Since When?

Lately I've been toting Anouk around town with me.  It's an easy knit (once I figured out the...eccentricities, if you will, of the writing), and relatively small, so it travels well.  Plus, having recently seen more photos of the baby whose wee body it will soon cover, I've finally committed to finishing it soon.  I'm going with a color scheme comparable to that in the knitty photo, though the brand of yarn I'm using is different.  We'll cover those details when I finish and post photos.  In the meantime, here's the front, and below is a close-up of my even stitches.

Anyway, I had it with me at work the other day, and one of my friends started oohing and aahing over it.  Then, something interesting came out of her mouth:  "It's so fabulous.  Kelly, you're so good...it looks machine-made".  This friend is not a knitter, but she loves to see the knitted things I make - no matter the stage of completion.   She meant her comment as a true compliment (I think she was admiring the eveness of the stitches at the time), but it really made me think.

Since when did hand-made come to mean sloppy?  Hand-tooled leather is highly sought-after.  Hand-made watches are much more expensive than factory-made.  Don't even get me started on hand-made furniture (or kitchen cabinets, for that matter)!  And what about a hand-made suit?!?  The practice of committing one's attention, energy and discipline to the creation of a single product has long been a revered and respected act.  AND YET...we've become a culture of "perfection seekers" who equate machine-made with durable, reliable, quality controlled, etc.  We (or some of us, at least) want the identikit version of things, we want to know that the one we buy is EXACTLY the same as the one we saw on so-and-so.

As a knitter, plugged into the knitting community, I'm quite sure that I'm not the only rebellious soul who seeks colorful ways to express my individuality.  I see a pattern and use it as a guide, making changes to suit my needs and taste (whether in sizing, gauge, color, fibre, or even shaping).  As a yogini, plugged into the yoga community, I'm quite sure that I'm not the only one who consciously chooses to remove myself from mass culture's definition of "good" or "pretty" or "valuable".  I'm not interested in who wore what to the Emmy's, or what the latest fashion is.  I go with what feels good on, and what I feel good wearing. 

So, when given a compliment such as the one my friend made, it surprises me that what many of people define as "beautiful" could be made by a machine...without the love, commitment, or dedication of another person's artistic expression.  How very...bland.  Or what about the back-handed compliment, "For hand-made, it looks really nice".  Gee, thanks.  Have you ever experienced this with any of your hand-made items?  What was your response?

Comments

[Melissa]

I discovered your blog from Yarnation - and had to comment on this one. I made the Anouk too for my daughter while I was pregnant. I haven't had anyone make a comment like that...I think the fact that someone put time and love into something by hand making it, is a very wonderful thing.