knitting has the same spirit.
I see charity knitting as quite different from the ‘Lady Bountiful’ forms of charity discussed in your post (and I agree with much of your analysis) in that charity knitters take actual hours of their lives to produce something for a stranger that says ’someone thinks you matter, and gave her (or his) labour to make something for you.’ The fact that for most of us knitting is leisure as well as labour adds the element of *pleasure* instead of duty or obligation into the mix, which I think is beneficial (”if I can’t dance…”).
April 20th, 2011 at 11:36 am
Sorry for the double-post but while walking my dog it occurred to me that this shrug is the perfect representation of Rand’s work: it has as many holes as her theories; as a knitted garment (which has warmth as a fundamental purpose — I had to wear a toque to walk to dog *in late April*) it is essentially non-functional; it covers about as much of the body as her theories cover social-political realities…. I could go on but I’ll leave it at that.
April 20th, 2011 at 11:45 am
How about we all knit a bunch of the Atlas Shrugs and donate them to charity? A little spit in Rand’s eye!
April 20th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
So the next time I’m knitting and the FO doesn’t match with my vision, I now have an alternative to frogging and starting over. I’ll just blow it up and call it “Pulling a Roark.” Good times.
April 20th, 2011 at 9:54 pm
I too was a little bit weirded out when I saw this pattern, but I also wasn’t quite sure how to respond to it. Thank you for helping deconstruct what we’re seeing.
It’s been a long time since I read any of Rand’s work, so sarcasm is out. I think there are many, many worthwhile charities that take handcrafted donations, and I particularly like the work of those who work together with hospitals and nursing homes. But I think the best knitting-related charity work is done by knitters who band together to group their monetary donations to organizations like Doctors Without Borders, where they will get the most use out of them.
April 21st, 2011 at 3:46 am
I’m not really sure what to think either. There’s also a free pdf pattern from the same yarn company called “Worsted Wool Tea Party Pullover.” It doesn’t have a blurb with the same kind of philosophic or literary reference, or appear to have anything to do with tea! Until we see some more lefty type pattern names, like the “The Yes We Can Again Pullover” or something of that sort, I am going to remain skeptical about them.
April 21st, 2011 at 8:45 am
I have to say my favourite crafting charity is The Mother Bear Project. It’s just so wonderful. The idea of the project is to knit bears to give to children in Africa who have been affected by HIV or AIDS in some way. The bears give the children something to love and show them that someone out there cares. A good friend of mine makes several bears a year to send to them and has made a few that look like people she knows. Seeing a picture of the little boy from Côte d’Ivoire that has the bear she made to look like me filled me with such pride and love, it was truly a moving moment.
April 23rd, 2011 at 12:41 am
A recent mood board for a knitting magazine featured a picture of a stack of books, the most prominent of which (by far) was “Atlas Shrugged.” Honestly, it made me (as a prospective designer) rather uncomfortable. Was there a political statement implied by the photo? Did whoever put the mood board together grab that picture for some other reason and just not know what that book might signify? The name of the book was so highly visible in the photo that it seemed like it must have been intentional, but I really didn’t know what to make of it.
I haven’t done any knitting for charities — what I have done is knit things and donate them to auctions, where they might generate more money than I could come up with on my own to go to a cause I support. My favorite there is Legal Voice, formerly known as the Northwest Women’s Law Center.
April 23rd, 2011 at 11:35 am
I have to say I am more of a Craftivism sort. Peaceful protest (its worth a shot since nothing else is working lol) through the power of my needles!
Some other favorites do include -
Dishcloths for Doodies - (donated cloths and sales of cloths for Humane Society of Forsyth County)
Prayer Shawls - for church members
Animal Rescue Orgs - Including Greyhound Rescue of Arizona often ask for donations for auctions.
April 23rd, 2011 at 10:27 pm
I’m sure from your comments that you haven’t read any of Rand’s work and don’t understand that literature has to be evaluated in the context in which it was written - in this case after the depression when the country was in real trouble. As a general principle, when businesses can’t succeed and government lies to the people the regular person doesn’t really have a chance - jobs aren’t available and the country faces bankruptcy from too much debt- sound familiar? One doesn’t have to agree with every word she has written to get some insight from her stories. For example, many people who speak the loudest about helping others turn out to be hypocritical phonies, and many people who are honest enough to admit that they work to make a profit and take care of themselves (what Rand usually means when she uses the word selfish) actually spend a good bit of their time and money helping others. She was trying to get people to examine their true motives, stop being PC before there was the term PC and attempt to be honest and real. There are plenty of rich, industry bad guys in her books as well as rich, heroic industrialists. If you’re a literalist, you’re not going to get her, you should stick to regular fiction.
April 25th, 2011 at 12:49 am
Oh, how I hate Objectivism. Fantastic post. I advocate Afghans for Afghans- an amazing charity.
Also, WHERE CAN I GET THAT SHIRT? Please?
April 25th, 2011 at 9:01 pm
I’m a selfish knitter, because I’m a slooow knitter. I give moolah to charities, not knitting. Love the post, loved Atlas Shrugged, although I am sure I did not get out of the book what Rand was pushing. As Sarah says, where can I get the shirt?
April 25th, 2011 at 9:50 pm
I spend a lot of time in schools as part of my graduate program and find myself knitting for those kiddos who I notice never come to school with warm things in the winter months. It’s an unofficial charity, but one I enjoy, especially when the kids connect that the hat in their hands used to be on the needles they would see me knitting with in the hallway.
April 27th, 2011 at 11:38 pm
Delurking just this once to throw this out to the crafting hive-mind…
While I’m no fan of Ayn Rand or Atlas Shrugged, I have to admit that the “Atlas Shrug” is a catchy tie-in name. I’ve been racking my brain for a few days trying to think of (or find via Google) a similar book/craft tie-in for a politically left of center work. I’ve come across a few “Grapes of Wrath” scarves, but not much else (more than a few animal farms, but nothing to do with Orwell’s Animal Farm). So many of the major works of political fiction by left of center writers don’t seem to work very well for a tie-in based on the title. 1984 and Bellamy’s Looking Backward might have some millage as ‘memory’ quilts of sorts, but that is stretching it. Jack London’s The Iron Heel is named after the antagonist, so knitting socks with iron colored contrasting heels and toes wouldn’t have the right symbolism. So anybody out there have any decent book/crafting combos that might work?
May 7th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
This is an awesome post that really hit a nerve for me. Not just a feminine pursuit, knitting, spinning, weaving, and other wool crafts have also traditionally been a communal activity. Some of the very earliest communities grew up around the concept of one family raising sheep, another family doing stuff with the wool, both families being warm. It’s possible to do it all yourself, but it’s not easy, and how much time are you taking away from other important tasks? Homo sapiens are a social species. We may be versatile enough to live on our own if needed, but we flourish when we work together. And when we make others’ lives easier, increase their security, their happiness, they’re more free to do what they do best, and everyone’s lives are thus enriched. That’s one thing I’m surprised Rand and her bitter acolytes haven’t realized, how we can help ourselves most by helping others.
And it hit me on a more personal level. In highschool, for a few months at least, I was into Ayn Rand. I’m not proud of it. In fact, I still beat myself up over it. I’m disappointed in myself for not having a strong enough moral compass to realize that she didn’t add up sooner. I tried to make up for it by trying to de-convert anyone I had previously told about her, but some of the guilt is still there after all these years. I’d like to do more to actively encourage compassion and cooperation, to make up for my own moments of selfishness, and to help repair the social safety net that so many people need right now.
So, if I win this awesome contest, I’ll raise the bet a little more. I’ll design some awesome pattern with the yarn you want to donate, you can knit it, possibly photograph it if you’re up for it, I can write it up, edit it, and we can sell the pattern and donate the proceeds to an awesome charity. I have a few in mind, like Heifer Intl and the Polaris Project, but if there are more local initiatives you’d like to focus on, I’m game.
May 24th, 2011 at 9:26 pm
That shrug is as full of holes as Rand’s arguments. Maybe that’s the point of the name, but I doubt it. Libertarianism has never had it so good, but calling it the Tea Party won’t civilize the innate selfishness of today’s far-right. Used to be they would be called the fringe. Now, thanks to FOX news and so-called reporting, they are legitimized. Dear me, I don’t think I ought to keep going. Thanks for the good blog post. My charity would be Project Linus, I guess.
May 29th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Obviously I am way late so this has nothing to do with the contest. I just wanted to say thank you for a truly articulate analysis of the complex issues surrounding peoples motives as they engage in charity work. I really enjoyed reading this post.
June 4th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
Wow! Just found this site today. Love your writing style. And everyone’s comments are spot on. My charitable knitting (and crocheting) is baby blankets for premies at the county hospital in Phoenix and I think Project Linus is a wonderful charity.
For charity to truly be charity, it must be anonymous. I have no political or religous agenda for doing things for people I don’t know. I have a skill (minimal as it may be) and I like to make things. Many things I will never use. So I am a selfish knitter because I love the yarns, love the magic of seeing a strand of yarn become a beautiful blanket or whatever.
I do make things for people I know and am disappointed when they do not react as I would like. That’s the selfish part.
As many others have said I could give money to organizations but making something seems more personal and involved to me.
June 14th, 2012 at 10:46 am
Count me a selfish knitter–it lowers my blood pressure enough that I was able to drop that one medication–the colors give me pleasure and I can dispose of the end result to some unsuspecting worthy cause. They think it is kindness; I call it clearing the way for more fun. Recepients of free hats never complain. If it is warm enough, that’s good enough. Loved the comments on Rand—glad now that I escaped that exposure.
October 6th, 2012 at 11:57 am
I just found your blog via ravelry and your FLS-pattern (and thanks for that!)
Hurray for a craftblog with a statement on politics! Living in Norway wasn’t aware of what Ayn Rand stands for (read about her now). Totally with you!
I agree that charity work can be done out of very wrong motivation and with not so charitable consequences really. But there is a lot of good we can do with charity and craftiness!
November 12th, 2012 at 10:21 am
[…] I have not and do not ever enter the tricky world of knitting-for-charity, because, well, Pam really has said it best in this encapsulation: Charity is always political, and it’s always about power. And, as a rule, […]