編織是女性的活動？（三）
Fabric craft is a women’s hobby?
Part 3

由於很少文獻記載有關編織在香港的資料，因此以下的內容都是透過一些訪問資料和親自訪問了兩位在港編織多年的女士而得出來的。

香港有別於外國，沒有任何編織與政治相關的資料找到。女性與編織的關聯相信是基於當時紡織行業的盛行和男主外女主內的傳統觀念。因此，編織便成為了女性的興趣和她們生活的一部分。

Finally here is the last story for fabric craft history. It is quite difficult to find out the history of fabric craft in Hong Kong. So, the below story is mainly found in different interviews.

It is different from the foreign country we have mentioned before, there is no relationship between fabric craft and politics found. Based on the popularity of the textile industry and the traditional Chinese culture, fabric culture becomes their hobby and a part of their life.

在六十年代的香港，為富人編織一件毛衣可以賺取港幣30元，算是不錯的收入（當年一個月的薪金大約為幾百元）。 以及紡織工廠的女性員工也會把編織視為興趣。每逢午餐時間，他們也會默默地在編織。

延續至八十年代，編織仍然是一種很受歡迎的興趣。根據編織了約40多年的香港織人Bonnie描述，當年在巴士、火車上也是充滿編織的女性，甚至在戲院排隊等買戲票的期間也在編織。編織對當年的女性而言，其實就像我們現今的智能手機。



而在香港編織了超過50年的Auntie Winnie亦分享了當年編織在香港的熱門程度。針織店相比起現在有的數量多很多。而特別在冬天的時候，針織店更是人頭擁擁。一些針織店更會提供椅子，讓客人可以在店鋪內買完冷線後，直接就地開始編織。（現在仍然有一些針織店同樣地有椅子，甚至乎還有枱呢！）

當年一些針織店更提供友善的回收計劃。若果有淨下的冷線（需與店鋪販售的同一牌子），可以拿回店鋪回收並取得下一次購買的優惠。以前的針織店販售的品牌不多，款式也少，因此店鋪也比較容易實行這種計劃。現在的針織店則會賣不同的牌子和款式，客人亦趨向嘗試不同的牌子和款式，所以這種回收計劃也消失了。

最後問到她們有關現今香港的編織人數，她們也一同認為很少，而多數的編織者也是40、50歲的女士。雖然編織者人數不如往時，不過現在比想像中其實多了嘗試編織的人。據搜尋結果，在2020年，社交平台Instagram上，便有超過163個帳戶為編織網店。相信是因為疫情初期，大多數人也待在家中，從而發掘不同室內的興趣來打發時間。

Let’s start the story from the 60s!

At that time, knitting a sweater for rich people is a good source of income (HKD30/ knitted sweater, around a few hundred for salary/ month). The hobby of the female labour in the textile factory is knitting as well. they liked to knit during lunchtime on workdays.

In the 80s, knitting is still popular in Hong Kong. According to Bonnie who knitted around 40years in Hong Kong, there are many people who knitted on the bus, train, or even when queuing up for buying the ticket in the cinema.

Also, there are many yarn stores at that time. Another knitter Winner also shared that the yarn stores were packed with people in the winter. Some of the yarn stores have a little chair provided for the knitter to knit there.



The yarn store in the old times will recycle the yarn back and giving a discount for next time. But now it’s not easy to do that because now the yarn store will be in stock with different brands and new yarns each time, not like the old times having only a few brands and types of yarn in stock. The consumers are also looking for new yarns each time because they may feel boring if keep using the same yarn.

In the end, the two interviewees also agree that there are much fewer people knit nowadays in Hong Kong, and most of them are ladies aged 40 to 50. Although the amount of people knit in Hong Kong is fewer than in the old times, some of the young people would still like to try fabric craft as their new hobby. According to the search result from the internet, there are over 163 accounts on Instagram that as a fabric craft online shop based in Hong Kong. It is believed that more people trying fabric craft is because people spend more time at home due to the pandemic.