Knitting and tattoos...

Very interesting article that I spotted over on MSNBC on the topic of growing fads, What Do Tattoos and Knitting Say About US?. As a blogger I have witnessed the rise in blogs that focus on Knitting, and it appears in reading this article it's more than just in the blogosphere:

Between 2004 and 2005, the purchase of fashion yarn increased 56 percent. The fastest growing group of knitters are teens and twentysomethings.

Then this interesting tidbit:

Of the 75 microtrends cataloged in his book, Penn admits none caught his attention more than the bizarre fact churned up by a Miami polling firm last December, which found that 1 percent of Californians between the ages of 16 and 22, asked what they expected to be doing in 10 years, volunteered that they hoped to be military snipers. A sign of a generation desensitized to life and addled by videogames? Not to worry, says Penn. Aspiring snipers are evidence of a patriotic generation, who see sniping—a profession requiring reserve and cool in a war without front lines—as the new “Top Gun” military profession.

I recommend reading the article in full, and I'm interested in reading the book...