I wrote On Being a Gift: Test Knitting as a Fat Person awhile back for Jen and Bess at One Wild Designs and they shared it in an email newsletter. I’d approached them after having a troubling experience test knitting for another designer, and they offered me the chance to write about it for them. We all agreed it would be best not to name the actual person; we weren’t out to “get” anyone, but to share an experience, and some thoughts about the test knitting experience as a fat knitter. Today, they’ve shared the same piece on their blog. I’m happy it has a permanent home on the internet.
I’m also happy, that in reading it, I’m still proud of the little essay. It isn’t just about having an unpleasant experience as a test knitter, but more broadly about having and clothing a fat body, and what that means. It is about viewing your body as a gift, not just to yourself, but to the world. And, I’m proud that it adds a bit to the size-inclusivity discussion in the knitting world by pointing out that being size-inclusive really needs to include an educational aspect to counteract the historical effects of fat knitters not having patterns that fit them until recently.
I’m thankful to One Wild for giving the piece a home, and even more thankful that they took it as a chance to think about their own designs, and how they want them to operate in the world. Truly, I admire Bess and Jen, and am proud to count them as friends.
Thank you so much for being a part of our knitting community, Christina. What I really valued about this piece is that it gave me a chance to evaluate what I’m doing as a designer and our own practices around Size Inclusion.
Like any justice movement, we’re never done “doing inclusion,” and reading about your experience with someone else gave me a chance to interrogate my own processes – and as you know, we ended up making some changes and shifting our focus.
The patterns in our recent collection were the first ones we designed after publishing this article, and the changes we decided to implement based on our reflection on your piece are evident in these pieces. I count myself lucky to have you as a friend and as a co-collaborator!
Your recent collection made me tear up with happy tears! Such great patterns, and I could clearly see the changes you had implemented in their conception and in the tools you provide for knitters.