Reactions You Get When You Tell People You Knit: Add Yours!

March 30, 2015 by Sarah White 5 Comments

Over the weekend I saw this fun post from Love Knitting about the reactions people commonly have when you tell them you knit.

Of course the first is “can you knit me something?” The answer is no, of course.

It also covers “I could never do that” and “why can’t you just go buy a sweater?” as well as a couple of other classics.

I would add to the list “you should totally sell that!” because I get that one all. the. time. (And we’ve talked about why selling isn’t as great as it seems before.)

Another great one is “I don’t have the patience for that,” while we all know that knitting is part of what gives us patience to deal with all the nonsense around us.

What would you add to this list? What do people say to you when they see you knitting or you tell them you are a knitter?

{Photo via Love Knitting.}

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Stephanie says
March 30, 2015 at 3:24 pm
They ask me how old I am, and why I act like a senior citizen lol. I am in my 30s and quilt as well.
Dot says
March 30, 2015 at 4:36 pm
I make hats, using 2 circs. People ask, “What are you making?” I spread it out and show them how it will grow into a hat. Then they usually ask how long it will take, and are surprised to hear that a hat takes me 5 hours to make. I haven’t heard anyone say they don’t have the patience, and there have been no comments about my age – probably because I am already OLD.
Anna B. says
March 30, 2015 at 6:06 pm
Variation on the the ‘buy a sweater’ comment: as I am usually knitting socks when traveling, more than once I have heard, “you should just buy socks at Walmart.” As if Walmart ever sold any socks like the ones I am knitting. And where would be the fun in that? I knit socks because I enjoy it, obviously, not because I can’t afford to buy them. No one knits socks to save money. Silly.
Jen Cranston says
April 1, 2015 at 9:42 pm
Oh – I wish I had the time for that! Often spoken by someone who has seen every episode of Game of Thrones 🙂
Lilian Fabiano says
April 2, 2015 at 12:45 am
Along with, or right after the dropped jaw comes the inevitable “but you’re so…rock’n’roll…” They can’t conceive the thought of a rocker, derby girl being quiet and concentrated for five minutes, if that long. I used to show them some “black-skull-rocker” piece or whatever. Nowadays I don’t bother, I just nod and say ‘yeah, well, stereotypes can be a b****, you know?” LOL

Have you read?

Stitch Flowers on Your Sweater Sleeves

I am normally a fan of pretty basic sweaters for myself. It’s fun to have a little detail that makes it interesting, but as much as I have a ton of colorful sweater patterns in my Ravelry library, the vast majority of the time I go for plain stockinette stitch, maybe with stripes or color changes brought about by trying to bust my stash.

But adding a little bit of something special to a project makes it that much more interesting to knit and to wear, and it doesn’t have to be an allover pattern to increase the wow factor.

Take the Nola pattern by yamagara for example. This simple bulky cardigan would be a great piece just worked in a single color of stockinette stitch. But those bold flowers on the sleeves elevate it into something you’ll reach for all winter long when you need a pick me up and a reminder that flowers will be back again.

I love the neutral colors shown in the model but it would be amazing with bright pink or yellow flowers, too. Or whatever color you like!

The pattern uses intarsia on those oversized sleeves to make the flower pattern, but there’s also an option in the pattern to do it completely in duplicate stitch if you’d rather (though this would be a great learning pattern if you’ve never done intarsia before). The body is worked from the top down with raglan shaping and the button bands are worked as you knit the body for minimal finishing.

The sweater comes in nine sizes, with a finished bust measurement ranging from 39 to 69 inches, or 99 to 175.5 cm. It’s meant to be worn with 6 to 10 inches/15 to 25 cm of positive ease. The pattern shows the sweater cropped but you can also make it longer if you like.

This would be a great garment to allow you to get a little more wear out of your summer dresses; just throw leggings on underneath and the sweater on top for a day full of cozy comfort.

You can find this pattern on Ravelry. It is available in English and Spanish.

[Photo: yamagara]

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