I've been looking at (as best I can with the limited bookstores around me) some of the new knitting books out, and I do have a little worry nagging at the back of my head: is knitting becoming "too" trendy?

I mean that in the sense of people deciding later on that something else - say, making lampwork beads - is the new hot trend. And suddenly, everyone who knits is behind the times.

regardless of the fact that a lot of knitters were knitting before current devotees were even born.

I also worry about the possible polarization of knitting. I think I remember reading somewhere, the Hip Young Urban type of knitting - knit brassieres, "club wear" and other items - referred to as "knitting that doesn't suck."

ouch.

I believe people should be free to knit what they want, without ridicule. Personally, I would not want to knit or wear a knitted brassiere, but if someone else wants to, then more power to her.

Just don't tell me that making traditional-style shawls "sucks" because it is not of interest to you.

One thing I worry a wee bit about is the trend towards ahistoricality in our society. Of not caring about the context of what you do. I may be strange, but I care about context. I like the feeling of doing something or making something my great grandmother - or great great great grandmother - would recognize. Of thinking that many many years ago, there was a woman sitting beside a fireplace in Ireland, knitting stockings for her children - one of whom would be my ancestor. Or of a mother in Germany making sure her son had a warm sweater to wear when he went out hunting. Or of a little girl in Scotland (or maybe France) learning to knit on a sunny day, out in the dooryard.

and that all of those people have passed a little of their DNA to me.

I also love "historical" patterns, whether they are actually vintage patterns (I own a few) or recreations of old garments.

One of the things I want for Christmas is the kit for the Corps of Discovery hat, which is similar to caps worn on the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Somewhere in my files I have a pattern for a shawl like one Charlotte Bronte wore; I'm just waiting until I gain more lace expertise to begin it.

I guess part of my concern is that I see a general trend in society towards believing that "history is bunk". I, on the other hand, believe that if you don't know history, you spend a lot of time re-inventing the wheel.

I guess Saturdays are my day for rants here....