I’ve done numerous crafts over the years, but none of them have engendered such a good response from those around me as knitting. When I showed my family my first scarf, they were instantly curious, asking how I did it, how long it took, and what other patterns I knew. Though predictably, my little brothers were only interested in how fast I could work the needles. My grandparents were even more thrilled, and they wasted no time in giving me ideas for things to knit for them. Each member of my family is eager to receive a knitted item, even going so far as to encourage me to learn faster so that I can make them blankets and night caps.
I’m not sure what it is about knitting that fascinates people who aren’t involved with the craft, but they seem to regard it as a novelty, a unique skill that, while they don’t practice it themselves, is interesting and compelling. Rarely do I see my family members get worked up about factory-made clothes. Their reaction was solely reserved for my handmade clothing, and this makes me feel that more people appreciate handcrafts than we think.
Many of us are concerned about the prevalence of factory-made products and people’s willingness to rely on these things. But I don’t think we’re giving them enough credit. How many of them have immediate access to homemade crafts? Sure, they can buy pretty much anything off the internet, but people have come to expect their commodities to be immediately accessible. Convenience is key. How can we make handcrafted items more readily available to those around us? That’s a question I think we should all consider.
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