It’s turning out to be a really good week to be a mother. I mean, there’s still a lot of laundry, I’d really like to know what made the coffee table so sticky overnight and if anybody has any idea where Sam’s glasses might be I’d be thrilled, but overall…this week it’s a nifty gig. (Yeah, I know. These moments in motherhood are really just filling me up with warm emotions and good memories of my daughters, so that I’ll actually go post bail when the police call a couple of years from now. I understand what’s going on, I’m just choosing the happy path of denial.)
Sam’s choir sang the anthems at the Skydome last night. (Blue Jays vs Kansas City Royals. We thumped them 10 – 3, nothing personal). Seeing your kid on the jumbo-tron is pretty freakin cool.
I put a little circle around Sam. I realize that not even one of you gives a whit about which one of those fuzzy blobs is my child, but I’m still pretty happy about my kids doing nice, wholesome things…like knitting, singing in the choir and going to baseball games. The whole of Team Harlot (man…we should get tee-shirts) went to the game. Ken knit
and my super-fun brother Ian and his lovely wife Ali drank beer in a supportive fashion. (Hey…everybody has a skill.) This brings us to today’s topic. What do you believe that people think about you when you knit in public? What assumptions do they make about your personality, values or politics? How do you think this is related to your gender?
I think that when I knit in public I’m usually viewed as someone who’s clean living, conservative and generally a “good girl”. Little old men who don’t speak English are drawn to me and smile at my knitting and pat my arm and try to introduce me to their sons. Other women sometimes want to talk to me about being “counter-feminist”. (Here’s a funny thing, both of those generalizations about me make me want to knit pasties and a thong, just to shake everybody up.)
Now when Ken knits in public, I think people think several things about him (it is worth noting that Ken thinks differently, I’m sure he’ll pipe up). I think they assume he is gay. Men think they could take him in a fight, and women, well, here is where Ken and I part ways, I think that women find it an attractive quality. (Not sexually attractive, since they think he’s gay for knitting too) but attractive in a friendly sort of way, like “Oh what a sensitive, lovely, artistic man.”
Let’s sum up. For the record, Ken and I are in the same age bracket, and possess a similar “hipness” factor. (Give it up Ken, I’m at least as cool as you)
Stephanie knitting in public = conservative, good marriage material, traditional, anti-feminist, probably boring.
Ken knitting in public = liberal, terrible marriage material (except in Canada and a couple of states), absolutely non-traditional, open-minded and artistic.
Clearly, I’m generalizing, the world is filled with people who assume nothing based on your gender, sexuality or hobby…and by far and away, those are the people I meet. All I’m saying is that when I do run into somebody whose interested in stereotyping us knitters by gender…this has been my experience. Your milage may vary, especially according to where you live and what you have pierced.
Comments?
Yarn Harlot
I for one care deeply about seeing Sam on the jumbotron (just as I cared deeply about Meg’s way cool about-to-zoom-right-past-her-mother knitting skill) (and by the way – Amanda? stop being camera shy!).
As for the other stuff. What you said. 😉
What I’ve noticed when I knit in public is that people (mostly women) feel I’m approachable and friendly. Little old ladies come by to comment and talk about their own knitting, younger folks either express their astonishment and some variation of “Oh, I could never do that — it’s too complicated” or instantly say “That’s so cool! Show me how!”
I do know that yarn store owners get terribly enthusiastic when encountering a male knitter in their stores.
And the jumbo-tron picture is indeed way cool.
I was mentally stereotyping as I read your blog: Canadians/hockey/beer. Stereotype? Yes. Fact? At least in this case.
Agreed that how the public knitter is perceived is largely dependent on gender and body piercings. I wonder why non-body-pierced female knitters are “anti-feminist”…?
By the way, your motherly pride is great. I’m not a mother, but I completely dig how you talk about your children — especially when you’ve discovered little voodoo dolls.
As a twenty-something without piercings, when I knit in public I find that people are impressed that I’m “getting in touch with my roots” or whatever that means. As a young’n I have the option of choosing hard-nosed career gal or squishy domestician. How nice that I’m choosing the latter.
Mostly, however, people just think that I’m not paying attention as I usually knit in public during speeches, meetings, conversations.
I’ve never been on a Jumbo-tron…I’m jealous! *grin*
As for the KIP part, when I was single and dating a musician (who insisted I come to the bar where he was playing every Friday and Saturday night….), I brought a good deal of my knitting/crocheting with me, for something to do other than make fun of drunks (which usually only served to get me into one bar-scrap or another…). I guarantee from personal experience that NO ONE messes with a girl with knitting needles in her hands! I’m not certain whether it was because they were judging me as being ‘clean’ or if I just happened to look especially dangerous with 14″ pointed, cold steel (or in this case, aluminum…) in my hands.
I think it’s great that all of you were supporting your Choir Daughter.
And was Ken knitting with the Aslan yarn???
Oh, I definitely get the pat-on-the-head response from folks who don’t know me when I KIP, and blood-freezing horror and shock from those who know me as a feminist, academic, non-marrying, global-traveling type. Completely futzes up their stereotypes. Though what really ticks me off is that when I mentioned a love of fiber, a female prof at another institution said, “Oh, you weave!” with great admiration and her face just fell when I said, “Not yet. I knit.” Somehow in the PhD set, weaving equals art, while knitting equals anti-feminism (to some folks, anyway). I think for some of them Luddism is more respectable than domesticity. And “art” more respectable than “craft.” Oh well. We know better.
If that was my kid on the jumbotron, I’d need to make new shirts due to the puffed up chest factor. The cops may come to call one day, but it’ll be for something like kicking the heck out of the local bully. Way to go, superMom. Way to go, superKid.
KIP….it seems to make me appear approachable. The other day, I had to wait somewhere for what should have been 15 min, and turned into 3 hours. After 1/2 hour, I went to the truck and got my knitting. Before knitting..no one spoke to me. After knitting….18 year old female, did I give lessons? 75 year old male, shared winter knitting stories (he knits in the winter, and it never occurred to me he might be gay) 23 year old male, would I knit a skidoo hat if he paid me? etc. etc. actually didn’t get a lot of knitting done. I also tend to get teenagers female and male, asking for advise on their love life and relationships with their parents. I’m not sure if that’s the knitting or the aura that clings to a woman who drove hordes of boys to hockey for a period of 18 years.
I have a male friend who crochets in public, everyone assumes he’s gay, but approachable.
Rebecca, you’re right about the intimidation factor. I started knitting while waiting for my ride coming off night shift, and the boozers walked a circle around me instead of smiling sloppily and hooting out “hey babe!”
Barb B.
Funny, Rob, about your encounter with the weaving PhD — in my online circles, there are a _lot_ of academic women who blog and knit. I don’t think it ever occurred to us that knitting was inferior to weaving.
(How old was she? That attitude sounds like a holdover from the grand old days of “artistic” weaving — aka, if you can’t do it well, make it look “like art”.)
Thongs are much better when crocheted, rather than knit. Pasties are lousy no matter what they are made of. (There is a good reason why dancers hate pasties – but don’t mind g-strings).
I say this as somebody who took my clothes off in public throughout my twenties.
Stephanie, you are absolutely right. I am 32 with blue streaks and a nose ring, and I’m sure that in Toronto people would make different assumptions about me than they do about you. Here in Windsor I have never, ever seen anyone else knit in public, but people are pretty friendly to me, and little old ladies always strike up conversations. I don’t think they see a real clash between my hobby and the way I look, maybe because due to the ethnic mix of this town there are tons of older women with pierced noses?
Maybe you need a visible tattoo to shake people up a bit; make it a little harder for them to slot you. Or shave your head.
One of the SnB’s here in Washington DC is setting up an informal “Knitters for Choice” knit-in at a Planned Parenthood that is normally targetted by very vocal and… *emphatic*… pro life folks. These young women are definitely doing their best to shake up the pat-on-the-head-whatta-nice-young-lady set. (Although, it has cost them some knitters, as not everyone likes their knitting liberally sprinkled with politics–pun intended.)
I think I am often viewed on the subway as a wannabe scenester… I mean for heaven’s sake, I am 30-ish and knitting?! Isn’t that All The Rage with hollywood-types and college girls?
Most women my age and older (but younger than my Grandmother) seem to look longingly: “Gee that looks relaxing, wish I had the time/skill to do that.” While the guys just look uncomfortable: “Don’t know what that is, but I am probably glad *my* girlfriend doesn’t do it.”
Not sure what people think of me when I knit in public – but it surely doesn’t deter them from sitting next to me on the bus! I knit on the way to and from work everyday and more often than not people will sit beside ME when there are plenty of other seats around – why? They inevitably end up squishing me and my needles are all cramped up . . . I just don’t get it!
We’re going to our daughter’s first speaking part in a school play tonight – not quite a Jumbo-tron but I can certainly understand the warm fuzzies of seeing your kid up on stage!
I take the GO train everyday, and on the ride home, if I am NOT knitting, the regular riders ask me “Why aren’t you knitting?” They are pretty used to it, and if I’m not, it throws them. They show interest in the stuff I am making. I also get comments – “You dont look like a knitter” – this usually happens when I am dressed in a business suit, or outfit they dont think suits their idea of what a knitter should look like. I am not sure what a knitter looks like, but most people seem to!
I knit in public all the time… and for all the assumptions that I’m gay, not one man (OK, one did – he was cute) comes up to me and asks me out! I think men knitting are only attractive to straight women. When Gay men see a man knit, I’m confident most think, “Hmmmm – he looks nice, but I can do better. Now where did that gym bunny go?”
So, who’s that sexy man with the Schmohawk?
Oh, how totally cool about Sam – and Meg’s knitting. Let me tell you how much I appreciate the picture of the dome – we’ve got really good tickets for Saturday’s game (courtesy of my husband’s employer) and its looking like my 6 year-old has chicken pox. So that picture is likely as close as I’ll come to the Skydome in the next few days. Sigh.
KIP – well, I don’t do too much of it these days but when I did , (usually on the TTC) and when acquaintances find out I sew, knit and do cross-stitch they seem to get a perception of the suzie-homemaker type who flits around wearing an apron, donning a duster and going to church. What adds to it is that I probably kind of look a tad matriarchal. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is dust and clutter everywhere in this house, although I once got an apron as a gift I don’t know where it is and we are atheists. I am married, but have ‘my own’ name and our kids got saddled with both. I learned to swear like a trooper during a stint in the militia and then marched against nukes 3 years later. The new Conservative party scares me and Jack Layton intrigues me. Not quite a nose ring and freaky hair, but you get the picture.
I don’t know any men who knit, but I do know 2 who cross-stitch. I never thought they were gay and I don’t think of them as especially sensitive either, but that’s probably because I knew them before I found out they did cross-stitch. Both are actually ‘math people’ but then again, I think knitting and cross-stitch is all about numbers anyway.
So, where are all the fans that shoudl be filling those seats? You wouldn’t see empties like that at a Red Socks game, even if they were playing Kansas. Nothing personal.
As for Knitting in Public, I have to add that when I knit at the gym (recumbent bike, mindless socks on circulars) people avoid looking at me altogether, which leads me to assume of them that they think I’m nuts.
I mean, since we’re talking about stereotyping. . . who’s stereotyping whom? Maybe I’m feeling a little defensive about my knitting. Maybe the gym is no place for merino.
Wow. I guess I don’t quite grasp the knitting-in-public “issue”. I have always done just about whatever the hell I wanted in public, so when I knit in public, I don’t think about it as being odd at all. It may seem to make people more approachable, but I think it is the mere fact that you are doing something that makes people talk to you. Knitting just happens to be fairly common, so anyone can say, ‘oh, I knit too’, or, ‘my Mom knits’, or whatever. If you were glueing together a model airplane in public, someone would say something about it. People will always stereotype. What we can do is stop giving a shit what other people think, and knit wherever we want. So there.
In other news….
I was in choir and I never got to sing at a pro ball game! Awesome! Your kids rock. If I ever have any, I hope they are half as cool as yours.
People seem to avoid me like the plague when I’m knitting too, although I do admit the possibility that it is something about ME and not necessarily the knitting that causes this. 🙂 Also, I have to admit that I would be tempted to combine KIP and making fun of drunks. They are two of my favorite activities, and I’m pretty sure combining them would really confuse the drunks.
As for the stereotyping, I commute in to San Francisco every day for work, and the men I see knitting generally _are_ gay, so my gay-dar may be a little skewed.
Way to go, Sam–great picture on the JumboTron!
Lucky you!! Sam on jumbo-tron!! How many kids can claim that?
As to KIP, I work in the kitchen at the local fire company every Thursday nite for bingo. Several of the customers always ask me what I am knitting. And it is not the old ladies. The men and the younger crowd (under 45 crowd) always ask me. And if I don’t bring something, they get upset.
The guys at the fire company now know the difference between knitting and crocheting. They have also learned to not make fun of my knitting. I was working on a sock one night while sitting out in the engine bay and one of them made a comment about it being a sock for something other than the foot. Although I never wanted to knit a willie warmer, I went out and bought some acrylic and knit him a willie warmer. (I wanted to shut him up plus I knew it would be a good laugh) The guys have been having soo much fun with it that I have orders for 3 of them!!! And one of them is supposed to be inpink!!!! At least they don’t take too long to knit. I have members of another fire company ask me if I would knit a few for that company. At least they are paying me…
As a senior in college who doesn’t get out much, I don’t do a ton of KIP, but I have gotten comments from friends on my new hobby. One friend told me that because I knit I am now middle aged. Another friend was flipping through the stitch pattern book that I “borrowed” from my mother and said something along the lines of “so all these patterns were just made up by a bunch of old ladies sitting around knitting?” As for my close friends, most of them just say “teach me.”
I have another friend sitting here who crochets and she tells me her boyfriend calls her his “old maid.”
On the subject of weaving and academics: I got to a private, liberal arts college and we have a giant, antique loom in our science center. Need I say more?
I’m a twenty-something knitter and I think when I knit in public (mostly on the Metro and the plane) people tend to be curious and like to watch what I’m doing. Sometimes I get asked what I’m making and it starts up interesting conversations (like with this older woman on the plane who told me about how she used to knit argyle socks for the troops in WWII!!! ARGYLE! WWII!!)
A few times I’ve brought my knitting to staff meetings, getting a few rows in during the fifteen minutes between when the meeting is scheduled and when it actually STARTS. On those occasions, I get a lot of cracks about how I love alone, and I have a cat, and I K N I T. Lots of spinster jokes to go around. Come to think about it, it’s usually mainly one male co-worker who starts it and I then usually make some wise crack about how maybe I should knit him a hat to cover his 28-year-old BALDING HEAD. That shuts him up pretty quick.
Interesting to note though…reading a LOT of knit blogs it seems like nearly EVERY ONE OF US have cats!!! what’s UP with that?!?!
I definitely knit in public–at meetings, no less, but there I usually work socks below the table. And I haven’t the foggiest idea what the observers think. They definitely DO talk to me and often praise my “crochet” — much to my amusement. In faculty meetings, folks tend to come up to me and congratulate me on making good use of my time! Even so, I know I get MUCH more attention if I am spindling in public, simply because folks cannot figure out WHAT I am doing. And the spindle looks cool — kind of hypnotic. There is also a spinning wheel in my office that almost everyone asks about; they always want to know if it is a “real” spinning wheel. It is a Lendrum and does not fit their idea of what a wheel should look like, I guess. Often I have to sit down and PROVE that it makes yarn, even though there is yarn on the bobbin!
I have a lot of anxiety about knitting in public. I have a lot of nervous energy and don’t like not having something busy to do. I do knit in meetings, mostly because it keeps me awake and I feel less like I am wasting my time. If I read a magazine or book, I am not able to pay attention to the meeting (sometimes important). But mostly I won’t knit in public because I don’t want people to come up and talk to me. I just want to knit. I don’t want to explain what I am making and for whom. And NOBODY (who doesn’t knit) gets it about knitting socks – Wal-mart sells them for 5 bucks for 6 pair. Why on earth would anybody KNIT socks?! Anyway, I am sure my issues with knitting in public are part of some personality disorder from which I suffer. I imagine my coworkers consider it unproffessional of me to knit in meetings instead of taking copious notes I would never read. I wouldn’t mind to knit with a group of people who were all knitting or doing other fibre arts. Maybe I’ll check out a MeetUp.
I’ve been knitting in public for years. In Norway, it was common practice in the winter for girls to knit during classes at Gymnas (high school). We knit in cafes, on the beach, any old where. As for people’s perceptions of me, it’s hard to say. I get a lot of comments on the beauty of my work, the level of skill that must be involved and “I could never do that… too complicated”. But I don’t know that people make general assumptions about my viability as a mate or politics. I’ll have to check it out and see…
I have never seen another man knitting in public, though I’m often seen knitting in public. I guess people are most intrested by the fact that tend to knit sweaters and jackets, so they’re like “what are you making” and I’m like “oh it’s just a plain sweater” (circular construction so I only have to pay tangential attention to the process) and they’re like “just a sweater”
Kinda entertaining.
Sniff. Laurie, the only person who gets away with knitting (even discreet knitting) at *our* faculty meetings is the chaplain. Wish I had the cojones to try it–maybe post-tenure? (Ha.) I agree with what Laurie says about spindling, though–small children seem especially intrigued by it because it looks like you’re playing with a toy. (Of course, you are!)
And Harlot, hate to tell you this, but the fascination you hold for the old men who don’t speak English probably has as much to do with your astrological identity as with the knitting. I spent years being adored by every non-U.S./Canadian/Brit/Aussie elderly man I encountered. Fortunately, some of their sons did actually like me, too, which kept me happy-ish until I found the one man who can truly cope with me (and he happens to be American-born, but so thoroughly Swedish as to almost not count).
Count me in the “JumboTron is cool” group. (And also in the “baseball is cool” group, though that group seems to be smaller.)
When I KIP, I have my cane (bad balance from a car accident) resting to the left, ball of yarn to the right. So I fit the little-old-lady stereotype really well–hey, I’ve even got hearing aids!–except that I’m only 45 and have been told I look younger. I have definitely gotten some second glances. One thing about KIPping, is, unlike, say, reading, people tend to feel you’re approachable because they won’t be breaking your concentration to talk to you. If I’m staring at a sheet of complicated lace instructions, on the other hand, they leave me alone.
I think that people already think all of those things about me based on my hair… 🙂
Mostly it’s little old ladies who talk to me when I’m knitting. Most people seem indifferent, but this *is* Toronto so people would likely appear indifferent were I to dance naked. Aside from the older ladies, it’s mostly kids who look, who are either fascinated or scornful (“Why would anyone knit socks?”) or openly shocked that a man would knit. Not mocking, just very surprised. I had one guy yell at me on the subway, who was Very Upset about Traditional Male-Female Roles. I had a woman snort “fag” as she went past me exiting the subway. I had another woman tell me she could tell I was “sensitive”, which cause *me* to snort.
People run the gamut. I don’t particularly think about it. If I think I might be bored I bring my knitting. I *do* think I have to do something about my “knitting face”, though. Definitely doesn’t look like I’m having fun…
Barb, I think people don’t accost you (and others who KIP, including me) because they think of knitting as a “grandmother-ly” hobby. Little ladies who smile sweetly and offer home-baked cookies are what they really see when someone KIPs.
Look- I knit. Every day. Whenever I can.
I don’t care who sees me or doesn’t notice me at all.
I don’t care how they perceive me or what they think might be my politics (knitting and politics? spare me) or what might be my personal statistics.
I knit because I am obsessed with knitting.
Why all the agonizing over how non-knitters view knitters?
If only the non-knitters could just stop asking me how long it takes to knit things I’d be happy.
Nathania – thanks for the flashback. I went to highscool (gymnasiet) in Denmark and we all knit madly all over the place. Also during classes. Nobody ever batted an eye and only one teacher forbade it (he was universally hated, anyway ;)). Should be mentioned, though, that this was over 20 years ago – sob – and only the girls knit. We did try to teach a couple of the boys in the class, but it didn’t really take.
I think maybe the Scandinavian countries are different. Maybe it’s that we’re all fairly close to the peasant past (or something) – there seems to be an entirely different emphasis on crafts being acceptable, even desirable, things to do.
Or maybe I’m old and nowadays the whippersnappers wouldn’t be caught dead with a knitting needle…
Now that I live in the NW I get a more positive response. People openly smile at me. Very friendly. But I haven’t had too many people talk to me. They do want to sit near me though. I am apparantly safe.
When I live in LA and was knitting/crocheting on movie sets I was mostly left alone. They talked to me less than they did when I was just sitting there.
I do have this reputation with friends and family that I’m a Martha Stewart type which couldn’t be further from the truth. I knit, but if I vacuum once a month I’m doing great.
I KIP all the time, and have done so off and on for 30+ yrs. I knit at my kids’ concerts, hockey and lacrosse games and practices, on long (or short) car rides, on the train to NYC….I focus better when my hands are busy. People always stop to see and/or ask what I’m making. Kids seem especially fascinated, and I’ve given some impromptu lessons when I happened to have some spare needles and bulky yarn on hand. One of the hockey dads on my middle son’s team is a lapsed knitter who decided to take it up again after watching me all season. (His wife wants socks-he wants the stress relief)My geek/engineer husband knows how to knit but is more interested in the mechanics (patterns formed by space dyed yarns really fascinate him). My 3 older daughters are all crafty and have been known to KIP (to the amazement of their friends), my middle son learned the basics in school, and my youngest son is showing an interest. I’m in my early 40’s (tho am told I look younger), am a former Army officer married to an active duty one, have 7 kids from 3-22 yrs old, wear Birkenstocks, have hip-length hair (natural color-one piercing in each earlobe-no tatoos), drive a mini-van or my beat up old pick-up truck, bake, garden, quilt, am a rabid recycler, and serve on the executive board of 2 wmn’s organizations. Maybe people just expect me to knit (tho I’m not sure which stereotype I’d fit in). I’ve never gotten any negative comments, and have even had people at the rink ask where my knitting is if I don’t bring it or haven’t yet taken it out. (Vicarious knitting, perhaps?) Anyhow, congrats to your big screen daughter.
PS- I like baseball, but hockey and lacrosse are much more exciting to watch!
I’ve been knitting about 6 weeks. I take it everywhere, and didn’t give it a thought until I saw “Knit in Public” buttons yesterday. I even have one weekly meeting at work that I take my knitting to (I’ve convinced everyone that it helps me concentrate). My 62-year-old father wants to learn – to keep his fingers nimble – but of course, he was always the button-sewer and lunch-paker and cake-decorator and isn’t remotely fem. I have yet to encounter a man knitting in public, but I would probably walk right up and ask what he was working on. Like Rana said, people are much more apt to approach me and inquire about my knitting than if I was sitting somewhere reading.
Knitting DOES carry a lot of stereotypes with it. The ‘granny” stereotype still prevails generally, I think. Someone once told me it was cool to knit in public/at the office BUT her husband’s receptionist wouldn’t be able to because it was a record company and it didn’t fit the ‘image’ associated with it ( young, hip,cool).
Only once I had a friend over for a chat and she was appalled when I got my knitting out in the middle of our conversation, like it was going to detract from our dialogue or something. Come to think of it, I’m not friends with her anymore…..
I was in one choir or another for over 11 years, and I must say, seeing your daughter in a choir on the freakin JUMBOTRON just about brought a tear to my eye. How cool is it to be on the jumbotron?? Yes, envy speaking. Completely understand the motherly pride at all the coolness of it.
As for KIP, I knit at work all the time because all I do is take phone calls and give technical support for a well known web browser. Yes, it is possible to walk someone through their registry and not lose stitch count. I’m 32 and not one person has thought me grandmotherly for knitting. I get A LOT of comments about “I could never do that, it looks to difficult.” I just laugh at them and start showing them how it’s done. I used to crochet at work and everyone loved what I was making and would watch it come together and I taught 6 other techs how to crochet, 2 of which were male. Imagine the confusion when I showed up with knitting needles instead of my cache of crochet hooks. I now have about 12 people who are wanting to learn and are getting together the supplies to do so…..hhmmm….must not abuse this power..it must be used for good…
Hope everyone has a great day!!
Boys knitting in public is what made me take up knitting! well, boy actually. Very cute boy knitting sox in my local coffeshop 5 years ago. I still see him around now and then, tho I never did get around to talking to him *sigh*. I wouldn’t assume Ken’s gay because he’s knitting – the two things dont’ seem to have anything to do with one another in my brain – but I definitely find knitters of *any* gender attractive – for the same reason I find people writing code on their laptops attractive. It’s a brain thing for me.
I’m a constant KIPer, have been forever. In my 20’s and 30’s if I didn’t have my knitting, guys (and gals) made passes at me, whistled, tried to sit on my lap on the bus, etc. Something about height and lots of orange hair. Anyway, if I KIPed, *nobody* said or did anything suggestive. Instead, I was “that nice girl” and “what wonderful thing are you making today?” I’m old enough now that it’s no longer an issue.
I’ve also found that I can walk through a dangerous urban neighborhood and if I have my knitting, even the thugs on the corners are polite. Magical!
I have lots of male friends who knit and spin, straight and gay. I love working Alden & Steph’s booth at fairs and seeing the menfolk flock to Alden’s side and gab about wheel construction and such. Is it lonely for guys in the fiber community?
“Clearly, I’m generalizing, the world is filled with people who assume nothing based on your gender, sexuality or hobby…”
Very interesting post. I have to disagree with the above though. I am not sure that is true about anyone. I think there are a lot of people who try not to make assumptions, and I include myself in this group, but often find that their prejudices jump out at them when they least expect it. You have given an excellent example. I am not sure what I would have thought if I had seen Ken knitting. I am not sure if I would have thought he was gay or just a little odd. After all the great Rock Hudson used to stitch at every opportunity. Ah, Rock, wasn’t he great in all those romantic comedies with Doris Day…
My experience, as someone who’s always lived in nyc, is likely skewed. But, I find it incredibly amusing to take the subway with my visible piercings and tattoos, and notice the looks that people give me and then notice how they change as soon as I pull out my knitting. Immediately, people of all ages and backgrounds become friendly and seem to assume I’m ‘ok’ since I’m doing something wholesome like knitting. (and, generally, the more complex the knitting, the nicer they are. Stockinette? A smile here and there. Cables and lace? People start trying to make friendly conversation and ask what I’m making. In nyc, on the subway? That’s something).
HAd to comment even if it is a little late…
It is possible to change the steryotypes. Ive taught a good 20 or so guys to knit at my school, and some of them do carry their knitting around with them. Also, though i may dress in a somewhat “conservative” manner, ppl tend to know that i am very liberal….so ive never gotten the antifem line (cause im openly feminist maybe 🙂 ), and ive never gotten anything about my knitting makeing me a good wife…hmm. i see a pattern there…
but i do think that “my” generation may be a bit more open to knitting and other crafts just because its something theyve never really seen before, so they dont really associate it with “old” people.
~mid