Hand Made In The USA

 
  
  If you think about it not many people make anything any more. They might make their own food, like lunch for work or dinner for when guests come over, but ordinary every day things are always bought from large department stores. Not many people knit their own socks, crochet their own blankets, sew their own pillow cases, or weave their own wash cloths. The idea of being able to take care of oneself and others seems to be such a foreign idea in today's culture.

  These concepts are not completely unheard of in the Amish and Prepper communities, but they have a religious purpose for their preferred lifestyle. The average American cannot do for themselves, and if there was ever a meat shortage how quickly so  many of them would be in support of gun ownership and hunting. It's strange to think about how obsessed we are with fashion, but only a select few can actually make a sweater with two needles and some yarn. We have become such a lazy society that no even tries to learn any more, except for then directions to the nearest Walmart. 

  Most consumers have grown accustomed to the cheap mass produced quality that foreign countries offer, yet at the same time craft supplies are not cheap and they do not sell manufacturer quality supplies to the general public (unless you buy it in $500 lots). To quote Rebecca Alidre Holmes-Anderson, "Most anyone would rather pay $20 at a big box store for a sweater than what it would cost to make it. It’s society’s way of thinking that ‘DIY’ is cheaper than buying the product, and often that’s the case, but with most needle crafts, it’s not.” It usually costs $20 for the yarn alone to make an adult sized sweater, not including labor.

  This supply and demand has made so many of us reject the idea that we can take the same tools and supplies to make the same things ourselves for the same price and we can't. Because China is cheaper and the US believes in minimum wage, we no longer try as hard to make things for ourselves. Of course a sweater is cheaper if it only cost a company in China 3 cents an hour to make plus $1.50 in yarn, and $3 in shipping costs to the United States. 

  The only way I can make a sweater as cheap as that is by going to yard sales and thrift shops, and buying already made sweaters that I will recycle the yarn from. I know of a store where I can buy out of season sweaters for 50 cents, then turn them into things I need, like socks, scarves, and wash clothes. There is a will with a way. 

Share with people you know!
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/biggonsforyou
Instagram: sasseleigh
twitter: @BIGGONSanything
Etsy: BIGGONSanything

Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/usr/bigintheusa