knit sins

*** rant alert; you have been warned***

Lately, I've noticed how much snobbery and meanness there is even in something as seemingly gentle and innocuous as knitting. This worries me.

This blog entry was appalling. I get that people were irritated/disappointed that they had trouble signing up for this event, but to threaten harm to the organizers is unnecessary, especially considering the obstacles put in front of them and their efforts to overcome and accommodate as best they could. As one lady in my knitting group said, "What is wrong with those people? It's just knitting!"

Then there were the thefts at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival last year, as well as more recent ones at yarn stores. Stealing yarn? Seriously? It's amazing what people in the modern day get so obsessive about that they. must. have. it. at all costs, even if it means stealing it. There is bad karma attached to that yarn now. I hope there are lots of knots in it and it gets eaten by moths and never looks good no matter what project it's in.

I've also had encounters where people see me knitting out in public and come up to me and tell me that they knit too and that I'm doing it wrong or not using the right tools. Examples:

• "Why are you knitting English style? (working yarn held in right hand) You really should knit Continental style (working yarn held in left hand). And hold your needles like pencils while you're at it; it looks nicer."


• "You're purling? No one purls anymore. Learn to knit backwards!"


• "It's really not the thing these days to use straight needles, especially those cheap metal ones. Get a complete set of circulars. Seamed garments are so amateur looking."


• "Real knitters don't use synthetic yarn." (in response to my mention about receiving a box of my late grandmother's yarn stash)

No wonder knitting went underground for so many years.

Let's address these comments, shall we?

• The most accomplished knitter I know knits English style. When I say accomplished, I mean she has Done It All. She has knit just about every type of object there is to knit. She has tried every technique. She finishes at least one project a week. She designs her own patterns. She has encyclopedic knowledge of knitting - she is the knitting version of Google (Knoogle? Knittle?). I have yet to meet a better or more respected knitter, and she knits English style.


• You cannot get away from purling. You can't do seed stitch or moss stitch without purling. It is a fact of the knitting life, just like tinking and frogging. Get used to it. And doesn't anyone else see the whole "purl on the wrong side rows" as a nice little break in a knitting pattern?


• I'll have you know those cheap metal needles belonged to my grandmother. They were all she could get, and they have sentimental value. I've used circulars. I see their benefit. And yet, there's something about using my rosewood straights that just cheers me up. It's something about the way they feel in my hands.


• You try telling a sleep-deprived/time-to-herself-deprived mother of a newborn that she has to handwash and re-block everything you knit for her little bundle of joy and let me know how many seconds pass before she decks you. Natural fibers are all well and beautiful, but acrylic yarn is sturdy and machine washable and dryable. And again, it was all my grandmother could get, and she made some beautiful things with it.
  

The most recent issue of Knitty has come out, and I think my summer challenge project will be Franklin's lace sampler. I e-mailed him to ask if it was okay to use something other than white yarn for lace knitting - I can almost anticipate that someone will see me working on this project and declare that knitting lace in anything other than white yarn is grounds for eternal damnation in hell. However, he e-mailed back and said whatever color I wanted to use was fine. So sayeth the sage, so it shall be thankyouverymuch.

I didn't get back into knitting because I needed validation by others - I was a solitary knitter for years and quite content with it. I don't knit in an efficient manner because I don't bloody care how long it takes to finish a project - the act of knitting itself gives me more pleasure than racking up finished objects. I don't knit because I must have the latest popular item - while I admire the look of the clapotis, the desire to make one seems to have skirted around me. I don't have the money for the haute couture of knitting supplies - as long as as what I'm using is right for the project and feel good in my hands, I'm happy.

I knit because it's an easier form of meditation for me than sitting zazen and helps me not be so panicky and irritable (or as it has been more famously put, "I knit so I don't kill people"). I knit because my grandmothers and great grandmothers did (and they had some seriously mad skills). I knit because it's fun to talk yarn with my mom (who is a born-again crocheter and is the only person I know who can pair fluorescent-colored yarn with dark blue yarn in a blanket and make it look good). I knit because it's fascinating to watch one superlong strand of yarn get formed into an object. I knit because I have met many other Nice Knitters that I enjoy stitching and bitching with (and for an introvert like me, this is a big deal).

If you're going to be snobby and mean about knitting, you don't want to be associated with me. In fact, stay the hell away from me and my yarn. You're the reason I have to knit in the first place.

***end rant***