So it turns out I'm a member of a powerful order. This group has been able to use their numbers and influence to demand respect from even the toughest organizations, and few dare question the order's right to practice their rituals in public, even in places where so many other activities are restricted.
I'm speaking, of course, about knitters.
What? Knitters?
YES KNITTERS. >:D
On Monday, I read an article on Slate about an attempt on the part of the US Olympic Committee to prevent the fiber arts community site Ravelry from calling their annual knitting competition the "Ravelympics" because it violated copyright and "denigrated the spirit of the games" with its "frivolity". Ravelers, in return, began spamming the USOC demanding that the cease and desist order be revoked and that the USOC apologize for insulting knitting.
And it actually worked. The problem Ravelry had with the letter wasn't that they were making a copyright claim- the site hosts designers and everyone is very sensitive to intellectual property rights- but that the USOC chose to insult the craft while trying to protect their copyright. And they got their apology (although the USOC chose to go the Rush Limbaugh route and asked that knitters make things for the USOC; because we totally want to give gifts worked with our own two hands to people who won't value them).
Knitters are a terrifying group. Mess with us, and we'll come after you with our pointy sticks and our Twitters.
When the TSA tried to ban knitting needles from being allowed on flights, the knitting community organized a letter-writing campaign to demand that they change their regulations.
It totally worked.
God, I love being a knitter.
Seriously, don't mess with us. We're not all grandmas, we're not all wilting wallflowers. We're BA craftspeople who take pride in what we do.
Screw with knitters and prepare to face our wrath. >:D
It's a tight-knit community.
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