Olympian Tom Daley is the most decorated diver in Britain's history. He is also an avid knitter. At the Paris 2024 Olympics Daley added a fifth medal to his collection and caught the world's attention knitting a bright blue Paris 24 jumper while travelling to the games and in the stands.
At the Tokyo Olympics, where Daley was first spotted knitting, he explained its positive impact on his mental health. "It just turned into my mindfulness, my meditation, my calm and my way to escape the stresses of everyday life and, in particular, going to an Olympics," he said. The mental health benefits of knitting are well established.
So why is someone famous like Daley knitting in public still so surprising? Knitting is gendered Knitting is usually associated with women especially older women as a hobby done at home. In a large international survey of knitting, 99 per cent of respondents identified as female. But the history of yarn crafts and gender is more tangled.
In Europe in the Middle Ages, knitting guilds were exclusive and reserved for men. They were part of a respected Europe-wide trade addressing a demand for knitted products that could not be satisfied by domestic workers alone. The Industrial Revolution made the production of clothed goods cheaper and faster than hand-knitting.
Knitting and other needlecrafts became a leisure activity for women, done in the private sphere of the home. World Wars I and II turned the spotlight back on knitting as a patriotic duty, but it was s.