Knitting as a political act and therapy

I avoided posting this last year because I thought that anger may have clouded my judgement. Nearly a year has passed and I am no longer smarting, but I haven't changed my mind.

Australia's first woman prime minister, Julia Gillard, has made a dignified exit. It was the culmination of a destabilisation campaign that has lasted three years, conducted as much from within her own party as the political party that her government opposed.
While the criticism that accompanied the picture of Gillard knitting in The Australian Women's Weekly a few days ago was the predictable rubbish that the mainstream media churns out, I doubt that it really contributed much to her demise. A cultural cringe about craft is the subtext of many of these news stories.
Knitting was/is therapy for former US Secretary of State, Madeline Albright. It does not define her any more than it defines Julia Gillard. I love that Albright was able to use a brooch as a metaphor in her top level meetings and knitted bright red beanies for her grand kids to let off steam, rather than uncorking a bottle of wine.