DIY!

DIY is the acronym term for an "Do it yourself." Today it's a huge social movement, taking root in hipster hideouts like PDX.

The DIY movement has strong echoes of the grassroots activities of the 1960s counterculture, and 1970s "Back to the Land" movement, however, it can also trace it's influence back to the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many modern DIY subcultures embrace the early Arts and Crafts movement's rebellion against the perceived lack of soul of industrial aesthetics and critiques modern consumer culture, which emphasizes that the solution to our needs is to purchase things, and instead encourages people to take technologies into their own hands to solve needs.

The phrase "do it yourself" came into common usage in the 1950s in reference to various jobs that people could do in and around their own houses without the contracting of professionals. Today, the term DIY is often used in the context of home improvements and home projects. The term DIY has taken on a broader meaning that covers a wide range of creativity, especially DIY media, DIY music, self-publishing in podcasts, blogs or zines, and especially the traditional crafts, such as knitting.