Knits just got hip

Theo is also struck by the hobby's history and simplicity. The precise geographical origins of knitting are not known, but the craft is believed to have been developed BC. 'People have been knitting for centuries,' she says, 'and in all that time the technique hasn't changed. The same stitches and patterns that people designed and created years ago are still used today. The needles have improved, but the act of knitting requires the same patience and concentration it did hundreds of years ago. It forces people to slow down, which I think is part of its appeal for people who nowadays juggle many different tasks. The wool, the colour, the style and the fit are all up to you. Patterns can be adapted and made into something individual.'

There are now over 1,000 people on the Cast Off mailing list. However, Rachel doesn't think the current trend is really a revival. 'People have always done it,' she says. 'It's just now they're doing it in public. And that's led to a surge of new people keen to learn how.' In her first book, Knit-O-Rama, Rachel explains how to knit everything from fried eggs to a chocolate gateau. On the Cast Off website you can buy patterns for archly absurd items such as a knitted willy with realistic veins, a knitted grenade with the slogan 'Drop Stitches, Not Grenades' and knitted dishcloths.

Debbie Stoller, editor of the usually resolutely undomesticated American women's magazine Bust, has attempted to subvert the frumpy image of knitting and recast it as an expression of feminism. In the introduction to her book Stitch 'N' Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook - a kind of social-history-cum-manifesto - she writes:

'Why, dammit, doesn't knitting receive as much respect as any other hobby? Why is it still looked down on? It seemed to me that the main difference between knitting and, say, fishing or woodworking or basketball, was that knitting had traditionally been done by women. As far as I could tell, that was the only reason it had gotten such a bad rap. And that's when it dawned on me: all those people who looked down on knitting - and housework, and housewives - were not being feminist at all. In fact, they were being antifeminist, since they seemed to think that only those things that men did, or had done, were worthwhile.'

For every trend there will always be bandwagon jumpers (forgive the pun) and social knitting clubs such as Knitter Natter and Stitches & Hos have sprung up all over the country, but Rachel is quick to dismiss those who think the trend is rooted in irony. 'If you're going to start a project and you're going to knit something, you're not being ironic because it's a lot of work to get through a garment. All these people who are making stuff are usually making it out of love. We make things that are funny, but to every comic idea there's a serious side. To actually conceive an idea, make it and give it away, that's a serious thing.'

Rachel's advice for budding knitters

• Find a ball of wool that turns you on.
• Find a friend that you can knit with so you've got someone to advise you.
• Make sure you've got a good stack of movies to watch (nothing with subtitles!).

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