Across cyber-America, "crafters" by the thousands have picked up their needles and hooks and cast on with the presidential candidates.

The 1,200 "Knitters for Obama" wear their allegiance on their sleeves, if not also their scarves and mittens. They vastly outnumber the 185 "Knitting with Hillary" constitch-uents, but in turn, the latter are a more formidable bloc than the "Anybody But Hillary Knitters," with 64.

Though no clubs appear to have tied themselves specifically to John McCain, the "GOP Knitters" have 123 dyed-in-the-wool Republican members. Meanwhile, the resolute "Crafters for Ron Paul" have dwindled to nine.

These PACs (politically ardent crafters) and more than a dozen others are spinoffs from the popular Web site Ravelry.com, an online community of an estimated 100,000 knitters and crocheters. The free site - founded early last year by Jessica Marshall Forbes, a Boston knitter, and her husband, Casey, a computer programmer - has grown so fast that 6,000 crafters are on the waiting list to join.

Members may form whatever chat groups they please, typically to decipher patterns, choose yarns, and show off stitchery. But right now, "people are passionate" about politics, said Mary-Heather Cogar, 29, of Los Angeles, calling herself the "first and only employee" of Ravelry.com.

Last summer, the site spawned "Stitching Liberally" (current membership, 836), followed by the like-minded "Knitting for the Left."

One of the most active groups is "Knitters for Obama." It has raised money for him, having auctioned a handmade afghan for $8,700.

Members also do service projects, including knitting about 100 "preemie caps" for babies in the neonatal intensive care units at Bryn Mawr and Lankenau Hospitals on the Main Line. Carol Sulcoski, 43, of Villanova, is collecting caps mailed from all over the country from other Knitters for Obama. The Illinois senator's call-to-service message inspired them, she said.

The caps are "completely 100 percent nonpartisan," Sulcoski said.

However, a note about the project will be included with each cap. "We didn't want to be too pushy," she said. "But because it was inspired by his campaign, we would like to at least mention it."

After the Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday, the Obama knitters turned their attention to similar projects in North Carolina and Indiana, where primaries are little more than a week away.

Exhilarated by last week's win, the Clinton knitters are hoping to bolster their candidate's coffers for the next set of primaries. Their fund-raiser: a secret gift exchange for members.

To participate, "you have to donate any amount of money to the campaign," said Sherry Weller, 36, of West Philadelphia.

Although she knits under the Clinton banner, Weller serves as a "guest" with the "Conservative Knitters" on Ravelry.com, to get another view.

"They know I don't consider myself a conservative," said Weller.

Crafters who aren't ready to be entangled with one candidate or party can join up with the 26 "NeoLibconitarian Knitters" who describe themselves as "not quite Republican, not quite Democrat, not quite Libertarian."

Think politics is a joke? At least 1,070 crafters do. Preferring the comedic spin of The Colbert Report and The Daily Show, they knit under the banner of "Fans of Fake News."

Knitting and politics have been entwined since the before the American Revolution, when it was patriotic to spin and weave because England had imposed restrictions on wool manufacturing. During World Wars I and II, the American Red Cross urged volunteers to "Knit Your Bit" by making warm clothing for soldiers and refugees.

The Iraq war has given rise to the Granny Peace Brigade, an antiwar group that holds "knit-ins" where protesters make "stump socks" for amputee veterans.

Eva-Lee Baird, 67, a Granny member from New York, described the crafty civil disobedience as both constructive and effective.

"Knitting is repetitive," she said, "and a symbol that we are not going to go away."