Knitting can be a form of therapy, a group of 'Stitch'n'Bitchers' tell Fionola Meredith

There's certainly plenty of stitching going on when Ireland's first "stitch'n' bitch" group meet at the Library Bar in Dublin's Central Hotel. But frivolous bitching seems the last thing this collection of enthusiasts would indulge in; they appear intensely focused on their craft.

"Stitch'n'bitch is just a name," laughs Sorcha Cogle, founding member of the group. "We don't get together to participate in gossip; it's about sharing inspiration." Seated in a companionable circle, with an array of richly-coloured yarns in every lap, these women are part of a huge resurgence in the arts of knitting and sewing. Scorning the symbolic ropes, plaits and diamonds of traditional Aran patterns, they're more likely to take their inspiration from the sumptuous knitwear of fashion designers Issey Miyake and Calvin Klein.

A copy of New Yorker Debbie Stoller's Stitch'n'Bitch Nation, the bible of the "knitting revolution", lies open on the table. Stoller stresses how knitting, once freed from its utilitarian origins, is primarily a sensual pleasure. "When you get a good rhythm going . . . I like to use the word 'delicious'."

The Dublin "stitch'n'bitch" group appear rather sceptical of such knitting fanaticism. But they do identify with the "almost indescribable feeling of satisfaction and contentment", that Tara Jon Manning refers to in Mindful Knitting. Group member Loretta Mullins McGillion from Cork, who runs Ireland's online knitting store Lavender Yarns, says: "People are starting to realise that life is more than a professional treadmill. When you're working hard, you need calm down-time. And knitting is perfect - it frees the mind."

Dublin craftswoman Anne Kielty - an expert in cross-stitch, quilting, knitting and crochet - agrees: "I feel like I must always be doing something with my hands; knitting or sewing is a real focus for all my creative energy." Sue Tector-Sands is coordinator of the Cork 2005 project, the "Knitting Map" - a vast knitted "cartography" of the city, created over many months by 1,596 knitters - which will be appearing at the annual Knitting and Stitching Show at the RDS from November 3rd to 6th. "I've learned the importance of the social dimension, the value of just working quietly together in a diverse community of knitters."

Stoller claims to be unconcerned about the aesthetic status of knitting, often viewed as a "decorative" rather than a "fine" art. "People are always trying to raise it to something else; so you're saying it's really an artform? No. Is soccer really an artform? You don't have to validate that in the same way. It's a craft, it's very pleasurable, it's satisfying, it's a great way to spend your time. Our grandmothers have always known this, and we're just learning it again."

Not all feminists feel comfortable with the reawakening of interest in the domestic sphere. Natasha Walter has spoken out against the "curious nostalgia about old rituals of homelife". The risk is that, if women start embracing a retrospective ideal of the 1950s housewife, hard-won equalities may start to slip away.

But Mullins McGillion doesn't believe that gender equalities are about to collapse. Her husband, also a keen knitter, wanted to attend the meeting, but his domestic duties - caring for their baby son - kept him away.