I saw this while researching a story, and it broke my heart to see how someone’s crocheting was treated. Sure, it’s a nice enough bag, but all the time and work that went into the mat all squandered on a vanity makes me a bit ill. Ok, I know there are probably dissenting opinions about this. What do y’all think about what I see as a desecration?
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I’m all for upcycling old projects, especially if it didn’t have a use for the custodian in its current form, though I can understand where you’re coming from.
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I think sam as you Lihn, it make me so sad to see how someone’s heirloom is neglected and destroyed. I’m crocheter myself and still using my tablecloths, doilies and curtains in house. Dont care if is not fashion, I have my moms table runner it is around 50-ish old still remembering when she made it and I was always around her with hook and yarn playing.
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Lihn,
WOW - I don’t usually have anything to say, but I had to chime on this one. That is so sad, I treasure my grandma’s crochet stuff, I cringe to think I might pass it on to someone who would do that.
I have had to tell myself many times, once I give something to someone, it’s theirs and I have no say in what they do with it or who they give it to.
I agree with you - it does seem like a desecration there a lots of cheap laces that could be used for that.
Mary
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This is a tricky one! I understand keeping and using heirlooms that are associated with a loved one (my windowsills have a lot of misshapen lumps of pottery made by my children when at school!) but isn’t it better to repurpose an item rather than let it languish in a charity shop? Isn’t it the same a frogging a sweater that never gets worn?
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When I gift someone with something I’ve made, I tell them exactly the same thing. And you’re absolutely right about there being cheaper things around that could be used this way. It just makes me sad to think all that work and the love that went into it should be so badly disregarded.
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I understand what you’re saying, and up to a point, I agree. If I frog a sweater I’ve made in order to make something else with the yarn, that’s one thing. If someone else takes it apart to use bits and pieces of it independent of its original purpose, that’s an entirely different thing. In order to repurpose hand crocheting or knitting, I’d prefer to see the entire piece used, so as not to actually damage it.
But thank you, and all the rest of you, for responding. I knew there would be different responses.
Actually, you’ve sparked a memory in me of a woman’s hour programme years ago which framed knitting as a possible form of aggression! I.e. guilt tripping someone into wearing something you’ve made with love! After that, I’m always careful to offer a gift in advance of making it, and involve the recipient in choosing the pattern and yarn. Unless you know them really well. But even then, not all of my friends are knit-worthy!!
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I wholeheartedly agree with you.
I usually don’t knit for anyone except family. And then only things I know they want. But I have experienced a form of what some would call aggression from the other side: wherein people, sometimes total strangers, observe me knitting and demand that I make something for them. It’s happened several times, starting when I was at university. If I have time and the request isn’t unreasonable, and I know the person well enough, I will often knit (or crochet) what they want. But not always. There are too many factors to be considered, and sometimes it just won’t work out. Sometimes, as you so eloquently point out, not everyone is knit-worthy.
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I know what you mean re the demands! I’ve had non knitting acquaintances ask if they can commission something, with no understanding of the number of hours involved 
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I mostly laugh and say I’ll add it to my list!!
Once a casual acquaintance asked me to knit a really complicated dress she had seen somewhere. Without a pattern. She absolutely would not take no for an answer. But she did say she would buy the yarn. Well, she got that part right. So I suggested she go yarn shopping with me. Note, I live in Hong Kong, so yarn shopping is not exactly a walk in the park. And this was years before the internet was even a word. We hit just about every yarn shop I know of, and knowing her tastes, I guided her to the types of yarn I felt she would approve and that would fit the pattern she seemed to think I was going to design from her verbal description of what she had seen. The more yarn we looked at, the more affronted she became. Finally she said, Well! People certainly don’t do hand knitting because it’s cheap! And that was the last I heard about knitting a dress for her.
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People don’t respect other people’s things or labor period. I’m to the point I only give away things that they could get at the dollar tree. Since that is how they are going to treat it anyway. I’d rather unravel something and make something new of it than allow someone to chop it up and destroy even the materials it was made from.
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Totally understandable. That’s how I felt about the woman who wanted me to knit a dress for her. People who don’t knit or crochet have no idea of or appreciation for the work that goes into it. And those who are knitters/crocheters will most likely make their own stuff.
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I feel the same way as you. Instead of ‘throwing it in the trash’, how about giving it to someone who would appreciate all the work that went into it? It’s sickening as to what they do to beautiful well-made things of the past!
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I agree, it makes me sad to see this too.
Thank you for responding, Rahadiy. And welcome to this forum. I’ve only been around a short time, but I find this place an excellent resource, as well as a good place to vent about things like what this thread is about.