Sometimes I forget to blog about things. For instance, when I wrote about The Mist I forgot to mention the best part of it: Dead Can Dance on the soundtrack. I'm still not certain if it fit, but listening to that beautiful, mournful song at the end... Any movie is basically made better by Lisa Gerrard's voice. It was even better than hearing Collide in the trailer for that most recent Resident Evil movie.
Another thing is that yesterday, I forgot to mention that one of the books that we bought is on spooky crochet, and it has a little crochet Cthulhu. You realize what this means, of course. Now I have to learn to crochet. I was thinking about that this morning, and reflecting on how women used to be able to do all sorts of handicrafts. In addition to cooking and baking, they could sew their own clothes, tat their own lace, crochet blankets and knit socks and quilt bedspreads and embroider handkerchiefs and needlepoint up something pretty for the wall.
And it made me think that women probably had to do all those things, not just to supply things for their home, but to keep themselves from going mad. It was unusual for a woman to work outside the home, of course. After you'd cleaned the house, assuming you didn't have a maid, what were you to do? Especially if the kids were in school? And what if you didn't have kids? It's no wonder it was considered terrible to be barren. A woman essentially was just considered to be a wife and mother in those times.
I'm happy to live in a time where I'm free to not have children, and free to work outside the home (even if I currently don't), and where I don't have to be the master of a dozen crafts. But sometimes I feel like I should be able to do all these things. It's so much easier now, with high-quality tools and materials, and good lights (honestly, can you imagine doing embroidery by candlelight?), and books aplenty. The only issue, really, is stretching myself too thin. I do worry that if I try to do too many things, I'll never really master anything.
Anyway, I really should be working to finish this anklet. I did let myself get distracted, and I probably won't actually finish it until tomorrow.
My grandmother taught me all those because it was required for women. Uhhuh. Crochet is pretty easy, but if you decide you like it, you'd better make room for yarn in your beadroom!
ReplyDeleteAnd back in the days when these crafts were required, there really wasn't much extra time. We have a lot more tools than they do and they help us save time.
Oh yes, I suppose that housework was a lot more time-consuming back then. Of course, if you were well-off, you had servants to do it for you... and then you learned to play the harp or some other lady-like pursuit.
ReplyDeleteChris is thinking he might want to learn to crochet, too.
I'd teach you both if I lived closer!
ReplyDeleteThat would be cool! I might get Mom to show us how, or possibly Gina. I think they're the only people I know locally who crochet.
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