"Festival of the Needle"

When crochet makes it into the news, more times than not, there's misinformation.  Lets look at the article entitled "Grandma's doilies updated as fashion designers get hooked on crochet"  and dissect it a bit.

The article is about a three-day festival that celebrates the needle arts including knitting and crochet; they're hoping to attract 20,000 visitors.  It discusses how crocheting is "shedding it's fuddy-duddy image after showing up on the catwalks" [but] the "return of crochet is still confined to the designers and hasn't really reached the wider public no doubt because ... it seems technically difficult."

Huh?  What can possibly be difficult about having to use half the tools (while gaining twice the speed) over that of knitting??  The wider public knows crocheting is easier because the ratio of crocheters to knitters is 3:1.  Are they saying that the majority of those that know how to crochet are all designers?  (Now that's a wonderful thought right there!!!)  ... no, they corrected themselves further in the article stating, crochet " ... is easier than knitting.  You just have to count the loops."  (so why did they bother to say crocheting is technically difficult?  That made no sense at all!) 

I don't agree with the article stating "despite being flavour of the month, crochet remains a marginal activity compared to knitting or embroidery."   To disprove this statement all one needs to do is look at how crocheters are coming out of the closet and demanding ... no, that's the wrong word... we're commanding  (we're taking the authority to dominate) that yarn/thread manufacturers, publishers, and yarn shops take notice and address our needs.

I think that if this "Festival of the Needle" event,  taking place in Paris, is really going to celebrate the fiber arts, that it needs to, as well as those writing articles for it, overcome the bias of what crochet is, what it can do for fashion, and who's doing it.  Let crochet shed it's stepsister and "grandma fuddy-duddy" image once & for all, and let it be seen in the spot light that's long overdue.

And what can be better than that?  :)