I grew up crafting. In elementary school in Oslo, Norway, we
had classes in “håndarbeid”
(i.e. hand-craft) from an early age. Of course this was a few years ago and
back then the girls were taught certain skills and the boys different ones. But
both took home ec! (That’s another story.) Back then – this was in the early
middle ages of course – crafting was not really for pleasure, but for practical
reasons: Norway is cold so being able to knit wool socks becomes important, we
had little money so being able to change out a broken zipper in kids’ jeans was
a necessity, canning jams and salting fish kept us through the winter, and so
on. But of course every culture adds adornment to the practical: a drinking cup
functions to contain water (or beer) without the chiseled pattern around the
rim and you can hold a cape together just as well with a simple pin as with an
ornate one. What do YOU see as the value (or lack of) of adornment?
