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a craft in a day when they have not had the time it takes to learn the craft properly. These workshops are devaluing crafts by saying that they are easy to ‘master’. Another aspect of today’s society that shows we value traditional crafts would be the fact that there is a Crafts Council for UK; it is an independent organisation that relies on funding from the government. The Crafts Council is there to promote Contemporary Crafts to the nation, by funding new craftspeople, exhibitions and bringing crafts to people. The Crafts Council is connected to the Arts Council, so what does it say about our valuation of traditional crafts when only a few weeks after British culture was celebrated and shown to the world during the Olympics, the government made huge cuts to the Arts Council. This could show how little craft is being valued. E.J.T. Collins in ‘Crafts in the English Countryside’ states, ‘The survival of the crafts depends on government’s commitment to funding the right training to produce the skilled rural crafts-workers of tomorrow’(2004, p.19). Collins is saying that government support is vital for crafts as without it crafts could not be accessed by the masses and therefore could not progress and adapt further, losing the value of crafts for the next generation. Another threat against craft would be the dwindling number of crafts being passed down from generation to generation. E.J.T. Collins states, ‘Accelerating social change has transformed the rural economies, and with it, the traditional crafts. For example, the gradual loss of the family firm has ended the pattern by which traditional skills once passed from master to apprentice down the generations. Ancient crafts have been lost, or barely survive’ (2004, p.20). As society has progressed through history people now have more opportunities and do not have to follow the family business of traditional crafts they can pursue other career prospects, this is hindering the craft community. However Collins goes on to comment that craft is now seen as a viable career choice, ‘…Paradoxically adding respectability to craft work as a career. Although most craftspeople continue to be motivated more by philosophical commitment and job satisfaction then by money, today’s new entrants are in the main, more entrepreneurial, more market orientated, and more responsive to consumer needs than their predecessors’ (2004, p.22). Knitting like most traditional crafts has a negative stereotype that only elderly women knit. Evidence online, like ‘dudesthatknit.com’ show that this stereotype is wrong. Yes, elderly people knit but so do youths, businessmen, skiers and actors. The latter bring in more publicity for knitting as people take to knitting because celebrities like Ryan Reynolds and Uma Thurman like to knit. The idea that men do not knit is untrue though it would seem that fewer men than women knit, this is most likely due to the negative connotations. These stereotypes do not really exist outside the western world and have mainly developed because most elderly people have more time on their hands and therefore have the time it takes to knit. In other cultures traditional crafts are seen differently for instance in Vietnam craft workers have a higher average income than the national average. They have over 1.5 million craftspeople and traditional crafts contribute to