Knitting Social Identity: Yarn Grafitti in Transnational Craftivist Protests

This article examines the intersections between craft activism and social identity formation, focusing specifically on yarn bombing. Globally, women and men are taking up their knitting needles and crochet hooks to make political, social, cultural, aesthetic, and artistic statements. Through this practice, crafters build personal, social, and political identities. Drawing on theories of social, relational, and embodied identity, I examine four case studies of recent protests conducted by yarn bombers. Through a feminist lens, I offer conclusions about the complex intersection between making and social identity formations as well as offer a contingent explanation for the resurgence of crafting now and the paradigm shift in activism through craft.