Estelle Hughes of Midwinter Yarns will be speaking on ‘Hönsestrik: Radical Knitting’ at the Perth Festival of Yarn in Scotland on 10th September 2022.
Hönsestrik, or Hønsestrik, sometimes translated as hen knitting or chicken knitting, originated in Denmark in the 1970s. It is a distinctive type of stranded colourwork worked in the round, with vibrant, often highly contrasting colours, combined with non-traditional patterns and symbols with political and cultural meaning. Hønsestrik was devised by Danish knitting designer Kirsten Hofstätter (1941-2007) and spread via her books, starting with ‘Hønsestrik‘, first published in 1973. Hofstätter’s intention was to free knitters from reliance on mass-production and to inspire people, particularly women, to express themselves through making. It is a style of knitting at once feminist, anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist, an early form of craft activism enjoying something of a resurgence, encouraged by recent publications.
Estelle Hughes’ talk, ‘Hönsestrik: Radical Knitting’, will be held at 3pm at the Dewars Centre in Perth on Saturday 10th September. Tickets cost £10 and are available separately to the main Perth Festival of Yarn: https://perthfestivalofyarn.uk/product/estelle-hughes-honsestrik-radical-knitting
Above image shows Estelle Hughes in her own Hönsestrik/Hønsestrik/hen knitting cardigan