An Excerpt...

"I have seen some changes. Knitters increasingly combine contrasting fibers for distinctive textures, work with several colors, adapt patterns by varying sleeves, neckline, length etc., experiment with higher style, knit more for themselves than others, knit less when the economy is good because they stay home less, knit less for men who are pickier and won't tolerate that "loving hands at home look," knit less for children since most modern mothers want to throw everything into the washing machine and dryer, count on knitting to keep their hands busy and out of food or off cigarettes, enjoy knitting's "social image" that attracts conversation, knit to reduce travel tensions over late departures, late arrivals, late room check-ins, late meals and gridlocked traffic and still perceive European designs more stylish than American ones."

Page 360

No Idle Hands

by Anne L. Macdonald

1988