Did you ever have one of those weeks where you blinked your eyes and not seconds but whole days have gone by? I am having one. It hasn't been a terrible week (except for some intestinal virus which seems to be making the rounds) and it hasn't been a particularly productive week. Just a normal, everyday very-warm-for-November week.
I don't even have any good progress shots. I haven't spent any time on the bayerische sock. It takes a fair amount of concentration and I haven't seemed to have it lately. I have been working away on the wildflowers shawl. It's pretty but looks pretty much the same, only bigger.I fell asleep with it in my hands the other night around 9:00 pm. I've just felt tired and have gone to bed early every night.
( Next week is Thanksgiving here in the US. It's one of my favoritest of holidays because it's all about the family/friends and the food. We have the same menu (my family is nothing if not consistent, violently so) and the number of people varies depending on who needs a place to be. I have been fortunate that the girls are always home for dinner (and often bring friends). I know the day will come when I'll have to share them with inlaws so I'll enjoy this time. We have to do the shopping this weekend and the stores will be mobbed so it's either after work tomorrow or early Sunday morning. I don't usually take a list, (I know what we're out of since I do all the cooking,) but for this meal, I'll make one. I could get into trouble if the fruit relish was missing something or the stuffing wasn't full of sausage!
Does it feel like Christmas is creeping up behind you (quietly and very fast) and is about to poke you on the shoulder and say "I'm here!"? I know that it's 5 weeks from tomorrow but my head just can't accept it. I see all the lovely knitted gifts and wish I had planned some things for my loved ones but I didn't and I refuse to stress myself out by trying to quickly knock out something before the holiday.
Interesting discussion going on in a forum this week about the appropriateness of knitting in seminars, church, meetings,etc. Someone made an interesting point. She said (not a direct quote here), that just because our hobby happens to be portable doesn't mean it should be taken out everywhere and that knitters shouldn't feel that they have a "right" to knit anywhere they please. It can be distracting to others. Of course this raised a hue and cry about "not being able to listen if my hands aren't knitting" and other such protests. (and I do not mean to belittle anyone with ADHD or any of the autism spectrum disorders. I fully understand how difficult it can be to sit still)
I know I don't listen well at meetings sometimes so I make myself take notes. This means I doodle all over the page. You can tell how bored I was by how decorated the notes are. I don't think I'd be insulted if I were speaking and people in my audience were knitting but then I understand that you can listen and knit at the same time. There were a surprising number of people who think it is insulting and disrespectful to knit when one is part of an audience.
I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing. I do not knit at work. Not even at lunch time. They've made the corporate opinion on that subject well known. No big deal. It IS a business, not a leisure time hang out. I have taken my knitting when I've gone to trainings. I sit in the back and quietly knit and pay just as much attention as anyone else. No one has ever asked me to stop or complained. I've never been bothered by someone else's knitting (although to be honest, only once did I run into someone else with yarn and she was crocheting).
As far as church goes, a minister wrote that although she would never ask people to stop knitting during services, she thinks it's not too much to ask someone to give up one hour a week to concentrate solely on God. Even though she freely admits that she doesn't think God really cares if people knit and worship as long as they're worshipping!
So what do you think? I don't think I have a "right" to knit everywhere and I can go out places and not take knitting with me. Knitting is something I do, not who I am. I can separate myself from my craft. I tend to take something small with me and if the opportunity presents itself, I knit. If not, then I don't feel deprived.
Just as often, Pk wants to hold my hand and that supercedes any knitting!
Well, hello friend. It’s almost Hallowe’en and I am looking forward to it. this year we have a new addition to our family. Well, actually...
-
Happy 2010! (That's said 'twenty-ten'.) We finally got out of the '0's' and now can move on. Pk and I had our u... -
I didn't mention in my last post (probably because I'm not always comfortable with my own sexuality), but having Pk look at me in th... -
This was a winter with little or no snow here in the wilds of Southern New Jersey. I have listened to the people around me rejoice about t...
14 comments:
When I was speaking at that forum Sunday I noticed several knitters in the audience. I was jealous. If I hadn't had the girl, I might have brought my knitting and knit right up front myself. I find it helps me to concentrate. I wouldn't bring anything I needed to consult a pattern for--I think that would be insulting, yes--but straight boring stockinette, or something you've memorized? Sure, why not? I find it far less insulting that someone who is covertly checking their email on their phone, and I bet the email-checking happens FAR more often.
That should be "THAN someone who is covertly checking their email..." :)
I think I read the same forum thread! I'm not sure where I stand either. I would love to knit at work meetings but never did (except on teleconferences where the other people couldn't see me) because it's not really worth the hassle (and as you say, work doesn't pay you to knit). I did used to knit at lunchtimes though, but always in a meeting room away from my desk - while eating my lunch at the same time.
As for church, well, I'm not a church-goer, but I don't think it would feel right to me if I were.
I guess in the end, we should assume most people are non-knitters and so don't really get that knitters can listen and knit at the same time. I think if I were a speaker at a conference or meeting, and someone in the audience was, I don't know, tyeing flies or building a model aeroplane, I'd feel a bit annoyed. I get that it's not really any different to people doodling or checking their email on their phone but somehow it is, you know? I suppose most people don't doodle as their hobby, that's what makes it different? Nevertheless, I do always WANT to knit at such things, I just mostly don't.
I've been thinking about this too, as I went to a conference last week and BADLY wanted to knit through many of the sessions. Like many, I can listen better if my hands are occupied. And if I am sleepy (inevitable during a 3-day conference) I have to take notes and doodle to stay awake. It doesn't even work that well, my sentences slope down the page as I am nodding off, just like at uni!
However, in some (generally professional) forums, it just wouldn't fly. At least some of the presenters would be insulted. Even though I would be listening just as intently (maybe more so), they can't know that. In many areas of my life I am happy to be a weirdo who knits in public - on a bus, in cafes, and I imagine if I attended less formal meetings such as community organisations. I used to volunteer reading articles live on community radio, and I found I could knit while the other person was reading. But I accept that in some places it is just not appropriate. However I'm very happy for (and jealous of) people who are in a situation where they can knit at work.
Oops, I seem to be wordy today. Forgot to say, the email checking during meetings drives me bananas. Very rude. And people can play games, surf Facebook etc during a conference or seminar and still look more professional than me knitting. Unfortunately sometimes the appearance is all people get of you, so I guess it does matter.
I don't think people realize you can knit and listen at the same time. It's not like say reading a book at a board meeting or something.
Ah the burden we bear of knitting ignorance.
i would totally knit in church if I was a church goer. But then when I did go to church it was a modern, progressive church and if the mothers could sit on the floor with their kids, then I reckon I could sit quietly and knit.
I'll knit at a training day where it's more informal, but not at work itself.
i don't believe I have a right to do it, but I like to know I can use my judgement to assess when it feels ok and when it doesn't.
Interesting post. I don't knit at work - I'm way too busy most of the time, and I go home for lunch. I don't go to church but I do take my knitting to Kathryn's ballet and recorder classes where I sit and wait. Other parents bring books or newspapers.
I did try taking my knitting to the pub, but I got so much grief off non knitting friends (all men, the women were fine about it) that I never repeated it. It did surprise me though.
I used to attend a Mennonite church. One of the older women admonished me for knitting on Sundays because "You should rest from your labors." I realized that to her, Knitting was work, not pleasure, and I figured that if it bothered her, I could give it up while I was around her. I knitted like mad when I was on the church board, and as soon as they realized that I could look them in the eye, talk, and listen while my fingers went busily about their own business, it ceased to be an issue.
I knit everywhere. If you can read out loud while doing your knitting, you can prove to folks that the knitting doesn't distract your mental facilities.
Cell phones and texting? Don't get me started! Rant, rage!
I don't bring my knitting around with me much either. For one, I CAN'T knit at work. I just don't have the time, and that's fine. I wouldn't want my yarn to come home smelling like pizza anyway. That's my job. I used to knit at D&D on Mondays, but now that everyone knows the basics by heart and we're all really comfortable with each other, I find that it's more of a distraction than anything. In a game where it's vitally important that I pay attention to everyone around me, sparing the extra attention to knit--even plain stockinette--can be too much.
I knit on long drives, and at night in bed. Knitting is very much a home sort of thing for me. I knit when I go to visit Em, too, but that's a separate circumstance. I just don't feel the need to take my knitting everywhere with me.
Much like everyone else, knitting helps me concentrate. Otherwise I'd be thinking about how uncomfortable the seat was; how long the pastor had been droning on (come on, we know they do at times); what am I going to be making for dinner in two weeks...
I don't knit in meetings, but that's just because I don't want anyone to THINK I am not paying attention or whatever. Yes, I'm forty-something and still care what people think of me. I usually take notes, but that's just so I can doodle.
If I am covering the front desk of the museum, I always knit. If not, I would go absolutely bonkers from the boredom.
I just finished a 9-part class and knit through every minute of it. I participated more than most people and the facilitator had absolutely no problem with it.
I'll knit when we go to the theater or a concert ... but only "pre-game" and "at halftime." This week we have two events where I would normally bring my knitting, but it may or may not wind up being appropriate to actually knit. I'll probably just have my knitting tied to my "big" bag and play it by ear depending on whether or not it feels appropriate.
Nobody is entitled to do anything all the time on their whims. Everything has context and it's a shame that people's awareness of how appropriate/inappropriate something is has been eroded.
What a great web log. I spend hours on the net reading blogs, about tons of various subjects. I have to first of all give praise to whoever created your theme and second of all to you for writing what i can only describe as an fabulous article. I honestly believe there is a skill to writing articles that only very few posses and honestly you got it. The combining of demonstrative and upper-class content is by all odds super rare with the astronomic amount of blogs on the cyberspace.
Post a Comment