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

[Gwyndolyn O'Shaughnessy]

The neighbor must not have read Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books. I seem to recall lessons on making a house, fences, door hinges, butter, cheese ... what to do when a log lands on Ma's ankle during the house-building ... It's important stuff.

The neighbor will obviously be one of the first casualties in the Zombie Apocalypse. :-)

[Judy G.]

Right on, sister.

[Kathleen C.]

So much of waht has already been said rings true for me. But I'll empahsize a point that I think only one other commenter made...
What's wrong with an indulgence? If a necessity is what keeps you alive (shelter and food), isn't so much of everything else an indulgence?
Playing listening to music... what's the purpose but pleasure? Dance. Art. Food that is not just wholesome and healthy but wonderfully tasting and beautiful to look at... mmmm yummy indulgent.
Spending time digging in the warm ground and watching small green shots grow in the sun. Landscaping with flowers.
Sitting in front of a crackling fire with a mug of hot chocolate and a purring kitty on your lap... when you could be drinking hot water in front of the electric heater... just as good at warming your inner body core tempature.
Necessity keeps you alive, but indulgence feeds your soul and brings color into a black and white world.

Oh... and you look wonderful! But then... I LIKE eccentric too!!!