Boundries

As a child growing up, there were very clear boundries of who knit, who crocheted.  North of the river that dissects that city, were knitters.  South of the river, crocheters.  Period.  Growing up, that's how I thought life was everywhere.  Wealthy people knit for leisure, poor people crocheted sofa blankets as visuals of warmth.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

The very idea that only certain classes of people could do just one or the other is crazy.  Nor is it historical.  Knitting and crocheting do not know social/economic/political boundries, only people do.  People are forever trying to put boundries on the needle arts, extending not just with who should be knitting or crocheting...and who shouldn't be, but who should pick up sewing thread and needle, or spinning as well.  This shepherdess thinks that is pure craziness.

The real truth...and the real history of the world is NOT that!  Men sew, and can be experts at it, and LOVE it.  Same is true with yarn.  Men work with yarn and love it and can be experts in it.  So to with who has money, who doesn't.  Poor people have been very good at either, or both, and in fact have been experts at it, even if they lived on the wrong side of the river.  And wealthy people can reveal amazing deficits and ineptitudes.  Spinners are all people...men, women, children, single, married, rich, poor, or whatever else you can think of.  People all over the world spin...every day.

So what is the truth about knitting, crocheting, and other needle arts or spinning?  That people around the world have defied constant attempts to categorize.  They learned and did what they needed to know, wanted to know and wanted to create.  They've done what works for them, what is easy for them and their circumstances, with their resources.  This truth is evident in many ways...such as shepherds 'crocheting' or men tailoring, or poor laundresses' knitting and crocheting with amazing perfection and skill...for 'fun', or queens spinning and crocheting.

I don't think my education growing up acknowledged the real world and it's plain truths.  I was 'educated', but not really.