work that speaks for itself*

scattered thoughts on knitting**

As a privileged white collar worker, repetitive manual labour is not a burden. After hours of producing digitized pages of data, screens of code, and stacks of written decks, it is refreshing to slowly and meticulously create something physical and tangible.

There are no hard and fast deadlines. Though it is always satisfying to hold a finished product in your hand, much of the fulfillment comes from watching the fabric emerge from your fingertips, stitch by stitch, inch by inch.

I don't need to interpret my work. I don't have to explain how it creates value. The work speaks for itself.


It is tragic that our society has devalued manual labour and turned it into a commodity... alienated workers hunched over rows and rows of sewing machines. Is anyone else nostalgic for times when craftmanship was still common? For times when people designed, laboured and ultimately created with their own hands. And when that process of creation was not endless toil for survival, but a joyful engagement of the mind and body-- But I think I am nostalgic for times that never existed. (That's why I say, I have the privilege of enjoying manual labour, because I am not sweating 80 hours a week cleaning toilets in order to pay the bills)

In any case, I just don't want this craft to turn into a justified excuse for me to bolster my wardrobe, since in my endless knitting blog browsing, I've seen far too many people take knitting as an alternate form of consumerism-- something that I can easily see myself becoming. I would like to knit in order to give. To give to those in needs. Or to give to friends and family and implicitly say, 'I spent 60 hours (or more!) making this for you."


*this is also for teri who taught me how to knit
** this could also be called - reflections of an "N" knitter
*** the photos are of half of the sweater I am currently working on for http://www.knitforkids.org. (my 3rd official project, 4th one if you count my disaster pot-holders/dish rags.)