This was a word used in a championship spelling bee, Most of the words were far tougher
than this one, which has been used here a half dozen times, but never defined.
I learned it a long time ago, in Kipling's The Elephant's Child.
"Then the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake came down from the bank, and knotted himself
in a double-clove-hitch round the Elephant's Child's hind legs, and said, 'Rash and
inexperienced traveller, we will now seriously devote ourselves to a little high tension,
because if we do not, it is my impression that yonder self-propelling man-of-war with
the armour-plated upper deck' (and by this, O Best Beloved, he meant the Crocodile),
'will permanently vitiate your future career."

vitiate
vt.
< L vitiatus, pp. of vitiare, to vitiate < vitium, VICE16
1 to make imperfect, faulty, or impure; spoil; corrupt
2 to weaken morally; debase; pervert
3 to make (a contract, or other legal instrument) ineffective; invalidate
vitiation
.

n.

perhaps you can enjoy the Italian saying
L'ozio e' il padre dei vizi
Idleness is the father of (all) bad habits.

Dear emanuela: This little old quibblemeister says: Idleness is the father of all bad habits -
except one: the bad habit of idleness.

I don't know if you've heard this one, Emanuela, but yours seems very similar in intent to "Idle hands are the devil's playground". It reminded me of it, anyway.

"Idle hands are the devil's playground".

i think you'll find there are regional variation on that one, since i learned it at "The devil soon finds work for idle hands"
(i have a history of knitting, that paraphases the same, No Idle Hands, the history of knitting in America!)

I heard once that the reason for which hobbies of women were knitting or similar was in the fact that they could not afford the price of a lot of big material: I mean, with some cotton, or wool, they had to work for a lot of time. And they didn't need space for their stuff.
So, I do like to work with wood - beds, libraries...

i had a friend say, women don't have hobbies, since hobbies by there nature are slightly impractical, and all of women's "hobbies" were practical in nature. but i think emanuela, you are right when you say they could not afford hobbies!

i knit as hobby, (as fiberbabe quilts) we could, easily buy articles that are as useful, cheaper and faster than it takes us to complete the things we make.

my mother knit as a practical matter. yarn used to be cheaper then ready made sweaters, and we children needed warm clothing...sweaters and mittens, and hats, and scarves. most of our sweaters and stuff were very ultilitarian, no fancy work (my mother didn't enjoy knitting enought to follow fancy patterns)

in earlier days, there were no ready made quilts to be had, and never enough warm woolen blankets. Now, you can by very pretty quilts, all hand quilted in china for less than the cost of the fabric and batting. quilting is now a hobby. (there are a number of reasons not to by the chinese quilts, but that is for a political forum) but even in Penn., i found you could buy double bed quilts for $200 to $300 dollars (since hand quilting a double bed size coverlet takes over 100 hours, the quilts were really quite cheap) the quilters might have recovered the cost of the material, but they valued their own labor as almost free!

(and while looking for something else, i found this comment, "a young woman was expected to spin (and have woven) a full set of linens for her bed, her table and her body before she married. So, an unmarried woman was employed as spinster, (till she completed her task) and married, or long after, if she never married.."

I believe women learned to knit perhaps as long ago as the Venus of Willendorf, thirty thousand
years ago. A lady who was top-notch fashion designer got interested in archaeology. She
noticed what hundreds of men had not, namely that the venus does not have an elaborate
hairdo, but a knitted cap. She also found what she believes are signs that originally
the figure was covered with some type of fabric garment. But look at this picture of her,
and see if you don't think the Venus has a cap, probably made from small knitted or
crocheted squares joined together.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?F66924342

knitting is very old, and knitted socks have been found in ancient eygptian tombs. (and the knitting was very complicated stuff, so obviously it was an old craft then)

in europe(1400- to 1600 or so) , knitting was a guilded craft, and woman were not permitted to knit, only master knitters could knit. they pilgrams had several master knitters as part of their company (since knitting doesn't need a loom, and since it it is easy to "knit to shape" and knitting is stretchy,(so sizing is less of matter) knitted clothes were cheaper (and faster) to make.

In europe, guilds broke up, and in america, men, woman and children were all soon knitting-- (He who does not work, does not eat. was soon a motto in the americas.) because of the pick up/put down nature of the work, it soon became a common woman's task, since it could be more easily interspliced with other tasks, (like riding in wagon when taking goods to market, or while tending children or tasks that need intermittent attention.)
(but this is YART--i know i have post some this info before.. if anyone is interested in "proof" the jesus wore a knitted robe on the day of the crucifixion, or other knitting lore, PM me!)