What I’m Knitting To: RuPaul’s Drag Race

Posted on by Anna

It’s summer, it’s Friday, no one with any sense is on the internet, so I’m going to talk about RuPaul!

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I started watching (and knitting to) RuPaul’s Drag Race a few years ago after a friend recommended it to me. It took me about three episodes to get hooked, and my love for the show and its creator have only grown stronger as the seasons have continued. (Season six just ended, and the show has been renewed for season seven.) I’m convinced it’s the perfect reality show: drag is all about artifice and drama, after all, so Drag Race is non-guilty pleasure to watch, a joyous winking celebration of show business in its high and low forms.

And RuPaul is a guru under all that glamour—one of his great sayings is “we’re all born naked, and the rest is drag,” meaning that whoever you are, what you project to the world is something constructed by yourself and your culture, so no one can really claim that their style, lifestyle, or gender is more authentic than anyone else’s.

RuPaul is everywhere these days, from NPR to the New York Times to Marc Maron’s podcast, and he now has his own podcast in which he gossips with Michelle Visage, his best lady friend. Amidst the talk about wigs and juicing and other things I can’t relate to at all is a lot of wisdom about being true to yourself and aspiring to create something original and meaningful.

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I don’t generally get too excited about celebrities or even dresses and high heels, but I find myself making an exception for RuPaul and the other talented drag queens that have been on Drag Race. Some full episodes from the latest season are on the Logo website, and you can also purchase (gloriously un-bleeped) episodes via Apple TV.

And now I would love to turn the question to any of you who happen to be on the internet this Friday: What shows, podcasts, audiobooks, etc are you knitting to these days?

12 thoughts on “What I’m Knitting To: RuPaul’s Drag Race”

  2. Girl, I have LOVED Ru since the 1990s. My brother and sister used to hang out at the same clubs he did back in the 1980s.

    I’ve been a fan since season 2 and I’ve thought about making a tiny version of all the queens and Michelle Visage. My mental butt kicker is Ru saying “You betta WORK!”

    I’ve been enjoying watching Coffee with Stacey on FreshStitches.com and Ruth from RockandPurl.com’s vlog chats. It’s like knitting with friends but I don’t have to put on real clothing.

    I also love listening to Craftlit.com’s audiobook podcast. Great way to “read” a book without having to stop what I’m doing. Heather’s my companion when I’m cleaning up the house.

  4. I recently discovered that Hulu offers a lot of classic TV shows on their site. In spite of the fact that I’m only in my mid-30s, I grew up watching the classics on Nick at Nite, and it’s neat to watch them now that I’m an adult. These days I’ve been watching a lot of Adam-12 and The Dick Van Dyke show while knitting. I even designed and knit a pretty awesome (if I don’t say so myself :) ) replica of the Adam-12 patrol car while watching.

  5. Most of the time I just play some of my favorite shows and channels in the background like The Soup, Friends, South Park, Syfy Original Movies (Sharknado, Big Ass Spider!, and Ghost Shark are some of my favorites), and Comedy Central. A lot of the time when I make a tiny based off of a movie character I will watch that movie over and over. When I made my little Mardi Gras girl I watched the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog at least four times. If I’m not watching tv I’m probably listening to my favorite music like Lorde, Passion Pit, and Smallpools.

  6. I love to knit watching anime series on Netflix but that doesn’t work so well if there is no English dubbing. Subtitles and knitting do not mix well.

  7. Lots of learning right now. I’m watching a Great Courses DVD with the boyfriend about the Italian city-states prior to unification, and keeping up with lectures for an online course in Evolution that I’m TAing over the summer.

  8. OK. You and your gnomes are offically evil. I know you have brainwashed me into watching this now.

    Sigh.

    Only 4 seasons and 5 episodes to go and I will be free again.

  9. Ha, sorry Ruth! It is one of those shows that sucks you in fast! We’re watching the All Stars season that we missed right now, and I’m already sad that it’s all we’ve got until the next season.

  10. “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?” Words to live by.

    I just read/listened to “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat” which is my new favorite book. I’m going to listen to it again!

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