So recently I've been watching a lot of television... ok, well maybe not any more than I usually do, but I'm unemployed, so it's a fair bit more than the average 26 year old female. But I do try to keep it educational (by which I mean I avoid anything involving a so called 'therapist' and people shouting at each other on a stage in front of a studio audience). But lately I've noticed a bit of a trend, craft is making a comeback! Now I wouldn't normally bother to write a post about something like this, but it's just got me so excited that I can't help it.
Kirstie Allsopp, my hero!
Obviously there's been shows like Kirstie's Handmade Britain and Kirstie's Homemade Home, which I LOVE by the way, and that's obviously a bit of a niche thing, because of course you're going to watch it if you like crafting, baking, or just Kirstie Allsopp, that's a given. But last season Kirstie kept insisting that crafting was making a comeback, and things like craft fairs, farm shows and county fairs were all seeing a boom in popularity. Now I don't spend my summers hopping around county fairs and farm shows, although they do look like fun and I'm hoping to get to one this summer, but I have noticed a small increase in the number of craft related stalls at the Lancaster market, so I was inclined to agree with her from the start. But lately, crafting has been popping up all over the place, even popular television series.
My husband and I, among others, love How I Met Your Mother, it's one of our favourite programmes and we anxiously await new episodes. And HIMYM has promoted crafts like painting and knitting for a long time via the character of Lilly, the artsy Kindergarten teacher with an eye for fashion and all things retro/crafty. I always thought it was nice that a sitcom would have a character promoting creativity and crafting for younger women, it always made me feel a little less like I was breaking some kind of feminist mould by saying 'actually I do enjoy spending time in my kitchen' even though I'm still perfectly capable of doing everything else. But really, until lately, Lilly was one of the few modern day characters under 30 crafting for the world to see without compromising her strength and ability.Others programmes with similar characters included the ever popular Gilmore Girls. Again, one of my favourites from years past, with the creative minded mother-daughter duo and their culinary friend Suki with her greengrocer husband and the hippie type next door neighbours. All a bit too perfect to be true really, but I suppose that was the premise of the show, and I loved it! But again, the crafting was a bit back burner, always there but no one ever made a big deal about it.
Enter my new favourite show and recent big hit, New Girl. Now, I loved this show from the moment the theme song started, which is funny since I didn't expect to, but I was out a girly programme after the sudden departure of Brothers and Sisters last year and took a stab in the dark. Anyway, from the short intro with a LOT of creative pizazz to the end of each episode crafting, baking or something hands on or home-made is almost always written in. I love the show for other reasons too, don't get me wrong, but I think it's awesome that someone thought to have a twenty something female with a job and ambition doing craft, and not just on her own, but with all her friends. Last weeks episode had Jess on a sofa with her two besties (one a model, the other a gynaecologist) and Nick's new girlfriend Julia (a lawyer) all having crochet time! Jess bakes on the show (cookies, cupcakes, the boys on the show are all getting fat) She often wears her Jam-boree t-shirt, implying that she did a Jam based fundraiser. Which is an awesome idea, we should all have Jam-borees instead of those silly magazine sale fundraisers or whatever it is kids are doing these days. She has a hat made of ribbons, if you can buy one of those somewhere, let me know, cause I don't even know how to begin making something like that. Anyway, definitely crafting is a big part of the show, which is super cool and makes me feel much more like I'm not the only female under 30 out there being creative and cool and yet totally not undermining all the work feminists have put in over the years.
Ms. Day's JAM-boree t-shirt.
Then last weekend I heard something I found rather profound while watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. Shocking because I really don't find much of what he says profound, even though he tries so hard to make it that way. But he said something along the lines of, we made a big mistake cutting Home-ec from schools when we decided it was sexist, instead of cutting home-ec we should have made it mandatory for everyone, girls and boys. Then we might all have a better appreciation of good food and know how to do at least some basic cooking for ourselves. And as my understanding of home-ec (although I never had the opportunity to take it myself) was that they taught not only basic cooking and baking skills but other useful things like how to sew on a button and balance a check-book and budget your shopping trip. Now I was lucky enough to have a fantastic mother who taught me how to do all those things and more, and I think not only a love of cooking gets passed down from generation to generation, as Tony often surmises, but also a love and appreciation of all things crafty and hand/home-made.
Now I'm not trying to plug my favourite shows, although I realise that I am a little, I'm trying to point out that craft really does seem to be making a comeback, and that's awesome! I hope that shows like New Girl and How Met Your Mother encourage women my age and younger to make a return to some of the things that we've lost in the fight for female equality. I totally respect and believe that women should be able to work and have the same opportunities as men, I'm by no means advocating a return to the pre-war position of women as idealistic housewives. I love having opportunities available to me and freedoms and all that. But at the same time, I love my kitchen and my garden and my crafting and I do think that we have lost something important in our fight as women to be recognised and respected. We wonder why children these days spend hours in front of the television instead of doing something more productive, but it's because no one has taught them how to bake cookies or plant a seed and care for it or sew a simple cross-stitch pattern. This seems to be changing, the Guides and the Scouts have all seem growth this past year, or so they said on the news a couple weeks ago. Things like cake clubs and domestic goddess weekends are becoming more popular. And judging from how busy my local market has become on weekends, people are more enthusiastic at least about buying handmade products if not making them themselves. So if you're not already crafting, baking, or gardening, then give it a go!
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