I think people are into faster crafting, and knitting is so slow. Yet I love it.

I also think that so many women today are employed outside the home--double working families trying to afford their home and lifestyle, ditto single moms. Even retirement age people are often into another retirement career. I think people are busier with maintaining the lifestyle they want to CONTINUE to be accustomed to.

I think about the "good life" of my childhood in the 1950s. We did not require as much stuff. Think about it. I had church shoes, school shoes and play shoes--3! No one was worried about the labels on my clothing, most of which were hand-me-downs. I had almost no acquaintances who ever had braces in my large high school. Most kids did not go on to college but went to work and married at 18. We had one car. We had no TV, and later had only one TV. Vacations or trips were rare, no more than once a year if that. Toys were given to us on our birthdays and Christmas, never for no particular reason at all. For entertainment we played baseball, basketball, kick the can, flashlight tag, telephone, jacks, mumbley peg, etc.or we read a book. No expensive video games or CDs or video tapes. No one spent a penny on botox or plastic surgery or lip enhancement or breast implants. Life was simpler and less expensive--and salaries were much lower then by far.

Mom canned the cherries the neighbor gave her from the tree next door. She also canned anything else she got in abundance. She worked hard as a mother of 4 and did a wonderful job of keeping a good home.

She taught me to knit. When nylon yarn first came out, she knit us all sweaters from it before you could buy nylon sweaters. We were sensitive to wool, so had not worn sweaters till then. She darned our socks--when was the last time you saw anyone doing that with plain white cotton socks?

Time and money. Younger women don't have the time or the money to spend on hobbies--they are too busy working. I agree that to some extent, it's to maintain a life-style. Schools no longer encourage traditional skills like cooking and sewing. Those old "Home Ec" classes we took are now "Family and Consumer Ed" and they focus on smart shopping, not on making things from scratch.

I'm a homeschool mom, so my kids DID learn these things and they are very creative and love making gifts and things. They find it satisfying and economical. My youngest daughter, 17, designs and makes her own clothes and jewelery and knitted fun scarves for her friends and family for Christmas last year.

Annie

I am also from the "50's" era. A city girl that married a farmer. I only freeze our vegs now but did our own meat and eggs as well as fruit and vegetables when our kids were being raised. I also made 90% of our kids clothes. Now I still love to make clothes but I mostly knit and crochet.
We have a ton of apples this year so I have been busy with those and getting the gardens ready for winter before the cold hits again.
Living in the country I had a choice of three towns to shop in and they all had several fabric shops with yarn. Now I have to go 100 miles or so to shop. Sm towns have dried up and only have WalMart. When I go to "Town" now I try to buy enough because I don't want to run out. But it never fails I always forget something. I need to do more shopping on the Internet.
Our oldest daughter injoys making curtains and things for her home but our other daughters are too busy working.
I do injoy reading all of the post and have received great advice from GW friends. I don't post much but feel like we are friends and are like good neighbors.
I love it when you guys post what and where you buy from. Maybe someday I'll get brave and order online.
keep posting and thanks .

Well, things may change at least for some. I'm a child of the 30's whose stay at home mom cooked, canned, gardened, sewed all our clothes and taught us to crochet. In the summer we were sent for a week to our godmothers to be taught a special skill like embroidery, knitting, whatever she was good at. That was out vacation. I worked full time from the time I graduated high school until I started my own business at age 50. That was more than fulltime. My girls all do needle craft hobbies in spite of all graduating from college and have professional careers in the medical field with one exception by choice. They knew how to cook by the time they turned 14, and all play a musical instrument. I think if they don't see these activities at home they won't become interested in them and there is the opposing peer pressure that no one else is doing it these days. A few granddaughters have picked up crocheting and knitting which we encourage. I've always told my kids and grandkids, find something you enjoy doing and get really good at it. It's sad to see kids that don't know where their food or basics come from and what it takes to get it to them. This may change as more people are forced to stay home due to the high cost of transportation. I heard a lady from SF on the radio saying she stood in front of Walgreen's trying to sell her DVDs for $2 so she could have enough money to buy gas to go to work the next day. Maybe the sock menders will be back. But then, who but us old ladies wear socks anymore? LOL.

I think that the crafts were never handed down. It was always too easy and cheap to go buy what you wanted. Now everyone is too wrapped up in TV,computer games,ipods,cell phones etc...
I am a 50s kid and I was never taught to do any of the sewing stuff at home. I learned rag rugs by watching my one grandmother who use to make them. We were always told to stay away from her projects and not to bother her when she was working on them. So I watched from a distance and kept it in my head. I never made one until I was in my 20s and wanted a rag rug in my apartment. An older lady taught me crochet when I was about 13 in the hospital and have been doing it ever since. I taught myself sewing cloths through mistakes and books. I taught myself all means of hand sewing (embroidery,cross-stitch and much more) by just doing it and books.
I think people have lost their creativity and the value of things that are hand made. They look for all kinds of ways to relieve stress and spend thousands of dollars on things that don't work when it could be as simple as learning to crochet or knit.

I also have to point out another aspect -- many people's work days are very long, as is their week too. My sons and son-in-law especially work 7 days a week, usually till quite late at night and even all night or into the wee hours. Though one is in the creative arts, he has little time to indulge in playing his music.

I think it is sad that the world is the way it is today. Young people miss out on so much. Maybe it is because I am older, but I am not a particular fan of so called "progress". Vique