Knit at Work
(photo staged for your viewing pleasure, my actual desk at work was way cooler)
So as some of you probably know, I'm not a 'public' knitter. I don't knit on the bus, in the Metro, waiting in line (unless it's for my passport) or crossing the street. Partly it's because I'm still a bit 'in the closet' about my craftyness, partly because I like to give as little reason as possible for strangers to strike up conversation (I tend to have a pretty mean angry city-girl face when storming down the street). Knitting in cafés with a group of fellow crafty types is as public about my knitting as I've been since University when I used to knit mittens on my lunch hour.
I resurrected the practise of lunch time knitting during my latest call back to an Ad Agency Downtown. Because I would bring my lunch and eat it within 10 min and the conversation level doesn't quite allow for reading. I'm good at tuning out the French conversations, but not enough to prevent reading the same paragraph 18 times. So I begun to drag the Itchy Icelandic Pink Lopi Raglan along with me and whipped it out to work a few rounds while sort of following the conversation (good for improving the old comprehension).
Yes I did get comments about knitting, but what was surprising me was how sophisticated the conversation became. Sure there were a couple 'you're knitting me a sweater!' comments and some pantoufles comments (slippers with bemoaning the fentex), but then it turned into, 'I wanted to learn how to knit so I could make a really bad reindeer sweater like in Bridget Jones' Diary,' or a real understanding and appreciation when I showed off some of my finished products like the hat and mittens that I wear to work everyday.
In response to the mittens, 'That's when you have to knit one stitch with one yarn, and the next stitch with the other right?' and even noticing the braided cast on as being specialised. And my favourite request: 'Can you knit me a car? Full sized? Better yet, knit me a boyfriend!'
Definitely the sorts of conversations that I don't mind starting up.
Comments
I think its cool that you started to bring yours to work so you can enjoy your lunch hours. Spread the knitting fever baby.
The talking to strangers: Maybe it's from my hanging out with the British, but I like to maintain my invisibility, quiet and solitude to make the best of sharing close quarters with strangers. It's all about maintaining the bubble!
Well the other part of me not wanting to bring knitting into the work place is that I just won't want to work and dream about knitting all day.
Solution: bring boring Itchy Iclandic Lopi Raglan sweater. Work on it for a bit and then be so sick of boring knitting that I actually WANT to go back to work :P