First, it was a friend, the wife of a student downstairs. I stopped by one evening a couple months ago and taught her to knit. She has now completed a scarf/shawl for her mother in some alpaca with a hint of glitter (it was supposed to be a scarf, I told her to cast on 20-30 stitches, not 60!).
Then it was another student in the dept. My knitting meetup group was meeting at a brewery a couple weeks ago, and so was my boardgames meetup group on the same night at the same place. Having never actually been to the latter, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try it out and see the knitting folk. I invited her and she came for the beer and boardgames, but she stayed for the knitting. She was quick, had her casting on, knitting, and purling in 15 minutes, and she’s been totally addicted ever since. She’s working on a scarf. I lent her a couple of books.
Then I get a call, sorry I forgot to bring your books back but I’m bringing them over now. And what do I hear in the background, another friend yell “I got needles!” They went to my LYS (where all of them have gotten their yarn. My LYS should start paying me commission or something!) and picked up some needles for her, too! We’re supposed to start a knitting circle and I’m supposed to teach her, too.
That’s right, baby. You can’t stop this flow! You can’t feel me! Knitting domination is on! (knitting domination, btw, has been far more successful than my attempts at houseplant domination). And to celebrate, I have finally put up an avatar of me, fingers tented, in a knitted sweater. Knitting domination. [size=2]And yes, the bunny in the background was put in intentionally for irony.[/size]
I love this. People will ask you to teach them in the most random places, and it seems to be people I never would have expected.
My neighbor.
A different neighbors two boys (8 and 10). They love knitting to the point their mom told me they were knocking on my door at 4:30 in the afternoon (I get home at 5:30p.m.), hoping I was home so we could knit together again. Her 7 year old daughter wants to learn to, but will have to wait for the cast to come off of her arm.
15 kids on probation (the boys were more enamored than the girls) and want to do a knitting ‘class’ every Friday after school.
I’m always curious about this, that boys would be more interested than girls. There’s an anecdote in the Stitch and Bitch Nation book about someone who started a knitting club, and evidently more boys than girls signed up. I’ve always thought that boys would be less eager because they have to get over the whole “stigma” of knitting. Do boys like it because it’s “crafty”? Like wood-working or something?
I haven’t had luck teaching others though. My friend wanted me to teach her and seemed excited, but gave up at casting on. I offered to lend her a book but she said she can’t learn from books. Maybe I’m just a bad teacher. :verysad:
I don’t know why the boys are more interested. My neighbor’s boys asked me to teach them, and love it. Of course it helped that one of their favorite cartoon characters was knitting the other day.
As for the probation boys. I don’t know. The girls are much more concerned with looking ‘cool’, and the boys are much more concerned with making beenies.
I told them I would teach them how, but I would not teach them how to knit a marijuana leaf or knit in 420.
Well I can’t speak for the rest of the boys, but I’ve always like building stuff with my hands, considering the fact that knitting is cheaper than wood or metalworking, I thought it was the best bet.
As far as there being a “stigma” there about male knitters, well I would say that stigma is going away fairly rapidly. After all why should a guy be ridiculed because he knits? I’m still struggling with why that is? though one of my coworkers told me that, he wouldn’t be caught dead knitting, to which I responded, “not man enough?”
Though when I was working for Dell, I helped start a knitting/crocheting revolution there, for a while it was just me knitting, then before I knew it, you couldn’t go a single row in that cubefarm without seeing somebody with a knitting needle or crochet hook in hand.
I that picture, you look deliciously :twisted: ish in it!!!
I’ve tried to spread the knitting love, as it was spread to me, but everyone also thinks Im just some old lady. Oh well :shrug: , more yarn for me :happydance:
that picture, you look deliciously :twisted: ish in it!!!