National’s Banks Peninsula MP Vanessa Weenink says she has given up knitting in Parliament because of what she called a ‘‘misogynistic’’ response.
She told Audrey Young of The New Zealand Herald that she genuinely enjoyed knitting in the chamber and found it helped her concentrate and listen more attentively.
‘‘Ultimately, it’s important to choose which issues are worth investing energy in,’’ Dr Weenink said. ‘‘For me, continuing to knit in the chamber didn’t seem like a battle worth fighting.’’
She had been knitting squares for charity, as it happens. But whether for good causes or not, it’s a shame she’s putting down her needles.
Far more shameful were the reactions.
No doubt, some echoed those sparked by West Coast–Tasman MP Maureen Pugh’s Facebook post on April 22. It also shows Dr Weenink knitting in Parliament.
Unfortunately, Ms Pugh suggested the knitting was a diversion from a speech by Opposition leader Chris Hipkins rather than a tool for attentiveness. Comments on the post quickly divided along partisan lines.
One commenter said Dr Weenink was paid handsomely to be present. Others also accused her of not being on the job.
Experienced knitters will concur with Dr Weenink’s concentration remark. The mind knits its thoughts while the hands knit the wool.
Australian writer Helen Burgess describes knitting as her ‘‘cognitive anchor’’.
Muscle memory is built through thousands of stitches and hundreds of hours of repetition.
‘‘I can knit while watching television, during conversations, in waiting rooms, on long car trips. My hands move independently, creating fabric while my conscious mind does something else entirely.’’
She says the familiar sequence doesn’t need active thought, freeing mental bandwidth for listening, thinking or problem-solving.
The repetitive, predictable motions signal safety to the nervous system, calming stress responses and stabilising attention.
The steady motion induces a relaxed, alert state, quieting distracting thoughts while keeping the mind awake.
Squish balls work on a similar principle: a simple, rhythmic motion that settles restless energy and frees up mental bandwidth. For kinaesthetic learners, the squeeze-and-release provides just enough tactile engagement to steady attention so the mind can stay on task.
The tradition of women knitting in Parliament is long. Labour MP Judith Tizard was, in 2002, labelled the Minister for Knitting. It helped relieve numbness in her fingers caused by ‘‘generalised pain syndrome’’.
She knitted shawls for former prime minister Helen Clark, former health minister Annette King, relatives and musician Neil Finn.
She even knitted as she sat in front of the speaker’s chair, as associate commerce minister, guiding the Trade Marks Bill through the House.
This caused Opposition outrage and prompted a rethink. The Speaker ruled, accepted by Ms Tizard, that: ‘‘Knitting is permitted in the chamber except by a minister in charge of a Bill in committee.’’
Ms Tizard followed in the stitches of MPs such as Marilyn Waring and Sonja Davies. Former Greens co-leader Metiria Turei was a keen knitter in Parliament, as are several MPs today, including Marama Davidson (Greens), Deborah Russell (Labour), Melissa Lee (National) and Nicole McKee (Act).
There is no reason those anti-knit critics should pick on knitters. Perhaps Dr Weenink can stick to her knitting after all.
