When my husband was a young child, his mother would give him some pencils and a huge sheet of butcher paper and then send him outside to draw. As he grew older, he became curious about how other people made pictures and eventually read every art book in his local library. He particularly devoured the how-to books and became a very sophisticaled artist by the time he was a teenager.

But, thanks to those early years of drawing on his own, he never lost his own style, especially his distinctive line.

Now think about how you learned to work with yarn. Were you given some yarn and a crochet hook and told to go make something? Of course not! You were probably taught how to knit first, which is far more difficult technially, and encouraged (I’m being kind here) to make nice, even stitches. Chances are that you didn’t even get to choose the yarn.

Right?

And from there you moved on to patterns, since they’re everywhere. In women’s magazines, in specialty mags, and everywhere yarn is sold.

Right?

You weren’t encouraged--you possibly weren’t even allowed--to make something on your own, because you were supposed to make something pretty and useful, and you couldn’t possible do that by yourself.

Right?

I’m not going to talk about the sexism inherent in all this, or the way women have been pushed, for centuries, into learning superb fiber techniques so they could fabricate someone else’s designs. Yes, women have increasingly become the designers, but they’re just feeding a system that puts other women into creative straitjackets.

Right?

Think about what you’re reading about fiber these days, especially in the art-oriented mags, like Fiberarts. In its early days, FA was a much friendlier and more informal mag that emphasized the pleasures of fiber work as opposed to their present canonizing of specific fiber works. But today it’s all one big competition, and only the very, very best can get the FA kiss of approval. And there is no possible way that mere amateurs can live up to that standard.

Right?

Then there are the glossy craft mags, mainly for knitting and weaving, that showcase very lovely and often extremely sophisticated pieces that their readers can only copy. And, of course, instructions and patterns are included to make your copying easier, and the more you copy, the better you get at it.

Right?

And the better you get at copying, the less confidence you have in your ability to make something on your own.

Right?

And if your shoulders ache and your wrists hurt and your fingers are starting to get numb, don’t worry--that’s what happens to everybody as the arms of their straitjackets get pulled tighter and tighter.