What I Meant to Say Was...

So I guess I should clarify a wee bit, lest we re-enact one of the myriad Ravelry threads on "why non-knitters don't get it": I do know this woman, and I don't think she meant to be insulting, but the gist of her comment was that hand-knits are an indulgence borne of a hobby - a specialty item that you might wear to accessorize your "regular" clothes, and that multiples would be a little odd and frumpy - like carrying three handbags or throwing a coat over your pajamas to drag the kids to the bus.  In essence, one just doesn't make normal, practical clothing by hand.

I honestly wouldn't say my feelings were hurt, and I am more and more comfortable in my skin with the permission granted to artists for eccentricity, but the interaction illustrated gave me an excuse to write about a topic that increasingly fascinates me: the Western cultural disconnect from the processes of Making Stuff. 

Whatever did our ancestors do for warmth before Polar fleece?  More to the point, how is it that the self-sufficient knowledge to create one's own clothing (and for that matter, food and shelter) has become not only rare, but somehow indulgent - an oddity that isn't just impractically time-consuming, but ought to be practiced sparingly?  When did our society abdicate the skill sets for Everyday, and Practical, and Necessary to corporate-owned machines and poor people in Other places?  And in light of the current world economy, was that really a good idea?

Take food, for example. "Organic" is rapidly becoming a meaningless adjective, and legislation surrounding it merely a playground for corporate lawyers on the hunt for loopholes. Increasingly, it seems that the very best strategy for obtaining safe food is to buy it from people you know and trust - locally where possible. To that end, it helps immensely to understand how food is grown - even to acquire the basic skill set to grow one's own. If giant agribusiness has its way, the world's food supply will depend on a handful of monocultures, leaving us at the mercy of a single clever virus - hence, the concept of heritage seeds, and seed banks - a repository of foundational knowledge that we can rebuild with when cheap and easy comes crashing down.

Is it not also so with clothing and textiles?  Shouldn't any civilized society work to retain within its populace the fundamental knowledge and kinesthetic skills for Making Stuff, even if machines, extruded petrochemicals, and offshore slave labour are cheaper and easier at a given moment in time?  That's not to say that specialization isn't a valid concept, but if we stop respecting and preserving the foundational skills and knowledge on which our cheap and efficient solutions are built, we will find ourselves dangerously ill-equipped to adapt to sudden or catastrophic change.  Technology does not spring forth from a vacuum - it builds step by step, layer by layer on a foundation of hands-on knowledge of how the world works, how materials behave. 

I guess I'd like to see a society where the ability to feed and clothe yourself with your own two hands is normal, where the skill set to create textiles is honoured and passed on, where clothing is no longer a consumable.  A society where we are connected to the sources of our Stuff - who makes it, how much work and skill is involved, where the materials come from.  A society where we participate fully in the fabric of our lives.

(See what happens when you make an off-handed comment to me in the early morning?)

Comments

[Carrie]

ROFL. I like it. I was thinking the other day about patching jeans. Nobody patches jeans anymore. (I guess that's because it's cool to wear torn ones.) Yeah, it makes me nervous to hear people railing against Michelle Obama's garden on the lawn of the white house as weird and eccentric....

[Poppins]

"I guess I'd like to see a society where the ability to feed and clothe yourself with your own two hands is normal, where the skill set to create textiles is honoured and passed on, where clothing is no longer a consumable." *Exactly.*

That connection is such an important part of my life, my parenting, the way I try to bring awareness and mindfulness to the everyday and not just the special days.

I'd like to add that quote to my Commonplace book. Can you email me your real name?

[Amy]

I had a conversation before class started with another student about my knitting, in which he mentioned he really wasn't what the difference was between knit or crochet. So I gave him my very basic way to tell the difference between if someone is knitting or crocheting.

And then he left the door wide open by asking why you would want to do one or the other! So I went on to explain their different fabrics, and stretch, and how the T-shirt he was wearing actually was composed of many tiny knit stitches, but the pants he had was woven. (He didn't know what that meant either. We talked about that.) And then I talked about where you find these in different garments, and why fabrics matter.

And in the end, he joked that now he's prepared for whatever they might ask him on Jeopardy. Which was a head-desk moment for me. I just spent this time trying to explain why these things matter in a non-trivial setting. Why they were essential. Why his dress shirts didn't stretch but he liked comfy T-shirts.

Most people think what I do is a hobby, not a way of life. My mom is concerned that the fiber arts, which used to be connected with the art major of our local universities in our state, have now separated, and are no longer respected. They took out knitting and spinning and decrease funding year after year. There's a severe lack of respect.

[Cookie]

In my extended family, having to make clothes or grow/raise your own food meant you were struggling to make ends meet. Being able to out and buy clothing or a fancy meal was a sign that you were doing well. I have an uncle (by marriage) who hates antiques and always wants something new and bigger because he thinks that's better and a way of showing that he is not struggling.

I find it ironic that today one must be doing well in order to afford organic foods or knit oneself a sweater.

xo

[johanna]

Great post - and great responses. I am amazed how many people I know cannot cook themselves a good tasting meal from raw ingredients seriously do not know how to make mashed potato out of a raw potato - or how to make veggies that do not come out of a can.

They cannot sew on a button or repair clothing (and would not wear repaired clothing).

I was teased mercilessly as a child because I wore home made clothing, ate brown home made bread, did not ride in a shiny new car, spoke other languages, read books for fun...etc.

I love love love knitting because it is an indulgence AND practical - I get to ENJOY myself MAKING something that I can use.

I still say you should tell her to STUFF IT - but just in a nicer voice than I was intending in the last post :-)

[Kristy]

At the school where I work, it's well known that I knit and sew a lot of my own clothes. I get a lot of "It's so cool that you can do that!" comments, which is really great. I've been wearing a really cute (store-bought) coat recently, and people have assumed I made that too :) I suppose it depends on the crowd, but I know there are a lot of people who appreciate hand-made things!

[Kim]

Well said.

[Ev]

My first reaction was to look for the "agree(1)" button. Very well said. I'm proud of what I can make to clothe myself and my husband and will never apologize for the skills I have. As a matter of fact, I do my best to make those around me jealous of the fact that I can clothe myself and my husband with hand made, beautiful things and they can't.

some of those around me are starting to turn green. :)

[Deborah]

Amen.

[Elizabeth]

If you don't know Wendell Berry, you should read some of his stuff - the essays are good, but I like the novels even better! Don't be put off by the blurbs. His writing is very accessible and friendly. :)

[Marilyn G]

OMG, I *so* want you to come to the Victoria FibreFest in June and lead a round-table discussion on this VERY thing. VERY well-said, Ruth!

[moiraeknittoo]

My brother likes to make fun of me (well, and my stash, but he's kind of an asshat), because I have a few books around the house that are essentially handbooks for Pioneer women and how to live off the land, and what you have or can find. And I've read them. So if, gods forbid, we end up in some sort of horrible "post modern apocalyptic nightmare", I will know how to brain tan a deerhide to make myself some clothes the way Native Americans maybe used to do. And I will know how to maybe make candles out of something that isn't paraffin. I have a few packets of needles and threads of all weights and durability (and some artifical sinew) tucked in a box or two because you just never know. I may even have a piece of flint and a striker, mostly because I was curious and really, really don't want to have to rub two sticks together to make fire once my lighter runs out of fluid. And maybe I won't poison myself by picking and eating the wrong kind of mushroom (though I've got the Black Thumb of Death and I wouldn't bet my life on that ability, truly). I have a few packets of seeds that I keep in plastic in the back of the freezer that I swap out every year. Just. In. Case.

Ridiculous? Maybe. Sure a lot of it was simple curiosity and me going, "I wonder how they did that" or "how do they do that". And I just like to know. But sometimes, I look at how most of my contemporaries can't see anything that isn't cast in the light of their computer or cell phone screens, and I wonder. I too wonder how we got to this point and is it really so very marvelous and wonderful after all.

Then again, you'll pry my intarwebs from my cold, stiff and dead claws, so take all of what I just wrote with a truckload of salt. :D

[Lynn in Tucson]

Indeed.

In addition to all of the above, I resent that the "natural" and "organic" and good for you, be it food or fiber, have become the province of the well-to-do (at least in the U.S.). On the one hand, I'm glad that their trendiness leads to awareness that may lead to a shift in consciousness about what we eat and wear, but I think there's a thinly-veiled caste system that's rarely discussed.

I hope that makes sense. I've tried to distill it but I don't know that it fits in just a couple sentences.

[Punkin]

I agree. I would like to see society promote the skills necessary to feed and clothe oneself, or at least value them. I believe these are excellent skills to have, especially in the event of a breakdown in the infrastructure, a catastrophic event, or crippling inflation.

After reading your first post I tried to step outside myself and see from the other lady's perspective. I honestly could not see that she had any reason to comment on your attire. I am trying to understand how wearing one's handknits would be considered indulgent. It just doesn't ring true to me. I think it can be done tastefully.

[Erica]

Well said! The world would be a better place if we all took a little more time to think about where things come from.

But maybe there is some valuing of the handmade hidden in your neighbor's comment? Is it that she thinks it's wrong/tasteless to wear several handknit garments, or that she thinks they're special, and therefore was surprised at your luck in having so many to wear? As revenge, you should teach her to knit. =)

[Katie]

I took my mother to a yarn store last week and after we left she mentioned that the sweater examples made up looked handmade. I was thinking that I hoped so! But like a previous commenter mentioned, she grew up in a time when handmade meant you were poor. If you had storebought clothes, you were rich and so handmade was looked down on. She herself mentioned that if she hadn't learned how to sew, she never would have had any new clothes. She sews wonderfully (I wish I could!) but doesn't consider it something to be appreciated and held up as a shining example. I used to think more that way but I'm growing more aware (with help from inspiration from people like you) that there is value in homemade, homespun, handmade things. I am always surprised at how little people know how to make anything at all. I have a sister in law that does not know how to cook anything at all. I hardly knew how when I got married but I tried to learn and now I can cook quite a few things. It's just scary to me not to know how to do things.

[Geraldine Kiser]

I grew up on a farm. We grew our own vegetables and canned all summer. My dad took care of automotive, electrical, plumbing, woodworking, bricklaying, etc. My mom sewed, knit, crocheted, made our drapes, reupholstered our car, recovered chairs, tooled leather, etc. Both parents could hang wallpaper.

After I married we needed some work done and my DH said "call somebody". Call somebody? Who do you call? I thought everyone lived the way I grew up! What a shock to find most folks are woefully lacking in ANY expertise to LIVE!! Amazing.

Needless to say, the tools are mine and not DH!!! 8^)

[melis]

We have a rule in our house, if you want it then make it. Obviously not everything can be made in the home, but it has curbed the mindless automatic spending AND provided a creative outlet.

[Jan]

Wonderful thoughts you have! I still say she's jealous - she doesn't have any indulgent time to spend on a 'hobby'!

[evalyn]

I, too, looked for the "I agree" button. I am, afterall, the woman who thought she's like to learn to knit, so she went out and bought sheep!

[ali]

I'm a busy mom, so one could argue my knitting time is an indulgance. I'll indulge, thank you very much... It just feels good to make something beautiful and useful.

[Amanda in Albuquerque]

I could not agree more!

[Deb]

Your aquaintance be damned. You look like a million bucks. Enough said.

[Cheryl]

Sometimes people say really dumb things because they are trying to make a connection. I was brought up to "make do", compost, big garden, and store bought things were special..got away from that and am now proud to be back in that "loop". It has nothing to do with money or success, it is just neat to do for yourself and your family, to have the ability to do so in fact.

[Ros]

It never ceases to amaze me that so many people I know have no real understanding of that sense of achievement of making something yourself. Knitting for me is a bit like breathing - it keeps me in touch with my creative self which can get lost so easily in today's world and keeps me sane. It's not an indulgence (OK, may be some of my stash is. I can think of some fantastic sock yarn dyed by someone I know...:-)) rather something which makes me a better person to be around. Something that helps me express some of the hidden depths of me, that helps me give something back. It's almost spiritual. It's such a shame that so many people don't get it, appreciate it or share it. I think their lives are the poorer for not having knitting and creating in their lives.