Welcome, sinister crafters to a collective where any cute-puppy knitting affinity is treated as heresy! The anticraft is a site created solely for those who cannot connect with their grandmother’s tea-cozy approach to the craft. Their philosophy is proudly printed as one which shows their disgust of “homogenized culture” and hopes to do anything, however small, as long as it “confronts the manufactured culture that is currently being churned out.” Oh yeah, and they “hate people en masse.” But then again, craftwork hasn’t always been the most social activity.
Issues of the ezine are regularly updated with new and interestingly dark projects. One, titled asphyxiation, immediately catches my eye. This choker made by using Venetian Crochet motifs is detailed in a step-by-step manner, providing the materials required, images for support and even a difficulty level with which to approach. The site also features a regularly updated blog, errata (corrections to posted craft projects) and even on an online store where you can purchase your favourite items such as a bumper sticker that reads: “You’re going to die anyway, so you might as well knit.”
Maybe this is a part of the subculture that isn’t recognized yet, but men are very obviously absent from this world of crafty knitters. This is, unfortunately, a women’s only club (though I’ll state that my grandfather was one of the best knitters around!). It becomes obvious when I read about “Old Reliable”: a knitted condom that looks more like a vibrator-cozy. The project warns of the knitted condom’s high risk of pregnancy, STD’s, burning, chafing, vaginal dryness and loss of erection but never seems to mention that this is horribly wrong and should never, ever be created! Knit on. (James King)
www.theanticraft.com