The Big Rainbow Knit: Revisiting Craftivist Practices through Place-Based Making

Abstract

The Big Rainbow Knit is a project informed and influenced by craftivist practices and culminated in the yarn bombing of Huddersfield train station by local, national and international communities of knitters in June 2021. As a landmark project within the WOVEN in Kirklees bi-annual festival, it became an important force for social cohesion in a Covid-19 context. This article introduces The Big Rainbow Knit as a specific case study within the wider context of Kirklees Council’s approach to place-based making. 1 As a textile festival WOVEN in Kirklees is made with, by and for local communities. We firstly address place-based making approaches in the contexts of craftivism and community practice with the aim of secondly, considering how The Big Rainbow Knit is a manifestation of co-creative participation in the spirit of social cohesion. Thirdly, we consider how the concept of the “glocal” is a means through which to reflect on the links between online and offline platforms. We argue that the hybrid between near and far in a “glocal” milieu allows for a range of voices (active knitters, audiences as recipients of yarn bombing activities and community group engagements with The Big Rainbow Knit) to become more visible as key agents in a place-based process. Collectively, these voices, gathered through a range of feedback mechanisms, have helped to change perceptions and attitudes toward knitting in a local authority context and to offer new insights into the ways in which the making-agency of knit can acquire value through place-based cultural development.