Bohemian rip off

After a crazy weekend (following two very busy weeks, which followed a week of illness, which followed a week traveling . . . ) I’m looking forward to a week of cooling off, hopefully being able to take a comp day Friday and show some friends a few ceramic techniques in the studio. Then one more week till a ten day trip to Nebraska visiting two supporting churches. That should be, in comparison to the last month, a leisurely jaunt.

I’m scrapping a brief post together here from our shopping trip this weekend. I captured this cameraphone photo of a scarf at Kohls.

I’m sure most every other department store is selling one just like it this season. This style caught my eye, though, because my wife is an avid knitter/crocheter. This looks like a lot of the ideas she comes across as a way to use up scraps of yarn. You’ve got short pieces of yarn laying around from past projects, but none are enough by themselves to create a new project from. So you patch something like this together.

I’m amused that this scrapped together idea borrowed from handicraft is being marketed en masse. Why pay $30 for the scarf in a style that’s made to look like it’s something unique when you can ask your grandmother (or wife) to whip one up that’s truly original?

Something like this would take my wife about three hours to crochet, maybe a little more considering the fringe. I suppose there are people out there who don’t know any knitters or crocheters or sewers. I suppose there are people out there who wouldn’t even think of wearing something that they didn’t purchase from a store; they wouldn’t know where to start.

Both scenarios are pretty depressing to me.