Very interesting topic and very interesting what you say about the production of silk in Brazil, Pris. Had no idea!
About the challenges, it's funny to think about it for the case of Portugal in comparison with Brazil, because one might be related with the size of the country. It's very small, which is a challenge, but also an opportunity. I'm not a knitter. I do crochet, and my perception is things are changing and evolving and picking up with both crafts (social media certainly helps, and also the fact there seems to be more people doing both crafts?). Maybe one of our challenges for both sides of the pond is the language too, since there seems to be much less resources online in Portuguese than there are in English, for example (though it's also changing, I think). In comparison with other European countries, I think there's also the issue of economic power, with people having less disposable income to spend on their craft of choice than in other countries. And, related to this, the level of development of fiber-related industries, including the publishing scene and how it's harder for designers to dedicate themselves full-time to the craft in all its dimensions.
I think knitters and crocheters should join forces more, because there are misconceptions associated with both crafts, like what you say about the type of fiber associated with each. This is something also evolving, but I think crochet is still a bit considered to be a lesser craft compared to knitting, and that you can't crochet nice garments with nice wools and other fibers other than cotton or acrylic.
Another topic, which I don't know if the same happens with knitting, is about standards and conventions in Portuguese for the names of stitches, for example. As someone who is giving her first steps in pattern writing, particularly in overlay mosaic crochet, which is a crochet technique with some differences from traditional crochet, I find it challenging and frustrating to decide on how to name stitches, and what wording to use to explain what and how to do something in a pattern. Here, it would be interesting to work on setting conventions and also coming up with a table of correspondences between PT-PT and PT-BR, together with other Portuguese variants. Maybe KnitLeaks could play a part here... ;) <3
British vs American crochet terms are still an anxiety when I need to crochet, so I see how challenging terminology in Portuguese might be. The tables of correspondence you suggest were most necessary to me as a young knitter. A good trend in English language instruction is that new terms, new ways of increasing, for example, have very quickly been standardized. I attribute this to the positive effects of the Internet, YouTube and craft blogs like this!
I’m in Canada, and I’m noticing a barely spoken/written fear that many, many crafters are being discouraged and even squeezed out by high yarn prices. The beautiful photos with $40+ CDN per skein aren’t always representative of discount yarn results. As well, local yarn shops are carrying a wider selection of lower cost yarns as inflation decreases our buying power here, especially compared with the US$. It’s encouraging to see substantial lists of suggested yarns on new patterns as a positive, inclusive response from designers.
Here we are also seeing small dyers, scattered across the country, some based in tiny communities, creating viable and interesting fibres, and most of their sales are online. These are higher-end fibres, often with luxury appeal; yak, cashmere, silk content. The yarn itself appears to be imported as most mills closed here, as in Brazil, in response to the acrylic surge.
I think English-speaking countries also benefit of there being more formal organisations like the Craft Yarn Council, I guess. Itvwould be wonderful to widen projects like this or have something similar for PT speaking communities. Considering all variants, it's a huge population!
And we have the same challenge here with inflation... Yarn is the last thing most people are concerned with at the moment... Including affordable substitutes or even stash-busting projects can definitely be positive.
Here in Portugal, the yarn industry suffered a lot in the last decades, particularly since the 70's-80's with a lot of factories closing down, and a lot of machinery being bought by chinese companies, curiously. There are some projects working to develop the production though. Hard job, but so good. Check Retrosaria Rosa Pomar, if you're interested, which is working closely with shepherds and with Portuguese sheep breeds. Elsewhere, there's some people working with linen too, and domething I think has a lot of potential and is developing too, is with hemp. Production is also increasing and it's a really interesting fiber and Portugal has optimal conditions for it to grow.
Very interesting topic and very interesting what you say about the production of silk in Brazil, Pris. Had no idea!
About the challenges, it's funny to think about it for the case of Portugal in comparison with Brazil, because one might be related with the size of the country. It's very small, which is a challenge, but also an opportunity. I'm not a knitter. I do crochet, and my perception is things are changing and evolving and picking up with both crafts (social media certainly helps, and also the fact there seems to be more people doing both crafts?). Maybe one of our challenges for both sides of the pond is the language too, since there seems to be much less resources online in Portuguese than there are in English, for example (though it's also changing, I think). In comparison with other European countries, I think there's also the issue of economic power, with people having less disposable income to spend on their craft of choice than in other countries. And, related to this, the level of development of fiber-related industries, including the publishing scene and how it's harder for designers to dedicate themselves full-time to the craft in all its dimensions.
I think knitters and crocheters should join forces more, because there are misconceptions associated with both crafts, like what you say about the type of fiber associated with each. This is something also evolving, but I think crochet is still a bit considered to be a lesser craft compared to knitting, and that you can't crochet nice garments with nice wools and other fibers other than cotton or acrylic.
Another topic, which I don't know if the same happens with knitting, is about standards and conventions in Portuguese for the names of stitches, for example. As someone who is giving her first steps in pattern writing, particularly in overlay mosaic crochet, which is a crochet technique with some differences from traditional crochet, I find it challenging and frustrating to decide on how to name stitches, and what wording to use to explain what and how to do something in a pattern. Here, it would be interesting to work on setting conventions and also coming up with a table of correspondences between PT-PT and PT-BR, together with other Portuguese variants. Maybe KnitLeaks could play a part here... ;) <3
British vs American crochet terms are still an anxiety when I need to crochet, so I see how challenging terminology in Portuguese might be. The tables of correspondence you suggest were most necessary to me as a young knitter. A good trend in English language instruction is that new terms, new ways of increasing, for example, have very quickly been standardized. I attribute this to the positive effects of the Internet, YouTube and craft blogs like this!
I’m in Canada, and I’m noticing a barely spoken/written fear that many, many crafters are being discouraged and even squeezed out by high yarn prices. The beautiful photos with $40+ CDN per skein aren’t always representative of discount yarn results. As well, local yarn shops are carrying a wider selection of lower cost yarns as inflation decreases our buying power here, especially compared with the US$. It’s encouraging to see substantial lists of suggested yarns on new patterns as a positive, inclusive response from designers.
Here we are also seeing small dyers, scattered across the country, some based in tiny communities, creating viable and interesting fibres, and most of their sales are online. These are higher-end fibres, often with luxury appeal; yak, cashmere, silk content. The yarn itself appears to be imported as most mills closed here, as in Brazil, in response to the acrylic surge.
I think English-speaking countries also benefit of there being more formal organisations like the Craft Yarn Council, I guess. Itvwould be wonderful to widen projects like this or have something similar for PT speaking communities. Considering all variants, it's a huge population!
And we have the same challenge here with inflation... Yarn is the last thing most people are concerned with at the moment... Including affordable substitutes or even stash-busting projects can definitely be positive.
Here in Portugal, the yarn industry suffered a lot in the last decades, particularly since the 70's-80's with a lot of factories closing down, and a lot of machinery being bought by chinese companies, curiously. There are some projects working to develop the production though. Hard job, but so good. Check Retrosaria Rosa Pomar, if you're interested, which is working closely with shepherds and with Portuguese sheep breeds. Elsewhere, there's some people working with linen too, and domething I think has a lot of potential and is developing too, is with hemp. Production is also increasing and it's a really interesting fiber and Portugal has optimal conditions for it to grow.
Thank you for replying to my comment, Dorothy! ❤