8th of March & the Tearoom Pullover
Tearoom Pullover DK weight
in Honer och Eir Nutiden
In many Eastern European cities today, women are being approached on the streets at random and handed bunches of flowers. At their places of work, they will likely be given boxes of chocolates and small token gifts.
Even as a child in the Soviet Union, I was fascinated by the contradictory nature of the 8th of March - the colloquial name for what is known around the world, if rather vaguely, as International Women’s Day.
The 8th of March, as it is celebrated in that region, is difficult to describe. In practice and in tone, it is Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day rolled into one, but with an extra political slant, emphasising female leadership, accomplishment and independence…
The bewildering aspect of this, at least to the western eye and ear, is that it manages to combine, and seemingly confuse, the feminine and the feminist. Saccharine and gender-stereotyped sentimentailties (think school children reciting poems titled My Gentle Loving Mummy, husbands booking candle-lit meals…) mix comfortably with earnest political messages pertaining to body autonomy. Female accomplishments in the science-technology sector are lauded in the same breath as maternal qualities are praised.
Tearoom Pullover sport-weight
in Townhouse Yarns Olla No.2
Whether this reads as mixed messages, or a perfectly cohesive narrative on the complexities of womanhood, will depend on one’s cultural vantage point.
As a product of an upbringing in constant displacement between geographical regions, I honestly can’t say for sure how I see it anymore. I mean, if someone handed me a bunch of flowers on public transport today ‘just for being a woman,’ would I enjoy it? Or would I perceive it as similar to being told to ‘Smile!’ by a random stranger who decided it was my duty to brighten his day?
Perhaps I think of these things when designing colourwork knitwear, because it is so overtly decorative. If we dig deep enough, its wearing stems from folkloric traditions centred around courtship rituals and signalling one’s status as a woman.
What is it that I want to signal, if anything? In time, I hope to know. And creating designs such as the Tearoom Pullover, with all ts implications and accompanying photography, helps me work it out. And I suppose I hope it evokes these thoughts in the viewer as well, if only unconsciously and gently.
Raising a cup of tea to you, on this fine 8th of March.
The Tearoom Pullover has now been updated to include a DK-weight version, with a steeked shawl collar neckline.
