Knitting among Friends
The syndicated advice column Ask Amy recently took on the topic of knitting in public, or, more specifically, knitting among friends.
A wife wrote in because her husband said it was rude for her to knit during a weekend with friends spent mostly eating and chatting. Amy rightly ruled on the side of the wife, adding "In fact, the world would be a more congenial place if more people laid aside their hand-held devices and picked up some needles and yarn."
Personally, I knit a lot in front of friends, whether in my own home or in the homes of friends, and I'm sure a lot of other knitters wouldn't give such conduct a second thought. What do you think about knitting through a long weekend of catching up with friends? Share your opinion by voting in the poll or sharing more detailed thoughts in the comments below.
Comments
I knit in front of my friends all the time despite the ocassional eye-roll. I’ve only put my knitting away once when we were at a friend’s house and the husband remarked that he thought it was “wrong” for me to knit when I should be visiting with them. I thought he was just joking at first, but when he brought it up a second time and said I was being rude, I realized he was quite serious. I still don’t uinderstand why he was so offended. I was chatting away with both of them while working on a garter stitch project that certainly didn’t require my full attention.
I usually take knitting along when visiting with friends. If we’re just talking or watching TV, I knit. I suppose I must hang around a lot of multi-taskers, because no one has ever thought it was rude or even unusual, thank goodness.
I don’t think knitting while visiting friends is any ruder than them interrupting the conversation to answer their cell phones.
I knit most everywhere–especially in front of my friends, meetings, evening church concerts, movies, AARP driver safety class to lower my insurance, and have made more friends because of it. I can talk or listen and knit. I’m usually knitting for charity. Some Shriners weren’t so pleased that I was knitting at a parade once until one of their wives told them I was knitting a sweater for a child who didn’t have a sweater.
Hello,
The only way it could be called rude
would be if it were done in a mean way
meant to make others feel deprived, or
you hold your work, your body, and your face
in a way that hints you knit because the
other person is boring. You don’t seem
like that kind of knitter, but some people
get the wrong signals and are sensitive.
If people come to a big weekend
with too little to do, it seems to me
almost anyone with a hobby can share the
interest constructively, as a conversation piece.
Perhaps an extra pair of needles and some
old stash yarn could be included if someone
wants to see garter?
You know that old garter stitch scarf that’s such
a fave first project; maybe someone would go home with stars in their eyes and dreams of making the same.
Then their partner can complain of you too.
Bye!
I knit when out with friends all the time, there is always something small in my handbag for me to work on. I even knitted at my step-sons 17th birthday with no problems. I’d rather knit than have nothing to do with my hands.
I think that it sometimes depends on the circumstances. If you are all just visiting, or a group is riding in the car together (I’d go nuts if not for car knitting), or you are in a position where the knitting isn’t noisy or disruptive, that’s one thing. That said, I’d never knit at any funeral that I wasn’t a principal party of (that said, I did knit at my mother’s funeral, in the limo on the way to and from the cemetary), or during a church service. I do, however, knit during long meetings and in-service trainings with my professional association, town meetings, and committee meetings (drove the contractors nuts, to say nothing of the folks who couldn’t figure out what I was doing when I knit backwards). There is a time and a place, and not every time is the place for it. My kids wonder if I’m sick if I’m not knitting.
I find knitting among friends actually brain stimulating. If there is a topic of discussion, I get to think a bit before joining in and running the risk of hoof-in-mouth disease.
I knit during my train commute to work and whenever friends pop in there is usually something on the go. I only stop when I’m having a few bevvies as I’m more likely to make mistakes then.
I have been knitting for years and my friends and family wold think i was sick if I didn’t have my knitting with me. I even take my knitting with me when we go out to eat or have coffee at most restaurants. I have made many friends because of it.
I usually take some extra yarn and needles with me for the times when I meet someone that is haveing trouble with a stitch or just wants to learn.
At least I am paying attention to the conversation and joining in, not talking on a cell phone or texting or playing a game that makes irretating noises on a cell.