I, personally, feel that knitting makes us all too calm to flame! 
I wonder if my blood pressure is lower when I knit. Iāll have to have to try taking it today to see. 
I donāt know about blood pressure but I am mentally calmer when I knit. I am know to be a busy body and someone who is constantly thinking and worrying to bootā¦I guess thatās why people are so shocked that Iām knittingā¦
That being saidā¦I do love that I feel calm and relaxed when I knitā¦Iām not worrying. And I like it so much it has toned down my constant need to be movingā¦usually my family gets on to me for cleaning too muchā¦I think I just do it to have something to do. When I knitāIām doing something that takes care of my nervous energy and Iām producing something beautiful (well, most of the time! LOL!)
I appreciate that everyone has an opinion about this subjectā¦I had no idea itād be so popular! 
I find this thread very exciting to read and I check regularly to see if anyone has added to it!
Wow these are really good discussions! I am particularly intruigued by the discussion on learning and knitting.
One of the things I have learned in dealing with the public (25 years customer service) is that everyone communicates in a different way.
Some people are audio oriented as in "listen to this, " ālisten to meā
āyou arent listeningā and some are visually oriented. As in āI see what you meanā āYou really dont see what I meanā etc. There are also feeling people āI feel thatā āI senseā etc. And about every concievable combination of degrees of sense orientation.
What I have learned over the years is that to be really effective in communicating its important to recognize the other persons āsense orientationā and try to adapt my own style of communication to match theirs. I have even found it helpful to draw diagrams for people who are visually oriented, and to touch feeling oriented people (in a non-perverse way of course) This has helped tremendously in arriving at a solutions that make everyone happy.
It makes perfect sense (no pun intended) to me that if people communicate through their senses and their orientation to a particular sense that people learn that way too. Evidence the number of people who say they could not learn to knit through a book but could with a video.
(written words belong to the realm of verbal, video visual orientation)
And of course scientists have proven that smells can evoke memory to the point that students who study with particular scents nearby have a higher recall rate when that scent is introduced during an exam.
All of this makes me think that knitters who knit during lectures may be on to something. At least for their own style of sensory perception/ integration. The very act of repetion evoked by the knitting may be stimulating some part of the brain the way scents can.
Yeah, i see what you meanā¦ Itās their choice to fail or pass or put as much effort into it as they need. But i still think itās disrespectful and i, as the professor, would ask them to leave.
I think that we, as a society, are so focused on what is important for we, the individual, that we are overlooking what the societal boundaries are. I never cease to be amazed by the rudeness and self-absorption of my students. (these are MY students - iām not saying itās true for ALL students) They say the most disrespectful things that i would NEVER DREAM of saying to a professor!! NEVER!! Itās as if there is no behavior standard. (mind you, iām actually NOT that much older than them but i, even as an ex-goth/punk, have a hell of a lot more reverence for those who have come before me than they ever would). Iām pretty sure itās a generational thing, and a sense of entitlement and importance that we didnāt have as much. But i digressā¦
As a student, I donāt hum along in lectures because itās not appropriate and itās distracting. I donāt repeat the words of the lecturer out loud because itās inappropriate and not fair to the other students. Both of those might help in my understanding, but those behaviors do not match the task at hand. Itās my personal conviction that school is for being studious and behaving like a student. I assume thatās the mutual contract we, as professor and student, have agreed to when the student enrolled. I conduct my role as professor, and the student engages in being a student for those brief moments we are together. I dontā think itās too much to ask for definition and adherance to those boundaries. I realize that everyone has other methods of learning but i assume those are for outside studying - not for in-class behavior. I mean, i had friends who would re-write their notes two and three times outside of class to āgetā the material. It might have helped to have done that IN-CLASS, at the moment the material was presented, but thatās not the right place or time. It was their personal study habits on their personal time, not the professorsā.
I also think that Power Point presentations are dumbing down the student population at large, in theory. I REFUSE to use that medium for my students and there is NO WAY in HELL i would hand out my notes. Study is an active pursuit on behalf of the student. Itās not one-sided. However, i notice that when i or my colleagues attempt to lecture using Power Point the students tend to shut down and tune out, knowing that the lecture will be available later. Whatās the point of enrolling in a class if no one pays attention anymore?? Why not make everything online and not active? Iāll just hand the students everything they need to know - itās up to them to āget itāā¦ and we all go down the toilet as a generation of non-interacters.
It really gets under my skin. My students get incredibly pissy when i refuse to give them my notes. I would never have ever thought to demand notes from a professor in my day. NEVER. It was my job to show up, take notes and process the material on my own time in a way that best-suited me. I never expected it to be done for me. But if i can learn high level Molecular Genetics and Bioinformatics with no flashy-flashy presentations, so can they. Else weāre all in trouble!!
TK, iām not trying to single you out nor is this a direct rant at youā¦ itās one in general that clings to me as it pertains to my job. My colleagues and i discuss this ad nauseum. There are many articles written in educational journals about the fuzziness of the definition of āstudent behaviorā. Itās becoming a problem that iām not sure weāll comprehend until much later. But iām not the only one whoās noticing. Femmy, i hope this gives you something more to ponderā¦ iāve noticed your attempts to discuss but iāve been away at a research conference and havenāt been back here for a while.
Rightā¦ off me soapbox thenā¦
-hh
Wow, what a cool thread and discussion. It has so many layers and areas to think about and explore. First of all, I have to look at the issue of knitting in public settings three ways. First and foremost, I look at it as a teacher. If I saw someone knitting, drawing, whatever, I would assume they were not paying attention because they were not looking at me or showing signs of actively engaging in the topic we were going over. This would make me feel disrespected and I would ask them later to perhaps knit during a time of individual work when they wouldnāt be disrupting other learners with the noise of the needles or sight of the project. (Itās much cooler to watch someone knit than to listen to a lecture) :XX:
That leads me to think next as the wife of someone with ADD. My husband fidgets with his pen or his shoe when he is trying to pay attention. He goes back and forth in his Bible during the sermon looking up all these different verses, and I canāt imagine how he can follow the pastor, but he does. He has to do office work with music on. That would drive me nuts, but I know that his brain is wired in such a way that he needs a certain stimulus to enable him to devote attention to what he is listening to. I donāt have to understand that to respect it. Before my hubby, I never knew about this type of adult learner.
Lastly, I think of this as a novice knitter. Because I am trying to learn more and make more intricate projects, I want to knit all the time. And yes, I have thought about knitting in church, but would NEVER do it. Church is for worship. Besides, the lady that reads the newspaper behind us is incredibly distracting as it is. :rollseyes: The only public place I knit is in the doctorās office or some type of waiting area. If I am in a place where people are gathered to listen to someone speak about something important to them-- and it must be if they are speaking-- then I wonāt do anything that would compromise the learning style of those who must have things still so they can focus and pay attention. Some people are easily distracted by others and they need to be respected too.
All in all, to figure out where it is or is not appropriate to knit, I guess you just have to decide how you would feel if you were the one talking or the person sitting next to you. If no one cares that you are knitting, keep rollinā. If they do, then decide the best way to make things pleasant for everyone. 
I found this topic randomly on google and I know its old, but i find knitting during class very rude. Of course if you ask on knitting forum most people will say its ok. Yes, you hear what a professor says but it looks like you are bored (same as drawing, phone etc). So thats my answer. But if a teacher is okay with itā¦ Then its fine.