“In the nineteeth century, knitting was prescribed to women as a cure for nervousness and hysteria. Many new knitters find this sort of hard to believe because, until you get good at it, knitting seems to cause those ailments..”

—  Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Source: At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "In the nineteeth century, knitting was prescribed to women as a cure for nervousness and hysteria. Many new knitters fi…" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee?
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee photo
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee 12
Canadian writer 1968

Related quotes

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee photo

“You don't knit because you are patient. You are patient because you knit.”

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (1968) Canadian writer

Things I Learned From Knitting

“To say that genetic differences are relevant to hetero- and homosexuality is not, however, to say that there are “genes for homosexuality” or even that there is a “genetic tendency to homosexuality.” This critical point can be illustrated by an example I owe to the philosopher of science, Elliott Sober. If we look at the chromosomes of people who knit and those who do not, we will find that with few exceptions, knitters have two X chromosomes, while people with one X and one Y chromosome almost never knit. Yet it would be absurd to say that we had discovered genes for knitting. The possession of two X chromosomes causes an embryo, with rare exceptions, to develop into an anatomical and physiological female, while the possession of a Y chromosome leads almost always to male development, and in our culture women are taught to knit while men are not. The beauty of this example is its historical (and geographical) contingency. Had we made the observations before the end of the eighteenth century (or even now in a few Irish, Scottish and Newfoundland communities), the result would have been reversed. Hand knitting was men’s work before the introduction of knitting machines around 1790, and was turned into a female domestic occupation only when mechanization made it economically marginal.”

Richard C. Lewontin (1929) American evolutionary biologist

Genes and Sexuality: An Exchange (1995)

Laurie Halse Anderson photo

“I knit the afternoon away. I knit reasons for Elijah to come back. I knit apologies for Emma. I knit angry knots and slipped stitches for every mistake I ever made, and I knit wet, swollen stitches that look awful. I knit the sun down.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

Tracey Ullman photo

“As I get older, I just prefer to knit.”

Tracey Ullman (1959) English-born actress, comedian, singer, dancer, screenwriter, producer, director, author and businesswoman

"Q&A: Tracey Ullman" http://www.newsweek.com/newsmakers-127011 (Newsweek, 19 September 2004)

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee photo

“There is practically no activity that cannot be enhanced or replaced by knitting, if you really want to get obsessive about it.”

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (1968) Canadian writer

Source: At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee photo

“I will continue to freak out my children by knitting in public. It's good for them.”

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (1968) Canadian writer

Source: At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much

Barack Obama photo

“We are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2015, State of the Union Address (January 2015)

Tom Wolfe photo

“The Internet is the modern form of knitting. In the old days women who had nothing to do would knit, but at least you got something out of it — a pair of socks, maybe a scarf, occasionally a little bedspread. That’s mostly what the Internet is, just passing the time. But unfortunately you are dealing with words that can have meaning.”

Tom Wolfe (1930–2018) American author and journalist

American Spectator interview (2005)

Alan Hirsch photo

“The appetite for adventure and risk is not exclusive to young Christians. In face, it seems to be a fundamental yearning, knitted into the fabric of the human soul.”

Alan Hirsch (1959) South African missionary

Source: The Faith of Leap (2011), p. 157

Related topics