Wholesomely productive knitting practice

Prioritizing how we make over how much we make, CraftDoodling Designs News, other updates.

This week, among other things, I spent time weaving in many ends on a pair of socks I had finished knitting 🧦 and mending small repairs on three pairs of jeans by hand 👖. I found myself thinking, "Well, it's not a very productive week!"

Although I couldn't put my finger on it immediately, the thought made me uncomfortable 😕. I had to sit with it for some time to understand what was going on. At some point, I had started associating the label "productive" with my design and teaching work 🎨📚. My mind subconsciously classified the rest of my crafting activities—personal knits, mending, trying out new things that may not immediately become a design—as unproductive. Or perhaps not productive enough? Definitely something along those lines!

On the surface, it seems like a harmless labeling. I make some money from my designs and teaching classes, so that can be called productive, isn't it? 💸 I resorted to looking up the meaning of the word my mind seems to have latched onto. Here are some definitions I found in different contexts:

Productivity:

• Agriculture: The state or quality of producing something, especially crops 🌾.

• Economics: The rate at which goods and services having exchange value are produced 💰.

• Industry: Effectiveness of productive effort, measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input ⚙️. Productivity increases when more output is produced with the same amount of inputs or when the same amount of output is produced with fewer inputs.

Apparently, the adjective "productive" meant "generative" as applied to land and agriculture. Then in the late 18th century, the word acquired its economic context in relation to goods and commodities. The word productivity seems to have slowly expanded in context. I couldn't help thinking about how the word 'plant' has come to mean a 'factory' 🏭 and the word 'produce' is applied to fruits and vegetables 🍎🥦. Anyway, I digress.

During the early Industrial Revolution, productivity still referred to the collective effectiveness of the workforce to get goods out of the assembly line 🏭. Only later, with a shift towards white-collar jobs👩🏻‍💻, was the notion of productivity in relation to an individual conceived—a measure of how focused they are and how much time they are able to devote to their work 💼.

Coming back to my current dilemma, even if we leave my design work out of the equation and just take knitting into consideration, we still have to place productivity somewhere in the context. Because the act of knitting is meant to produce articles of clothing, it is generally perceived as a productive pursuit.

But knitting, as well as other types of making by hand, also enables us to be creative. Expressing our struggles, experiences, and feelings through an art form can reduce stress and boost our mental well-being 😊. It helps us get understood and make deeper, meaningful connections with our fellow humans 🤝.

Making is indeed an essential part of the human experience. The sheer act of making helps us thrive as a species in ways we cannot even begin to comprehend . These arts and crafts not only give us the ability to produce an artifact but also provide immense satisfaction and happiness within their processes.

Perhaps that is why knitters have always debated process vs. product knitting. In the world of making things by hand, we celebrate the process, not just the end products 🧶. I had written about this earlier in this article.

Today's fast-paced, product-oriented capitalist methods have little time to understand or care for such things. Productivity as defined by capitalism seems to be designed to dehumanize workers—to produce measurable, steady output every day regardless of individuals' mental and physical health, at the cost of quality family time, sometimes even irrespective of the time of day and location 🏢⏰.

I'm still licking my wounds from being bypassed for a promotion years ago when I took a maternity break from my IT job 🤕. I had just completed a challenging year-long project and felt confident about taking my break and returning to a fresh start.

To me, a wholesome productive pursuit is one in which the maker is given time and space for slowing down, taking enough breaks, building relationships, enjoying the process of making, ethically sourcing materials, being compensated for their work, and being allowed to truly thrive 🌟.

In what ways does your making practice help you survive, thrive and navigate life situations? I’d love to hear from you.

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CRAFTDOODLING DESIGNS UPDATES

1. Please keep an eye out for Nasha 2.0 shawl, slated to be released on the 28th of June. 🥰 The original 1-skein version of Nasha will be updated on the same day too.

   

   Nasha 2.0 to be released on June 28th

2. A reel I had posted on IG, showing the two sizes of Nasha Shawl. 💜♥️

   craftdoodling

   

   A post shared by @craftdoodling

3. CraftDoodling Designs Ravelry Group is another place to discuss patterns, find out about my test calls and pattern releases, and general knitting chatter. Please check it out if interested. 🩷

4. My new Brioche Cowl design is progressing. I intend to use it as teaching material for another beginner brioche class, so I am keeping things simple. Here is a progress shot.

   

   Brin Cowl - Design in progress

   4. I finished knitting a pair of ankle socks for my 11 year old. The idea for this post sparked when I was weaving in the ends. (:

   

   Handknit socks - Weaving in ends

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   OTHER THINGS YOU MIGHT LIKE

   1. Just finished Reading 📖

      1. The girls who disappeared - Claire Douglas

      2. Show your work - Austin Kleon

      3. A prayer for the crown-shy - Becky Chambers

   2. Currently Reading 📖

      i. Black Coffee - Agatha Christie

Until next time,

Kavitha. ♡

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