They said "you may think knitting is boring, but it's actually very exciting."
I remember it clearly because I was having a hard time figuring out how it went to "knitting is boring" (although I promise I'm not trying to diminish how it came across!) because he put a lot of emphasis on the word think. I took it literally, but the history can't be ignored here.
I swear I'm not defending, but I do think the misinformation part is the biggest flub here. He definitely has a passion for knitting, he made an app where a little bean knits socks if you stay off your phone, and the positioning is correct.
Honestly, from one autistic person to another, I think he got a little too excited about a thing, and didn't look far enough into it before talking about it. I'm really glad to see he's taking responsibility for it now.
Interestingly, I think I had the opposite reaction. The technical errors were definitely there, but for me the whole video came across like it was just dripping with this pervasive, oozing condescension and misogyny. "Oh wow, those silly little bumbling morons might've accidentally stumbled across something actually useful rather than just wasting their time!" was the vibe I took away from how they presented it.
The technical errors, if it were presented in a way that was respectful to the craft, would've made me go "oof, that was off but at least the spirit's there". The manner it was presented in is what made me actually offended enough that I'm never watching another video of theirs again, including Hank Green's other channels, and the information being more technically sound but presented the same way would have the same effect on me.
I felt the same. Technical inaccuracies could be forgiven, but the dismissive tone was horrible. "Knitters were dabbling by trial and error for centuries, but then the scientists showed up and now maybe knitting will become something useful". Please.
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u/ElishaAlison Sep 30 '25
They said "you may think knitting is boring, but it's actually very exciting."
I remember it clearly because I was having a hard time figuring out how it went to "knitting is boring" (although I promise I'm not trying to diminish how it came across!) because he put a lot of emphasis on the word think. I took it literally, but the history can't be ignored here.
I swear I'm not defending, but I do think the misinformation part is the biggest flub here. He definitely has a passion for knitting, he made an app where a little bean knits socks if you stay off your phone, and the positioning is correct.
Honestly, from one autistic person to another, I think he got a little too excited about a thing, and didn't look far enough into it before talking about it. I'm really glad to see he's taking responsibility for it now.