ARMENIAN TRADITION UNRAVELS INTO ONLINE KNITTING REPURPOSE SERVICE
By Kathleen Kirk, Reporter
The BG News
avels-into-online-knitting-repurpose-service/
Marc h 16 2010
When Gayane Avanian asked her son Haik to create a Web site to showcase
a knitting service, neither expected the resulting ReKnit to be an
overnight success.
However, just two days after its January 4 launch, the GOOD magazine’s
blog picked up the idea for one of its posts, highlighting it as
"sustainable fashion" and starting a whirlwind of press.
Sweaters sent to ReKnit are carefully unraveled by Gayane Avanian
and reknitted into something else.
The finished product depends on the results of the votes tallied from
a poll on ReKnit’s Web site, rekn.it, and the votes will determine
the next month’s knitted item.
March’s item was a hat, with two styles to select from, but within
eighteen hours, the month’s 30-order limit had been filled.
According to Haik, the cap had been set to keep his mother from
becoming overwhelmed after January brought in 35 orders.
The idea behind ReKnit is based on Armenian tradition. Haik describes
reknitting as "culturally normal" to Armenians and often cites "an
extreme example of rekniting" with a 40-year-old ball of yarn that
was repurposed multiple times.
"My grandma first used it to knit jackets for my mom and aunt when
they were born. As they grew the jackets were combined into one
sweater for my mom," he said.
This repurposing continued several more times, until it was finally
made into a jacket for his sister Ani when she was a child.
"We still have that jacket, and it’s a great family heirloom that
has a lot of our history embedded," Haik said.
This method of maintaining family history is appreciated by some of
ReKnit’s clients.
In an interview with NPR, Gayane Avanian said a woman sent her a jacket
knitted by her grandmother with a note requesting she incorporate
the buttons that were on it. She added them to the finished scarf.
However, according to Haik, some people use ReKnit for other purposes
besides family history.
"I had a man e-mail me and ask if it would be okay to send in a
sweater with kid stains," he said. "I said sure."
The next ordering period for ReKnit starts April 1, with orders
accepted online. ReKnit charges $30 per sweater.