Saturday, May 14, 2005

 

Just About the Saddest Thing Ever


Today I bring you a quote from someone else's blog. A blog I've read on and off for a couple of years because although I find him an utter snob and a reprehensible bigot, sometimes his knitting is good.

But really, dude.

"Ponchos, Shrugs and Shawls, Oh My!

If it takes these kinds of garments to create new knitters, do we really want new knitters?"

WTF?

Who are the "we" and where is the committee to whom we, as knitters, have to send our applications for permission to knit a particular garment and in a particular fiber?

A further quote:

"In the world of knitting, I fear that the new knitters who are working on frou frou scarves and trendy ponchos, are only doing so to be trendy. And when knitting is no longer au courant, they will follow the next trend. For the ones that recognize the amazing fulfillment that is available through fiber pursuits, I can only hope they are able to see past the gaudy to experience the success of making a challenging knitted garment."

Yes. Only challenging garments knitted with fine fibers are valid, and only if they are crafted by people who are making a lifelong commitment to this art. Oh yes, and they can only be made if the maker is personally fulfilled by the experience. To hell with what the recipient wants or needs.

If your Auntie Mabel who is 98 years old expresses a wish to have a fun-fur scarf before she dies, just kick the bitch to the curb, she's of no value and is wasting your time. Tell the old bat to fuck off. You'll make her something YOU want to make and it will be in cashmere or she can just bite your large white ass.

Nice.

Good dog, there are people who are homeless, women and men being beaten and sometimes killed by their partners, gaybashing, rape, children going to bed hungry in this land of plenty, fathers who kill their 8-year-old daughters for going out while grounded. There are many bigger things to worry about than whether someone wants to knit a poncho in acrylic.

Get over it and go knit a blanket for the homeless or something, dude.

Comments:
just to spite him, i'm going to knit something up in red heart acrylic. fuckwit.
 
would this blogger's initials be qj? i know, he is so elitist, it's sickening. i read strictly for the knitting as well. and i'm making baby booties in caron simply soft brites (acrylic) for charity. he can kiss my lily white ass, as far as i'm concerned.
 
I'm so glad you posted this. I've been surfing and lurking at knitting blogs for awhile, but this attituds about using only the highest quality yarn has kept me from showing my own stuff online (blog in my profile is just my boring life). I've crocheted since I was six but only just taught myself to knit. As much as I love natural fibers, crochet uses too much yarn for it to be cost effective to use them, and I'm only just at a point where I'm sure I'm not going to screw up and ruin things when I'm knitting. I don't have a posh consulting job, and can't really afford expensive mistakes.
 
Oh, good grief! I'm the wife of a military man, and while I have the time to be off knitting when I feel like it, I sure as heck can't afford the luxury fibers (although I want them), and I just finished a summer hat in Peaches and Cream cotton that's a bit loose and floppy, I'm a bit dissappointed in it. Am I going to run out and try it again in a different fiber? Nope--I'm going to try again on cotton in smaller needles--off to buy 6s instead of 7s. Then I'll try it in cheap red-heart acrylic. In a color to go with my shawl.
 
Amen, sister.
 
Well said indeed. And I see that blogger had just complained about others being "negative and mean-spirited". Amazing.
 
I`ve been knitting since I was seven, back in the palaeolithic when we took the fibre from woolly mammoths after we`d brought them down with stone axes. And I`ve come to this conclusion - you should knit what ever the hell you like. If you like it, that`s all that matters.
 
How funny is it that I'm obviously not the only one who didn't even have to ask who this was!! Bwah!! Uppity bastard indeed, especially when, i'm sorry but, his "designs" make me gag. I confess i hate acrylic, and red heart scares me, but it has it's place, as in items knitted for an acquaintance's new baby, someone who wouldn't realize that baby cashmerino can't be washed in the machine. Nice to see I"m not the only one who thinks the snobbery has gone a bit too far.
gaile
fidgetybudgie
 
Brava, well said!! I don't get the whole poncho/shrug/fru fru scarf love thing myself but to me, knitting is knitting. I *prefer* knitting with natural fibers for the most part and more complex projects but if those so called non-knitters keep our LYS in business and our beloved craft in the public eye, I say knit another garter stitch scarf, Daryl Hannah, you are a knitter!

I left one local knit group because the organizer, who had just co-published a CALENDAR type pattern book (:::cough SOCKS cough:::) was such an elitist snob she would grab the less than cashmere projects right out of peoples hands and start criticizing it!! Oh I don't think so!!

You would think he'd be a little more tolerant, right? And I think his designs are asswich myself :)

Thanks for visiting my blog, oh gravy maven, Pumpkin thanks you too!
 
I love you!!!!
 
I'm delurkifying myself to say THANKS FOR SAYING THIS! I've thought about what you say about this particular person and another curmudgeonly knitter who shall not be named. You hit the nail on the head. Who and what is this "we"? why can't we all just knit what the hell we want if it makes up happy? Who do these people think they are? do they own the craft or something? I'm with maryse, I want to knit up fun fur scarves and ponchos just to spite these people. And because, sometimes I just feel like knitting with fun fur or some other acrylic yarn. Hell, my grandmother, who was an expert knitter, couldn't afford fancy yarns all the time and knit beautiful things with acrylic because it was affordable. Maybe "we" should kick these elitist snobs out of our little imaginary knitting club.
 
I agree. It is only the knitter's own choice as to what they use and what they make. I have only been knitting since the end of last year, and have only made scarves and swatches. I only use what I have on hand, because I have 4 kids and don't have any extra for "extras". So I guess that means I should quit altogether huh? I believe I have a mind of my own and can do any damn thing I want to, as long as I am not hurting anyone. Must be nice to sit on that high horse and look down on all us lowly ordinary people.
 
I'm almost inspired to try my hand at knitting..and I just may? Would save you some grief, or add to it?

your brother
 
Not that anything I say can add to what is already said, but ditto what everyone else has already said. And I have a considerable stash of Caron and Red Heart and the like myself.
 
I love this post, it hits the nail on the head!! There are times when it really isn't logical to go out and spend $100 on yarn for a baby sweater that will be spit up on and thrown in the washer, or live in a drawer because the mother is scared to put it on the child in case it is "ruined." I would much rather make things out of acrylic or fun fur or what ever will actually be used by the recipient.
 
I know who you are talking about, and also read his blogs. I am a new knitter of only 2 months, and only knitting scarves at this point; very content knitting scarves which have a very good use and appreciated by those that I have given them to. I enjoy the craft to relax and keep my hands busy while watching TV or just to pass some time away. I consider myself very well skilled in another way, woodworking, but also enjoy knitting. So why must someone only be "challenged" with complicated designs, or have to make such things as socks, sweaters, or baby blankets, to be fulfilled. My mother, aunts, and grandmothers were knitters of all types of things in all types of fibers. They, as I, do it for pleasure and to make gifts to be appreciated; not to be a knitting elitist, fiber snob, or critical of what makes others content in doing. I am happy to see that so many share similar feelings. And, my friends that knit share the same attitude as we do, thankfully.
 
Too many knit natzis. When they start paying for my yarn, I'll start paying attention to their views on what is knit worthy.

A fitting penance would be to knit 5 "Martha" ponchos out of acrylic for the homeless.
 
I feel like a total outsider loser, because I have no clue whom you're talking about. But I want to! Sounds like the kind of blog I'd need to read like people need to slow down to stare at accidents.
 
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