People presume a lot about other
people. Knitters are usually perceived as simpler, slower people,
however recently I've had a few things presumed about myself while
holding my trusty needles and yarn that I have to share:
1. I must be foreign.
While holding a spot in line at the
theater for my Dad and I for 4 hours I sat down and knit while
reading A Life in Stitches, by Rachael Herron, (I was second in line
so sitting on the ground was perfectly acceptable). The girl in line
in front of me was gushing about the movie and I learned she was not
one to make eye contact with, as she believed that by doing so I was
inviting her to gush about celebrity crushes (which I care very
little about). After about 10 minutes of avoiding eye contact or
speaking to her she asked me if I liked knitting. I usually reply “No
not at all. I actually really hate it”, but seeing as I was trying
not to start a conversation with her, and I had 3 more hours to sit
with her before the movie, I simply replied “Yes”. A couple more
minutes passed and she asked “Are you from another country?” Now
usually I'm not thrown off by many questions, but this one made me go
“Pardon?” She then proceeds to talk about how my watch and phone
have “weird” times and that I must be because I knit. I paused
and then proceeded to explain to her that, because I'm a dispatcher I
run on military time, and, well, I like to knit. She thought the time
thing was “totally cool” and I went ahead and changed her phone
settings for her so that it had military time. After I was done with
her phone someone else came to sit in line behind me and they found
that they had so many things in common. I was happily knitting away
while they talked over me. They are obviously not part of my herd, so
it might be fair to say I'm a foreign person to her.
2. I must not date much.
At Micheal’s on the Saturday after
Thanksgiving I was thrilled to get the very last of the yarn and
needles I needed for Christmas Knitting (Fisherman's wool is totally
acceptable I think). The line was long, because everyone was there
for the same reason I was, sales and coupons. While we waited the the
person in front of me, in back of me and I were all talking about
knitting. The 40 something lady in front starts talking about how
her father's current girl friend is a knitter. She then begins to
complain about how her father has had 6 girl friends in the the last
few years and about how she thought that it was completely
unacceptable to have sex with that many people. She then goes into
detail about how she would feel like a complete prostitute if that
many men had touched her, and details on them touching. I was a
little put off by this and wanted to ask her if she found Mr right by
the 5th guy, but figured that was not the right thing to
say. She then tells me how much better off I am by filling my time
with knitting rather then dating. Once she had walked over to her
cashier the 80 something little old lady behind me gave me a wicked
smile and said “She must not like sex that much” and we proceeded
to have a fit of giggles while her daughter had a look of shock
plastered on her face.
3. I can be a runner or a knitter, but
not both.
Anna works at our local Barnes and
Noble, and about twice a week you can usually find me in there
waiting to pick her up, or enjoying coffee with her before she starts
work. My usual routine is to grab the magazines I'm interested in
reading before I get coffee. I hit the knitting magazines first and
then I check to see if any of my favorite running magazines are in.
Last week I was doing this and a guy was browsing the running/workout
section and he started chatting with me about the running magazines
after I picked up the holiday special from Runner's World. We move
past the magazines and into half marathons, diet and other hobbies.
The moment I said I knit the look of surprise on his face made me
stop and I asked him what was wrong. He said “Don't knitters just
sit around with their cats, soaps and eat ice cream while knitting?”
My mouth just dropped open when he said that and I proceeded to say
“Well I don't don't do that.” He responded with “But runners
don't knit.” I just walked away at that point while saying “Well
this one does.”
