Em picked up crochet and knitting in her teens, when China was in the dawn of an opening era. Living in the age when supply and materials were in great scarcity and large-scaled machine production was still remote, people were subject to hand-make almost everything, from food to clothes, from furniture to toys. But decades later, when machine making trumps in the world, when machine learning is what people are fascinated with, when a robot can do most of jobs, able to even write a poet, we would think that handmaking would retreat and one day go non-existent. Fortunately this is not the case. It still holds its distinctive place in the evolving world.
J was never taught how to do knitting or crochet. When she, in her twenties, asked her mom Em to teach her, Em gave it a shrug, telling her disparagingly that it would be a waste of time to learn. Industrialization saves labor and time and solves every of our need, efficiently. Why bother and revert to time-consuming manual work?
Em was proved wrong this time. J came home this winter and showed her the fad on Tiktok, along with her self-taught skill: crocheting. One night, Em found back her old-style crochet needle, sat by J, and primed for any question. Under the lamplight, J leaned against the bed rail, her nimble fingers crisscrossing the yarns adeptly, her face glowing with confidence and gratification. When a single straight thread turned to be interlocked with beautiful flowery patterns, Em knows that her girl, who did not even know how to sew a button, surpasses her, blossoming into a handy person who has learned a new trick without her presence.
Em concludes that the world is not just progressing linearly forward but sometimes regressing a bit. People are nostalgic, and come back to hold on to things that are dear to their ancestors. Good things are never to be forgotten, Em thought to herself.
In a sense, crochet is like an artwork, an expression of identity. Girls would delight in putting on what they create by their own hands -- a scarf, a bag, a toy or a sweater, to declare to the world that they are what they wear, and that their life could be dyed just as colorful as yarns.
回复 '7grizzly' 的评论 : Hi, my friend. Thanks for stopping by and your comment. Good to know that Tim could spare some time on gardening and learning ceramics. Academic excellency is not everything. And the lessons I learned from my mistakes being a parent are countless, among which the most critical one is to let kids steer the course, let them stumble or fall.
I recently came across the word "chic" again, but I never saw its comparative form "chicer". My first impression is it is a typo of "choicer".
Thanks for your input and insight. I agree that AI won't take over everything:)
7grizzly 发表评论于
Beautiful!
Humans need to use their body and create meaning. The progress that holds them back won't scratch the need. No one would race trains like the Superman, but meanwhile running has never been chicer. My high-schooler enjoys gardening and is learning ceramics.
AI's not taking over everything. I'm almost sure :-) Cheers!
回复 '小声音' 的评论 : 小小好！昨晚后来早早就睡了。我是不断总结教训的，就一个孩子，也没有第二次机会。还是小小教育有方啊，我这些道理悟出来了，孩子已经长大成人离开我们了。不过better late than never.女儿声音好听，也喜欢唱歌，但是我基因没有遗传下去的。谢谢小小每次这么认真，写这么多，愿我们的孩子都有个健康美好的未来！
Em picked up crochet and knitting in her teens, when China was in the dawn of an opening era. Living in the age when supply and materials were in great scarcity and large-scaled machine production was still remote, people were subject to hand-make almost everything, from food to clothes, from furniture to toys. But decades later, when machine making trumps in the world, when machine learning is what people are fascinated with, when a robot can do most of jobs, able to even write a poet, we would think that handmaking would retreat and one day go non-existent. Fortunately this is not the case. It still holds its distinctive place in the evolving world.
J was never taught how to do knitting or crochet. When she, in her twenties, asked her mom Em to teach her, Em gave it a shrug, telling her disparagingly that it would be a waste of time to learn. Industrialization saves labor and time and solves every of our need, efficiently. Why bother and revert to time-consuming manual work?
Em was proved wrong this time. J came home this winter and showed her the fad on Tiktok, along with her self-taught skill: crocheting. One night, Em found back her old-style crochet needle, sat by J, and primed for any question. Under the lamplight, J leaned against the bed rail, her nimble fingers crisscrossing the yarns adeptly, her face glowing with confidence and gratification. When a single straight thread turned to be interlocked with beautiful flowery patterns, Em knows that her girl, who did not even know how to sew a button, surpasses her, blossoming into a handy person who has learned a new trick without her presence.
Em concludes that the world is not just progressing linearly forward but sometimes regressing a bit. People are nostalgic, and come back to hold on to things that are dear to their ancestors. Good things are never to be forgotten, Em thought to herself.
In a sense, crochet is like an artwork, an expression of identity. Girls would delight in putting on what they create by their own hands -- a scarf, a bag, a toy or a sweater, to declare to the world that they are what they wear, and that their life could be dyed just as colorful as yarns.
