SciShow Pulls Segment about Knitting After Complaints

Back in September I told you about knitters complaining about a SciShow episode narrated by Hank Green in which obvious mistakes in terminology and illustration of points were made, not to mention saying “we” don’t really know how knitting works while also calling it simple to knit a sock and saying that most of what we know about knitting has come through the intuition of knitters as well as trial and error.

You can imagine how well that went down with knitters, who mostly tried to be nice but called out the errors and the way this all sounds like the usual no one noticed this was cool until a man started paying attention kind of thing.

While a producer who is also a knitter left a comment on the post after knitters started criticizing it, they also did a deeper review of the episode and have since pulled it from their channel.

In a statement on YouTube attributed to executive producer Nicole Sweeney, the show says the were “certainly not trying to be dismissive of knitting and knitters” with the episode but they understand how it could be interpreted that way.

They said they were “really excited” to share about the physics of knitting but were “overwhelmed” by the response.

Our biggest miss was how some of the language we used in the video fit into a very long history of diminishing the work and innovation of people who have made, and continue to make, textiles. We are really sorry for that. Ultimately, fabric is one of the foundational technologies of human civilization and the reason it is treated as less exciting or important than other technologies is because it has traditionally been the work of women.

Well, they go that right.

The statement goes on to say that they have no plans to rework the video by “have learned a lot from this experience.” (Namely, don’t mess with knitters.) They mention having “tremendous respect” for the legacy of fiber arts and the intensity of the knitting corner of YouTube. Yes, we were here before you and will be here when you’re gone.

All joking aside, I don’t know if the episode needed to be pulled, but the statement shows that they took criticisms seriously and were thoughtful about what to do next. Which is the best we can hope from anyone who does us wrong. The apology seems sincere and we hope they’ve learned an important lesson about contacting experts for fact checking before publishing videos that cover worlds they don’t know anything about.

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns!

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil.

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn.

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point.

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up.

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.

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