Call it a regression to a time when everyone busied themselves with Home Eco assignments, knitting needles, and crochet techniques. But then again, the phenomenon could be considered an act of taking decades’ worth of leaps forward.
Many folks have been embracing the lola lifestyle: kicking your feet up on a Saturday night with your sewing circle, charging off to join a rubber-stamp making collective, or trying your hand at the pottery wheel.
There’s been a worldwide resurgence of frump. Not only are vintage threads and orthopedic shoes making their way into shops, but also hobbies primarily associated with octogenarians and their ilk are taking over the youth sphere. The community of crafters, knitters, crocheters, and the like has been experiencing a slow and steady growth over a number of years, and now fill the metro and the Internet with their blogs, Instagram accounts, online ‘zines, and even pop-up shops and stand-alone stores. While the stalwart establishments have long been around (the same ones you went to when you were in grade school and needed supplies for a sewing project), this infusion of youth into the granny circuit has suddenly affected all things lola with a dose of underground cool.
CraftMNL provides a virtual and physical space for this community of artisans and crafters and plays host to a plethora of skilled enthusiasts of all things handmade. While some folks prefer to keep their knitting circles private, trading tips for buying yarn from obscure online sellers abroad and sharing patterns and chismis once a week, others, like Candy Reyes-Alipio, prefer to take their interests full throttle and out in the open. “Knitting has to be my favorite craft so far,” she says on an interview with the CraftMNL blog. The artist held a workshop earlier this year, “Candy Knits Over Coffee” that brought together knitting with another granny treat: great coffee.
If anything, the rise of granny mode means that crafty lurkers no longer need to hide in the attic. Meet your fellow lolas and get aboard the frump train.
Writer: CHINGGAY LABRADOR
