I was at my son’s swimming lessons last week. There is an area for the parents to sit and watch while the kids swim, so I’m sitting there, working on a sock, as I am wont to do while sitting for any length of time. I often see people I know – with a son that swims regularly, plays soccer in the summer and basketball in the winter, as well as attends school; you always meet someone you know. It is a mid-sized town, after all. So I’m sitting there, and a woman sits beside me and exclaims “I thought it was you! I saw you knitting and figured it had to be you!” This woman was a neighbour about 3 years ago – her daughters and my son would play together, until they moved to another part of town. We basically lost contact not long after that. I was nice to see her and we chatted while we watched the kids swim and I worked on my sock. (Multi-tasker! That’s me!) Then she said something that kinda floored me. “I was actually surprised to see you knitting. I thought you would have gotten tired of it by now. It doesn’t seem to be as popular as it was.” Did I miss a memo? Are supposed to get tired of things every few years? If so, I either have to stop buying yarn or find a way to use it up quicker. In case you are wondering, I did answer her. I told her quite simply that to me, knitting is not a fad; it is something I plan on doing for the foreseeable future and beyond. I also brought up in conversation that I don’t knit just for the end product (as evidenced by the socks – no one knits socks just to have socks. You have to LIKE knitting socks to knit socks.) I knit for the process of it. I like every part of it, from buying the yarn, picking or designing the pattern, knitting the project and seeing the end result. No, I didn’t lecture her, and yes, she did lose interest soon enough.
Have any of you run into the “oh, it’s just a fad, you’ll outgrow it soon enough” crowd? Is it just me? Do I have strange acquaintances? I mean, I’m accustomed to being the only one of my family that knits, at least, regularly, but I’ve seen others KIPing, and our Guild membership is growing, so my feeling is that knitting is here to stay, and stronger than ever. It had better be – my kid’s inheritance is locked up in wool at the moment… Not that it would really matter to me. Of course I would knit even if it was deemed “not cool” any more. I may have followed the crowd to an extent in my younger days (bell bottoms? Check. Blue eyeshadow? Unfortunately, check.), but now? Now, I’m a mom, so automatically, I have the “not-so-cool” attachment. So knitting works for me. It also keeps me sane in this crazy whirlwind that is my life these days. People wonder how I knit as much as I do (I didn’t think it was that much, but any way). I tell them I have to. I carve out time in my day. Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to smaller projects – easy to pick up and knit a few rows or even just a few stitches. Calming – you bet. Without it, well let’s just say I wouldn’t be the tower of calm, cool and collected you see here. Mmmphhh! Sorry – calm, cool or collected are not terms normally attributed to me. So you can imagine what I would be like without my knitting. Look at it like this – Survivor is a show I love to watch. If I were a contestant, you can bet I’d be knitting palm fronds, or coconut fibre, or vines, or SOMETHING! You need a roof? Give me a day, and some 200mm needles…
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4 comments:
Luckily, I haven't heard the 'fad' comment to me directly but I've heard rumblings. Like you, it will not stop for me for the same reasons.
I have a coworker who is a running fanatic. Goes on cross country weekend runs for fun (and it sure sounds like torture to me). Like knitters, she has her social group of runner friends and they get together as often as they can in the good weather. Everyone at work kind of picks on her about it (how could you do it, it sounds horrible, I couldn't do it, etc. etc.) I step in and remind everyone that it's what SHE likes to do and enjoys it and it's not for us to question and everyone has their own interests. For those who don't understand why we knit, it's in the same arena.
Some of these naysayers/killjoys really need to get a hobby. Seriously!
My LYSO was saying something about this recently. She said that the trendy types have moved on to the next New Thing, so I suppose that's similar to the comment you heard.
Like you, I can't foresee losing my interest in knitting. DH said something about this a while back, recalling my enthusiasm for needlepoint, which died primarily due to vision problems, even with a magnifier light. He said he was glad to see that I had found that knitting is something that I like to do and plan to keep on with.
I'll be knitting those palm fronds along side you!! Despite being a Girl Guide, and growing up in an 'outdoorsy' household, I tie just everything with a slip knot! Kills my father, cracks up my husband :)
I don't know if the 'fad' is over. Awhile ago I was talking with some yarn people (might have been at the Kitchener show) about how all those new knitters wanted funky yarns that do the work for them, and it was getting hard to find 'traditional' yarns and patterns that were technically interesting. The yarn person agreed saying that the fun fur yarns were really hurting the small producers.
Now, those knitters have either joined ranks and forged ahead with other projects, or dropped out and on to the next craze. I'm seeing a re-birth of process knitting, knitting to stretch the mind and abilities. A return to 'old' knitting--feminine things, lace, socks, etc. Look at the books coming out "Feminine Knitting" "Vintage Favourites" etc (don't know if those are the real titles, LOL). There's one I got at the library "Knitter's Lib" about breaking away from the pattern (but I wouldn't actually recommend that book to a newcomer--she knits combined style and so there are TWO knit sts and TWO purl sts, and there's no reference as to how this is different from mainstream).
Anyway...
Knitting has been around for a helluva long time. It's gone from being a man's art, to being a necessary skill for all, to being a way for a woman to earn some pin money, to now a creative outlet for young urbanites. At any time, it can still be any one of those other things. I don't see how that could be considered a fad.
Unless the person calling it such did it as a fad.
PS--Can I copy this comment to my own blog, LOL?
I hope it's not a fad and if it is I must be very slow : I've been knitting for the last 30 years ! Don't listen to such fables !!
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