http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,68-113839,00.html
===
Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz and even Russell Crowe are all under the power of the needle in the knitting revival
Take Russell Crowe, two pointy sticks and a bit of sheep. Put them all together and what do you get? A kebab? No, not a kebab. Try ※woolly jumper§. Strange as it seems, Australasia＊s most prominent hardman likes nothing better than to settle down with a pair of needles and a length of quality yarn and make like your old granny did whenever she fancied a new tea cosy. Crowe is a fan of knitting.
He is not the only one. While he was clacking away between takes on Ridley Scott＊s Gladiator, Julia Roberts was probably churning out a neat little Aran two-piece on the set of Erin Brockovich. For the record, Roberts shares patterns with Cameron Diaz. All three are part of a veritable Hollywood cottage industry which includes Uma Thurman, Naomi Campbell, Daryl Hannah, Winona Ryder, Goldie Hawn, Hilary Swank and Julianne Moore. You could clothe an entire George Michael Christmas video with that lot.
Knitting, without a doubt, is suddenly the hippest thing one can do with a needle since the days of heroin chic. It＊s not just celebrities who are leaping aboard the haberdashery bandwagon. Britain＊s largest knitting department, in John Lewis in Oxford Street, is packed every weekend. Time magazine has estimated that around four million young Americans took up knitting last year, and this month Vanity Fair stuck knitting clubs on its list of things that are ※in§.
Young professional urban knitting is booming. ※We run hour-long and full-day classes,§ says Jane Bunce, a Rowans design consultant at John Lewis. ※All are full of young professionals. Mainly they enjoy the chance to create something with their hands. Everything is so mass-produced these days. Knitting is the complete opposite of that,§ she says.
Knitting＊s appeal has a lot to do with the growing popularity of knitwear itself. A few years ago woolly jumpers were strictly the preserve of middle-aged ※cuddly§ television presenters 〞 they were everywhere, but always on the wrong people. But thanks to Julien Macdonald, John Galliano, Donna Karan, Christian Dior and Alexander McQueen, knitwear is back on the catwalks and high streets in all its ribbed and crocheted glory.
※It just takes the edge off the waiting when you＊re on set,§ says Roberts. ※Whenever I go on location, the first thing I do is find a place that has knitting things.§
Roberts claims to have knitted whole sets of curtains while filming, and Diaz, who caught the bug from her on the set of My Best Friend＊s Wedding, has spoken of Roberts＊s ability to knit ※sweater after sweater after sweater§ between takes. Exactly who ends up wearing these creations is something of a mystery.
But are Roberts and her ilk taking up knitting because they want to save on the cost of a lambswool shrug? Hardly. One thing that most of today＊s new breed of knitters will agree on, celebrity or not, is that they don＊t do it to save money.※People don＊t knit for economic reasons any more,§ says Bunce. ※It will always be more economical to buy something mass-produced from China. People knit because they enjoy it.§
The Knitting Guild of America has its own theory as to why the trend has taken off.
※Knitting is cheaper than therapy, and you get to wear the results,§ they trumpet.
This could be sartorially dangerous for the seriously disturbed. Watch Crowe＊s jumpers with interest.