Neither an assembly line nor a stock market nor an oil well did it, simply what came from one small skull and that one right hand.
All creative work begins by doing something with the hands. Creation is simply a problem and design is the way out.
I can do an OK manicure, but I need to stick to singing.
I have to learn to knit.
I am obnoxious to each carping tongue who says my hand a needle better fits.
The big difference between couture and ready-to-wear is not design. It is the fabrics, the handwork, and the fittings. The act of creation is the same.
The financial benefits of prefabrication have never been as large as its advocates predicted, for although some labor costs can be reduced by machine manufacturing, on-site assembly of any building still depends to some extent on the handwork of skilled craftsmen.
I like to just make things... If I have the TV on, I'm not just going to sit there. I want to do something with my hands; I've always got a project. Or I get a small group of people over, and I say, 'Let's make these things today.'
When you are knitting socks and sweaters and scarves, you aren't just knitting. You are assigning a value to human effort. You are holding back time. You are preserving the simple unchanging act of handwork.
Knitters use knitting to value-add to the world.
Whatever you could do with your hands was important because it kept you in a motion of being able to produce something, and producing something kept you balanced in a way.
