US Olympics sent a complaint to the Ravelry Knitting Community.

Seattle-based Jen, from The Magpie Knitter, had no idea when she participated in a knitting competition that she was somehow denigrating the Olympic Games and disrespecting the hard work of the athletes.  The U.S. Olympic Committee, however, felt otherwise and sent a cease and desist letter to the knitting-based social network Ravelry that hosted the knitting "olympics." Now, knitters such as Jen are in revolt.


I read this little snippet and article about this on Blogher earlier tonight.


As a knitter, I would be in revolt too.


I'm sure that the Ravelry Community in 2008 and 2010 had no inkling that by getting knitting competition going around the same time as the olympics was being ignorant to the Olympic athletes.  Good lord.


Okay, so they had an olympic afhagan competition, hockey stick scarves and other team based knitting projects.  Big deal.  I'm sure that the majority of them were sitting down knitting while cheering on their favorite athletes.


Now, I'm kind of thinking, had I been on Ravelry a few years ago, I might have been a participant in this.  It's not disrespectful at all.  We're just being a part of our knitting community.  Which is not a community that  thinks that we like to mock our Olympic atheletes.  


Maybe we are just really dying to have a hockey stick scarf to give to our husbands, boyfriends, uncles or sons who admire and respect the Olympic Atheletes.  You mean to tell us we can't participate in a fun Ravelry event and share our passion for creating knitted garments and accessories?  Even if it is team oriented?


For Christ's Sake, we're knitters just enjoying picking up a pair of chick sticks and cool yarn for something we would like to make.


And I guess the US Olympics would be surprised that we are definitely not the old women in rocking chairs knitting an afgagan to pass the time.  


In today's knitting world, we are modern day women, with children, jobs in or outside the home, with full plates and to add to that we enjoy knitting.


And today, it isn't just the old women knitting.  It's mothers, aunts, sisters, and sometimes men.  Yes, men knit. They used to knit in the South years ago and it's nice to see that men continue to knit nowadays too.


And it doesn't stop there.  Young girls want to learn how to knit.  Teenage girls are forming knitting groups in school or at their homes.  


Women go to knitting groups outside of home.  We meet in local libraries, coffee shops or local book stores to spend a few hours knitting, making friends and sharing stories.


Nowadays, knitting is the new social.  Same with quilters too, or crocheters.  There are so many groups now, more than ever.


But you think way back to our great grandmother's day when they had a quilting bee.  It was their social event of the time.  Everyone worked on one quilt that was spread out for them.  My great grandmother did this.  


And my other great grandmother also made quilts.  But I can't remember if she was part of a quilting bee.


We've come a long way, and today we are strong, and we possess loud voices that say, "We're not going to stop doing what we love to do, even if it ticks off the US Olympics."  


We're standing up for the Olympic team members, because we believe in them.  And we're also going to join in Ravelry Olympics where we're going to make that special Olympic Scarf or other garment for the men in our lives who love watching the talented athletes.


So when we have another Ravelrylympics, I will be participating in this one and nobody's going to make me stop knitting in the event.


The Olympic team members are having their fun, and we're having ours.  DON'T CRUSH OUR FUN.


Jennifer Jo Fay


Copyrighted June 21, 2012