Listen now | In today’s episode, Matt, Angela, and special guest Hunter Hammersen explore the fascinating world of knitting and discuss why it resonates so well with autistic minds!
Ho. Lee. Smokes! I am a devoted knitter and I had not venn-diagrammed with Autism, and now thanks to this episode--which I loved!--I have. What a great one. I want to add one thing: either Matt or Angela asked about whether it was possible to deep-dive in knitting, and there are SOOOO many ways: knitting history (lots of great books), knitting techniques and stitch patterns (more great books, including stitch dictionaries, be still my heart), perfecting technique (the three-level Master Knitting program, for instance), and probably others I've forgotten. PLUS: there is the enormous website called "ravelry," designed to combine places to catalog your stash, library, and projects (all with photos) with searches for patterns and designers and so much more. Knitting (and crochet) is truly an Autistic wonderland! Thanks for this fantastic episode and to Hunter Hammersen for being a great guest!
I’m Sami Harris, Content Manager for The Autistic Culture Podcast, and I’m thrilled to hear that this episode resonated with you! I love how you’ve taken the conversation about knitting and autism to the next level! You’re absolutely right—there are so many ways to deep-dive into knitting. The history, techniques, and community (especially places like Ravelry) are such a treasure trove for those who appreciate the art. It’s so amazing to see how knitting can be both a deeply personal and profoundly creative outlet, especially for those of us in the autism community. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and I’m so glad you loved the episode! Also, huge shoutout to Hunter Hammersen for being an awesome guest!
I know this is off-topic, but can we please address Wicked and all how autistic-coded Elphaba is?! I know it's been mentioned in previous pods but would love to dive in more with the new updated movie version!! The song about popular and having to be taught NT ways of socializing
Angela and other fiber-craft-curious people, it’s worth trying both knitting and crochet in case one works better for you. They have different hand movements and tools, but both let you play with yarn to make fun or useful things. Either way, I recommend learning new stitches with bulky yarn in a pale to medium colour so that you can really see the structure of the stitches, and compare them to the photo or video. It’s not hard to teach yourself from videos, but be aware of which knitting style (English and Continental rely on opposite hands), or crochet terminology (UK versus US) they’re using, or you could get pretty confused.
I have a hunch that Angela would like making amigurumi (small cute toys) after graduating from dishcloths. There are lots of easy ones. I made a whole school of sea creatures for my sister, which she hung from the ceiling as an art piece. I’m told they get a lot of compliments.
I like crocheting things while soaking up stories (tv, movies, podcasts, conversations...) It’s a soothing and satisfying fidget, and much more versatile than most. ;) I mostly work from patterns, but as with cooking, once you see how multiple recipes for the same thing overlap or diverge, you can start inventing variations. I wrote my own jellyfish pattern after working several existing patterns.
I second this whole-heartedly! My daughters both knit, but I've tried and just cannot manage coordinating two or more needles as well as the yarn. But I can crochet ANYTHING - it's only one hook and the yarn - and I love the infinite flexibility it gives me.
And while I'm on here, how about a show on quilting? It's got to be the most autistic sewing craft ever! It combines precise cutting and matching of shapes to create intricate patterns. Each individual's perception of colors affects the end results in unique ways. Quilters can get extremely needy about the specific techniques, the fabrics, the history of quilting, the pattern variations - it's fabulous! There's a lot of gender and social justice involvement, too, because quilting has always been a "women's craft" and stylistic differences are very strong between different groups like Amish, African American quilters (Gee's Bend, etc.). There's also things like the AIDS memorial quilt. . . Anyway, it's just a thought.
This was so much fun! Fiber arts are one of my SpINs, although I'm more of a generalist - costume, crochet, embroidery, weaving, and only a bit of knitting. But what's interesting to me is that my whole ND family shares aspects of the same interests, and it's my (nominally) non-autistic older daughter who has the deepest interest in all the nerdy aspects of knitting. She loves to info-dump on historical knitting in England, for example, and has found video of women from the early 20th C. who could knit over 200 stitches a minute while walking along tending their sheep or whatever. Crazy!
Ho. Lee. Smokes! I am a devoted knitter and I had not venn-diagrammed with Autism, and now thanks to this episode--which I loved!--I have. What a great one. I want to add one thing: either Matt or Angela asked about whether it was possible to deep-dive in knitting, and there are SOOOO many ways: knitting history (lots of great books), knitting techniques and stitch patterns (more great books, including stitch dictionaries, be still my heart), perfecting technique (the three-level Master Knitting program, for instance), and probably others I've forgotten. PLUS: there is the enormous website called "ravelry," designed to combine places to catalog your stash, library, and projects (all with photos) with searches for patterns and designers and so much more. Knitting (and crochet) is truly an Autistic wonderland! Thanks for this fantastic episode and to Hunter Hammersen for being a great guest!
I’m Sami Harris, Content Manager for The Autistic Culture Podcast, and I’m thrilled to hear that this episode resonated with you! I love how you’ve taken the conversation about knitting and autism to the next level! You’re absolutely right—there are so many ways to deep-dive into knitting. The history, techniques, and community (especially places like Ravelry) are such a treasure trove for those who appreciate the art. It’s so amazing to see how knitting can be both a deeply personal and profoundly creative outlet, especially for those of us in the autism community. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and I’m so glad you loved the episode! Also, huge shoutout to Hunter Hammersen for being an awesome guest!
Thanks for this note, Sami, and for all you do for the podcast!
I know this is off-topic, but can we please address Wicked and all how autistic-coded Elphaba is?! I know it's been mentioned in previous pods but would love to dive in more with the new updated movie version!! The song about popular and having to be taught NT ways of socializing
Angela and other fiber-craft-curious people, it’s worth trying both knitting and crochet in case one works better for you. They have different hand movements and tools, but both let you play with yarn to make fun or useful things. Either way, I recommend learning new stitches with bulky yarn in a pale to medium colour so that you can really see the structure of the stitches, and compare them to the photo or video. It’s not hard to teach yourself from videos, but be aware of which knitting style (English and Continental rely on opposite hands), or crochet terminology (UK versus US) they’re using, or you could get pretty confused.
I have a hunch that Angela would like making amigurumi (small cute toys) after graduating from dishcloths. There are lots of easy ones. I made a whole school of sea creatures for my sister, which she hung from the ceiling as an art piece. I’m told they get a lot of compliments.
I like crocheting things while soaking up stories (tv, movies, podcasts, conversations...) It’s a soothing and satisfying fidget, and much more versatile than most. ;) I mostly work from patterns, but as with cooking, once you see how multiple recipes for the same thing overlap or diverge, you can start inventing variations. I wrote my own jellyfish pattern after working several existing patterns.
I second this whole-heartedly! My daughters both knit, but I've tried and just cannot manage coordinating two or more needles as well as the yarn. But I can crochet ANYTHING - it's only one hook and the yarn - and I love the infinite flexibility it gives me.
And while I'm on here, how about a show on quilting? It's got to be the most autistic sewing craft ever! It combines precise cutting and matching of shapes to create intricate patterns. Each individual's perception of colors affects the end results in unique ways. Quilters can get extremely needy about the specific techniques, the fabrics, the history of quilting, the pattern variations - it's fabulous! There's a lot of gender and social justice involvement, too, because quilting has always been a "women's craft" and stylistic differences are very strong between different groups like Amish, African American quilters (Gee's Bend, etc.). There's also things like the AIDS memorial quilt. . . Anyway, it's just a thought.
This was so much fun! Fiber arts are one of my SpINs, although I'm more of a generalist - costume, crochet, embroidery, weaving, and only a bit of knitting. But what's interesting to me is that my whole ND family shares aspects of the same interests, and it's my (nominally) non-autistic older daughter who has the deepest interest in all the nerdy aspects of knitting. She loves to info-dump on historical knitting in England, for example, and has found video of women from the early 20th C. who could knit over 200 stitches a minute while walking along tending their sheep or whatever. Crazy!
Thanks for a wonderful deep dive!
Hooray!! I am So Excited for this one!! Thank you So Much for putting it together!