Lace and Labor
Articles of Interest - Avery Trufelman
This episode of 'Articles of Interest' explores the history and cultural significance of knitting and crochet, tracing their evolution from essenti
Key takeaways
- Knitting was once vital labor for survival, especially among women and rural workers.
- The invention of knitting machines in 1589 was suppressed by Queen Elizabeth I due to fear of mass unemployment.
Main topics
- History of knitting and lace-making
- Impact of industrialization on handcraft labor
Notable quotes
This is not an economic proposition. That's a recurring thought—have they not seen how cheap clothes are?
Conclusion
Knitting and crochet have evolved from essential economic activities into deeply
Transcript preview
Speaker 8 (0:00) I often get asked, like, oh, so you do it to save money. Like, how much money do you save? I'm not doing it to save money. Actually, it costs me money. Like, Speaker 2 (0:06) this Speaker 8 (0:06) is not an Speaker 2 (0:07) economic proposition. That's a reoccurring. Have they not Speaker 5 (0:10) seen how cheap clothes are? They're so cheap. Speaker 2 (0:13) Clothes are so cheap. Yarn is so expensive. This is Speaker 5 (0:17) knitter and audio producer Elizabeth Kama. I Speaker 8 (0:20) knit a lot. Since I work in audio, I like to listen and do something with my hands. Did you knit for Speaker 5 (0:24) a Speaker 8 (0:24) shirt you're wearing? Speaker 2 (0:25) Yeah, I knit this. Really good. Yeah, it became a bit of a compulsion. Okay, I have a confession Speaker 5 (0:30) to make. I'd been asked to make episodes about knitting and crafts before, and I was like, no, that's a hobby. I thought it was dorky. I thought it was twee. I was like, what is there to say about it? Do you know what I mean? Do you face this? Speaker 2 (0:47) I do. I feel like I'm often having to be like, no, like this is interesting and this is cool. And like, here's why. Speaker 5 (0:53) Because the story of knitting is in a way. the story of my own demise. It is the story of labor and automation. Speaker 7 (1:03) You know, you look at a cozy hand-knitted sweater and you probably just think, I'm like peaceful. Oh, Speaker 6 (1:08) totally. Very relaxing. Speaker 7 (1:09) But that exact craft literally went to war with early automation. Speaker 6 (1:14) Exactly. Speaker 5 (1:15) I fear that what happened to knitting is happening to podcasting and to so many creative fields. Like, why would a company hire me? Speaker 1 (1:25) and the hours of books that I need to read and the drafts that need to be written and rewritten and my angst and my pesky needs to eat and socialize and take bathroom breaks when an AI can generate this podcast about the history of knitting in five minutes. Speaker 6 (1:40) Yeah, it's such a fascinating topic because, I mean, the tension between preserving human labor and adopting new technology is something we are obviously still wrestling with today. Speaker 7 (1:49) Oh, yeah, definitely. Speaker 1 (1:50) Elizabeth and I see it playing out all around us. Our industry is falling apart. And we have trained very hard for many years at this skill set, which is writing and making podcasts. A skill set which, at one point, was supposed to earn us an honest, steady living. Speaker 8 (2:07) Just like knitting did. Often in the winter, when there wasn't anything to do, you would knit socks for sale as a way to kind of be like, oh, well, we don't have any food, so how are we going to feed our family? We're going to knit. This is something women did and men did, actually. And often they would be knitting while they'd be doing other tasks. People would knit on their way to the market, knit on their way back from the market. They'd, you know, carry things on their back. And there's an idea that on your way to the market, you should be able to knit one pair of socks on the way there and back. Speaker 1 (2:32) Is that possible? If you're very good, yes. Knitting was how you made practical clothes, either to wear or to sell. And this is why when the first knitting machine was developed in England back in 1589, it was actively suppressed. Speaker 8 (2:47) When William Lee, Reverend William Lee, presented the patent to Elizabeth I, she's like, I can't give you the patent for this because too many of our poor people in England rely on knitting to survive. This machine will hurt them. Speaker 7 (2:57) Were they just terrified of the tech? I mean, I'm picturing modern lawmakers trying to ban AI to protect white-collar jobs. Take it from the Speaker 1 (3:05) robo-podcasters. Was Speaker 7 (3:06) this a case of, like, Royal empathy for the workers? Speaker 6 (3:09) Not exactly empathy, no. It was more like self-preservation. They were terrified that thousands of starving, out-of-work hand knitters would start a peasant uprising. Speaker 8 (3:18) Oh. Speaker 6 (3:18) But Speaker 8 (3:19) the machines are made, and once it started, it can never stop. Speaker 7 (3:22) So you can delay the machine, but you obviously can't stop it? Right. Speaker 8 (3:26) Hand knitters were constantly inventing new styles of knitting. They were inventing Fair Isle. They were inventing these things that the machines couldn't do so they could still be relevant. And then the machines would hurry up and catch up. And then it became men's work again because only men could own knitting machines. Only men were allowed to own things. They've invested a lot of money into it. Speaker 1 (3:43) But then came new, improved knitting machinery that mechanized a lot of the expertise of the experienced knit machine operators. And Speaker 8 (3:51) all of these people who knit are suddenly losing their jobs. Speaker 1 (3:56) From 1800 to 1811, weekly pay for a weaver in Lancashire dropped from 25 shillings to 14 shillings. And Speaker 8 (4:04) these... People, predominantly men, would go around and they'd destroy all of the Speaker 2 (4:09) new, improved knitting machines that didn't need them. They Speaker 1 (4:12) called themselves Luddites, after Ned Ludd. supposedly a British knitting apprentice who was said to have rebelled against his boss by destroying a knitting machine with a hammer. But this was probably just a legend. Now, Ludd is a fake guy. It was just the name that they made up. And the legend morphed to where they started calling this guy General Ludd or King Ludd. Speaker 2 (4:32) And they'd be like, we're doing this for King Ludd in the name of King Ludd. But that's where the term Luddite comes from. And that brings us to the original Luddites. Speaker 7 (4:39) Right, because we throw that term around today for, you know, anyone who refuses to use a smartphone or whatever. Speaker 8 (4:45) It was. It wasn't that they were anti-technology for technology's sake. They were anti-technology at the cost of human welfare. The reality was that they were just trying to save their jobs. Ain't that right, bots? It was a calculated fight for their livelihoods and really their identity. Speaker 7 (5:00) So, you know, to the listener, the next time you feel overwhelmed by the creeping automation of modern life today, like, think of those knitters. Speaker 6 (5:08) Yeah, they were staring down the exact same existential dread centuries ago. Speaker 1 (5:12) Well said, Robopod. And you know the rest of the story. The knitting machine was perfected, and now you can buy a knit sweater for like 20 bucks. And thus, knitting met the fate of all activities that lose their economic necessity. When people no longer had to ride horses to get around, horseback riding became a hobby. When people no longer had to subsistence farm, gardening became a hobby. So too did knitting become a craft. And as any knitter will tell you, it is a money-losing proposition. Speaker 8 (5:44) The thing about making someone a sweater, the thing about making anyone a knitted garment, is that it's hours of your time. It's so much attention. It's so much labor. It's so much care. It's also so much money. Like, yarn is expensive. Speaker 7 (5:52) Which raises a really provocative question, I think. Did the Luddite resistance actually fail? Speaker 5 (5:57) I mean, the machines clearly won the commercial clothing war. Speaker 7 (6:00) True. Speaker 5 (6:01) Well, not quite, Robot. Speaker 1 (6:02) There is one tiny thing that the machines have not mastered. And it's knitting's strange cousin, crochet. Speaker 5 (6:12) There Speaker 8 (6:13) is no way to create crochet by machine. Speaker 5 (6:15) For the uninitiated, what's the difference? Speaker 8 (6:18) Knitting has two needles. With crochet, it is basically one singular hook. And crochet, by its very nature, has to be made by hand. Speaker 1 (6:26) Crochet has survived automation. And that's not necessarily a purely good thing, because no matter who makes a garment, we all are used to paying nothing for it. Speaker 8 (6:36) If you buy hand crochet, you can buy that at any fast fashion. Really? Yes. I mean, I have photos from Target where you can see the crochet and it was, what, $10 for this crocheted bandana? And it's like, that's not ethical in any way. Speaker 1 (6:49) Now, probably the more ethical way of production is to use a knitting machine. one that imitates crochet. Speaker 8 (6:55) Knitting machines can now imitate crochet. The issue is most people don't have the textile literacy to be able to look at a garment and be able to tell, oh, is this actually crochet? Speaker 1 (7:04) Here's a little tip to figure out if something is crochet. Just turn your garment inside out. Speaker 8 (7:09) Crochet doesn't really have one side that looks different from the other. With Speaker 1 (7:13) knitting, it's very obvious which side is the wrong side. It's clear when something's inside out. Not so with crochet. Speaker 8 (7:19) So if you look at a garment and you're like, is this imitation crochet? Try looking on the inside. Try seeing if it looks different. So Speaker 5 (7:25) if you look at it inside out and it looks the same, that's real crochet. And don't buy it? Speaker 8 (7:30) Don't buy it unless you're paying an exorbitant amount of money. The person's not being paid equitably. Crochet, Speaker 1 (7:35) this humble art, is the last bastion of humanity. For better or for worse. Because it's not really valued that way. Certainly not in the United States. In Speaker 5 (7:47) part because of the way crochet became popular. which is essentially as a fake. Speaker 8 (7:54) It was in many ways imitation lace. I mean, it was kind of a knockoff. But is it fair to say that we Speaker 5 (7:59) would not have crochet without lace? Speaker 8 (8:02) Yes, that's fair. Crochet exists before lace, but crochet wouldn't have been popularized or known the way it's known without lace. Speaker 5 (8:08) Lace, the power of labor, and what happens when machines take your job. After the break. Speaker 7 (8:17) This is Ira Glass. On This American Life, one thing we like is a good mystery. Sometimes about really big things, things you hear in the news. But most times, the little mysteries are the best. Speaker 2 (8:29) Our lost and found is currently filled with pants. I don't know, I've never seen this happen. I've got skirts, I've got shorts. Wait, this is true? This Speaker 7 (8:37) is true. Mysteries of every size, each week. This American Life, wherever you get