What is going on?
There’s a time in life to stop, look around, take inventory of what has been learned, and ask “Are all these people @#$%ing idiots?”
Today, that time has arrived for me. First there’s the lefty vs. righty knitting questions. Questions that are so laden with disdain for the sinister knitters (sinister literally means “left handed” or “from the left side”) that they aren’t verging on bigotry and ignorance, they are waving the two about proudly with the right hand. Get a grip, it’s not that difficult to knit left handed or right handed; frankly I don’t care if someone is knitting with their teeth or their feet, I just think knitting is cool.
Then there’s the poor woman that bought some yarn from me that apologized for ‘only crocheting it’– apologized?! Yes, she told me she meant to learn how to knit, but hasn’t quite mastered it yet and found a crochet pattern that fit the bill. She actually felt bad for desecrating yarn with crochet (which from the progress I saw today was quite lovely.) I’m just happy that a) the yarn sold and b) that she’s making something she likes from it. Some hideously emotionally crippled person made this woman feel bad for using yarn in a way she prefers: Whoever you are stop it! or I’ll dig out the Aunt Lydia’s nasty scratchy rug yarn and knit you a pair of knickers from it.
Then there’s a discussion going on about Continental vs. English style purling. And let’s not forget that the hand-tool guys are going for a cage match with the power-tool guys over which is better.
What next with this silliness? I’m starting to feel a little less perky than usual about this, in fact, I feel a more than a hint of surliness coming on. There’s only so much nit-pickiness and bullying that a person can experience in one day before they start thinking that the answer to my first question is “Yes, they are all idiots.”
Do what you do, have some fun while your at it, and don’t let the idiots bully you around as to how to do it. Me? I’m going to go spin for a while, and I’m going to do it left handed, counter clockwise, wearing a cheap Old Navy acrylic sweater and listening to Depeche Mode (because my inner dork wants to take a walk on the wild side today.)