Hank Green has been a knotty boy. One of the latest episode on his YouTube channel SciShow is all about knitting, and how science is elevating the lowly craft to a place of actual importance. You know who finds that take distasteful? Knitters.
Online fiber arts discourse is no place for the weak. A new drama erupts on r/crochet, KnitTok, or in the YouTube comments seemingly on the daily. If you think acrylic vs. natural yarn is an anodyne topic of conversation, you could not be further from the truth. Here’s everything we know about
What did Hank Green say?
It’s not so much what Hank Green said, but what the Hank Green-hosted SciShow on YouTube put forward. The video is framed as physicists using science to explain the art of knitting, which until now has been innovated simply “through trial and error,” and that “how it all works was mostly a mystery.” Recently, scientists used a computer model to determine how certain knit stitches will behave, thus being able to predictively pattern knit fabrics for the first time. Green then explained the medical and industrial applications for these new knits. He also said there’s nothing left to improve in making sweaters, that sweaters have already hit their ceiling.
How have knitters responded?
YouTuber Kristine Vike published a video fact-checking Green/SciShow’s work. It’s around double the length of the original, and more of a call-in than a callout. As she says in the video’s description, there’s “no hate to Hank Green and the SciShow team,” and that wading into areas outside your ken will sometimes result in looking dumb to people with more experience.
YouTuber Deborah Knits called the SciShow video “mansplaining,” and generally pushed back on the idea that science would legitimize knitting more than it already was. “Knitting has historically been devalued because it’s women’s work,” she says. “Hank could have said ‘Knitting is being used in physics. How cool.’ Instead, the way he said it came across as ‘Knitting’s kind of silly, but physics makes it serious.’” Deborah also pointed out that “trial and error” is also the backbone of scientific inquiry, and denigrating it as inferior to computer modeling is wack.
And one small detail knitters have pointed out about Green’s video: turning the heel in a sock isn’t the “simple thing” he claimed. It’s a real Rubicon of knitting. A make or break that separates the true purl-heads from those who say “Fuck it, I’m just making scarves for the rest of my life.” People have died.
Has SciShow apologized?
At great length! Jess, a producer on the show and also a knitter, wrote a paragraphs-long comment addressing people’s criticism of the vid. “To give an honest peek behind the curtain, this video was a trial in its own way for SciShow – we didn’t know how knitting as a topic would land with our audience or if the video would be seen by knitters who didn’t already watch SciShow,” she wrote. “Turns out our first error was thinking we wouldn’t reach the audience of knitters who are also excited about science.” Jess wrote that the SciShow team regretted the overly simplified language used throughout the video, saying they didn’t intend to “alienate knitters or misrepresent the craft. Rather, we were intending to engage and invite non-knitters to learn about this craft that’s got way more going on than they may have imagined.”
Related
SciShow may want to turn heel.
