Knitting – is it just for grannies?

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another video for the British Council’s LearnEnglish Teens website and their YouTube channel. Now, I have a question for you: is knitting and crocheting just for grannies? Now, the reason I want to ask this question is because I learned how to knit when I was five years old and I recently learned how to crochet as well, and since then I have been making scarves and pillows and teddy bears and crocheting flowers. But I realised that it’s something that’s only really becoming popular with young people nowadays. Knitting and crocheting used to be associated just with grannies, but actually at my university we have a knitting society and lots of students participate in that and practise knitting, as well as male students – it’s not just a female thing to do.

So why do people actually think that knitting is just something that your grandma does? Well, I have a theory. When you think of a grandma, what do you think of? Or, when you watch a film, how is the grandma shown in the film? She probably has grey hair, maybe tied up in a bun, some glasses, an apron, sitting in a rocking chair, knitting … does that sound familiar? So, I think knitting is kind of like cooking or baking or cleaning. It’s seen as something that is quite homely, something that you do at home, something that women do, traditionally. On top of that, knitting and crocheting also takes a lot of patience and time, especially when you’re just starting out and you need to learn the different techniques and different stitch patterns and all that kind of stuff. So it makes sense that people think that grannies are the ones who do it the most, because if you’re retired and you don’t really have much to do, then you have a lot of free time to start knitting or crocheting.

Although young people may have busier schedules – like going out with friends or working, studying, doing sports – give knitting a go, I would say, or crocheting, if you haven’t already, because you can actually develop a lot of skills. It’s not only good for helping you relax and giving you a clearer mental state, but you can also learn other skills like problem solving – you might drop a stitch and have to pick it back up. You also learn a lot of new techniques, so it is really good for working your brain as well as your hands and keeping those joints very active.

I think knitting and crocheting can be for everyone and anyone. If you haven’t given it a go, give it a go! There are lots of great online resources to help you start learning, if you haven’t learned already, such as YouTube, for example – there are so many tutorials, and I actually taught myself how to crochet just using YouTube, and I’m actually impressed with all these little flowers and things that I’ve managed to make.

But I want to hear what you guys have to say on the topic. Do you think that knitting and crocheting are just for grannies, or do you think that anyone can do it? Are young people in your country doing it, and have you ever tried doing it yourself? Let me know in the comments below. Thank you for tuning in for this video, and happy knitting and happy crocheting! See you guys in the next one. Bye!