Das wird die Strickblogger freuen: In London eröffnet eine Ausstellung, die Stricken zur Revolution hochstilisiert: Political protest turns to the radical art of knitting.

The exhibition comes as knitting enjoys a fashionable resurgence, with celebrities from Madonna to Julia Roberts and Russell Crowe extolling its virtues as a creative outlet and a stress reliever.

Katie Bevan, one of the exhibition’s curators, believes that the roots of the trend are deeper. “There’s a sort of zeitgeist: a make-do-and-mend spirit during this war on terror or whatever it is. Everyone just wants to go home and knit socks.”

For many of the artists in the show, the act of knitting is itself political. Shane Waltener, who is making a site-specific, web-like piece embedded with a text from the French semiotician Roland Barthes, says knitting has been “long underrated because it is ‘women’s work'”. Part of the point for him is “going public as a guy doing knitting … I had to teach myself to knit and crochet, because ‘boys don’t’.”

For many political knitters, the craft represents an act of rebellion. Waltener says: “On the one hand I am celebrating this tradition that I really believe in. On the other it is about self-sufficiency. By knitting you are resisting capitalism and consumerism. You are not responding to the fashion industry; you are making your own decisions.”

Damit ist Russell Crowe aber sowas von der Schnuckiliste geflogen, so schnell kann der Mann gar nicht „Angorapulli“ sagen.