If you’ve been knitting for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed there are a few classic types of stories that regular media does about knitting. One of them has to do with (gasp) men who knit. This was huge around the last summer Olympics, when everyone (including, we’re happy to admit, other knitters) was enamored with Tom Daley, the British diver who knit a cozy for his gold medal and his own Olympic sweater, among other projects he worked on poolside during the games.
Another popular trope is the “not your grandma’s knitting” story, which is usually about yarn bombing, or someone under the age of 50 who knits.
And then there’s the seemingly never-ending discussion of whether it’s rude to knit in various places.
This is the latest story to make the rounds, via the New York Times (that’s a shared link so you should be able to read it if you’re not a subscriber).
This time the story goes like this: Rachel Garrick, a county councilor in Wales was accused by a colleague via Twitter of bringing the board “into disrepute” by knitting on screen during a virtual meeting.
Of course that’s ridiculous (and who hasn’t knit — on screen or off — during a meeting in these days of virtual meetings?).
The article doesn’t spend much time on that inciting incident, though Garrick notes she took up knitting to help deal with the pain associated with chronic osteoarthritis and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Instead, it talks to people about why they knit in meetings or at work (there’s even a male knitter and none of the “aww, shucks” attitude usually presented in stories about men who knit).
There’s even an expert, John Ratey, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, who says knitting and other activities done with the hands activate the prefrontal cortex, which aids in concentration. Without the professional language, any knitter could tell you about a time working with their hands has saved them from boredom, helped them concentrate or even kept them from falling asleep when they shouldn’t.
Do you have a story about someone’s reaction to you knitting in a meeting or elsewhere in public? I’d love to hear about it!
[Photo: Andrew Testa for the New York Times.]
To explore the many aspects of knitting in public, we have written several articles that cover everything from the benefits and challenges of public knitting, to the etiquette and history behind it. So if you’re a knitter looking to take your craft on the go, or simply curious about this growing trend, these articles provide a wealth of information and inspiration to help you get started.
