WASHINGTON, DC — Knit One. Mail, too.

Today’s knitters are not all grannies in rocking chairs. Knitting is enjoying a surge of popularity among the young and hip. There is a very active knitting blog community, and yarn stores are as much a social scene as they are commodity shops.

And today’s U.S. Postal Service is not your grandfather’s Post Office.

In the time it takes to download a tune or video on an iPod, customers can print shipping labels, design personalized holiday greeting cards and make custom stamps — all from the convenience of their home, office or favorite internet café. Today’s holidays need today’s mail.

To mark the knitting revolution and the value of today’s mail, this week the Postal Service is calling all knitters. Armed with balls of yarn and a few good needles, participating Post Offices nationwide will open their doors for a “knit in,” mirroring the popular knit-in-public events taking the country by storm. In addition to knitting demonstrations, sweaters, scarves and other items knitted or collected from events can be donated and mailed to local charities, shelters and hospitals.

“Mailing that knitted gift is easy with one-size-fits-all Flat-Rate Boxes, the ultimate gift box for sending warm greetings to friends and family over the holidays,” said Anita Bizzotto, USPS chief marketing officer.“If it fits, it ships.”

Earlier this year, the Postal Service saluted knitters worldwide with the issuance of the Holiday Knits stamps. These four stamps feature classic winter imagery and were inspired by traditional Norwegian sweaters and knitted Christmas stockings. But how they were designed is anything but traditional.

In the spirit of modern knitting, nationally known illustrator Nancy Stahl used a computer software program to draw her original designs and convert them to stitches and rows. Then she downloaded the information to an electronic knitting machine and used it to knit her creations. Stahl scanned the finished pieces to create photographic images and retouched the images on her computer.

“These commemorative stamps will keep America in stitches,” said Bizzotto.

Modern knitters. High-tech stamps. Flat-Rate Boxes. Today’s holidays need today’s mail.

Please visit usps.com for a list of knitting events and more information on the Holiday Knits stamps and Flat-Rate Boxes.

Visit the Holiday Press Room at usps.com

Knit One, Mail Too Knitting Events

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm.

For reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional on this issue, please go to http://about.usps.com/news/media-contacts/usps-local-media-contacts.pdf.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

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