Yeah. I should forget this whole "people pleaser" thing. Except I'm pretty sure saying no to the ma would be a bad idea. Talk about tension.

Oh I have a good story!  I was Christmas shopping for my 15 year old nephew in the mall.  My fiancee and I went into Abercrombie&Fitch and I was shocked to find knitted hats.  They are selling for $40.00.  On further inspection, I found simple cable scarves for $29 to $49. 

I commented to my fiancee about how I could whip up these items in a few hours and pay a quarter of the price.  I didn't realize a lady beside me who happened to be purchasing a large load of hats overheard me.  She looked at me and said, "Well you must be lucky to have the time to do that sort of craft stuff."  She then proceeded to tell me it's too hard to learn and she has two children and a full time job and blah blah blah.

I smiled and told her, "You're right, I'm lucky."     If she only knew I have the same crazy busy sort of life.  Knitting is my escape.    I can always find a little time....and I feel so good to make beautiful gifts instead of buying them.  I actually went to the craft store and picked out some nice yarn to make my nephew a "replica" Abercrombie hat.

i know it is hard but i am a mom of 3 and work and take care of the house -cook/clean etc.  and i still manage to make  a lot of stuff.  it is all about time management (which i didn't know anything about until i had kids).  i f it is something you love to do you find time, even if it is only a couple of minutes a day. which is why i started in may for christmas.

When I recently started knitting again, NO ONE wanted me to knit them anything.? My feelings were hurt!? But I knit them things anyway, and now they want more.? (I tell them, Get in line!)

Knitting is like tonglen (see http://www.shambhala.org/teachers/pema/tonglen1.php).? You start knitting for yourself, then expand to knitting for family and friends, and soon you are knitting for strangers in need.? I haven't reached the third stage yet.

Occassionally, someone inappropriate (i.e. cow-orker I do not like all that much) says something about my knitting them something.? I just look at them blankly because I'm afraid if I start speaking, I will say something REALLY inappropriate!

How do you respond to someone who questions the value of knitting?

I tried "This <scarf, hat, shawl> is knit with love" but she-who-shall-remain-unidentified said, "It can be bought with love."

I tried "I like experimenting with stitch patterns, and by doing it while knitting dishcloths, I also have something useful when I'm done" and she asked "Why knit a dishcloth when they can be bought for next to nothing?"

I did not say "I like to have something to do with my hands while I am spending a very boring three days in your company, so I don't strangle you" as that would have been inappropriate.

honestabby - whoa!? i think you're showing remarkable constraint in not saying your bit about keeping your hands busy.? "It can be bought with love" indeed.? That is so rude and unappreciative.  I'd be pulling out a critique of the grotesque nature of our consumer culture, how it is heightened at this time of year in the comercialization of Christmas, and worker-rights related to our consumerism as well as environmental impacts, and asking her whose labour went into whatever she bought for me, and why that labour is apparently irrelevant, and asking her to write letters to the corporations who sold that product asking them what they are doing about labour exploitation. (I came across a suggestion to write such letters every time we buy something to do our part to reduce the exploitation of others via our consumer choices - I think it's a good suggestion and one that I'll take up, perhaps also when I buy yarn...) OK, that's enough of my little diatribe and run-on sentences.  (Maybe this belongs in "Sticks'n'Politics"...)

In other (not entirely unrelated) news, my sister just asked me to make something for my niece.? Apparently she "needs little sleeping bags for her Princesses."? There are 8 of them.  Right now, she's using socks or toilet paper or other things to tuck them in at night.? So, my sister is showing some awareness of the work that goes into knitting in explaining to me that they are very small dolls, but still, I question the need.? Is there anything wrong with my niece tucking her dolls into socks-as-sleeping-bags?? That's what we would have done when we were kids, and I'm not sure that it makes sense to make sleeping bags which will just get tossed once she grows out of this, becoming nothing more than useless trash.? Am I being a stickler?? It is awfully adorable that she wants to tuck in her dolls.? But again, WHAT'S wrong with tucking them into socks???  Isn't it good to stimulate creativity and resourcefulness in play?

I'm reading Knitting Rules? by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/) and finished the section last night about how important swatching is.? If/when I swatch, I unswatch and use the yarn in the project, but if you save swatches, maybe they can be made into dolly beds.?

My mother was my own personal seamstress while I was growing up, and while I don't have any of the dresses she made me, I treasure the time and effort and love that went into everything she made me.

Which brings up another question:? If we can't knit something with love or at least the spirit of giving, should we knit it at all?? If we are knitting resentfully, will that negative energy become embedded in the yarn?? (Sorry, that was two questions!)