30 Day Knitting Challenge Day 20: Do you knit in public? Was anyone offended/incredibly happy/curious that you were doing so?
I knit in public all the time. Every Wednesday my knitting group meets at our local Wegmans to knit in the seating area of the cafe. We’ve attracted other fiber artists of all kinds, some have even become group members. We’ve also had people stop in mid-step to compliment us – “Your work is beautiful!” and “Wow that looks great, but I couldn’t do that!” – and watch us all working away for a minute before they carry on.
I also take knitting to every school function I go to, from Back to School Night to chorus concerts and track meets. I took a project to my oldest’s graduation last June and got a lot of interesting looks, some good, some as if to say “What a weirdo!” One woman told me that it was nice to see someone knitting, that it reminded her of her grandmother, who was always working on something.
I knit while waiting in line to vote in 2008. I brought knitting with me when I voted in 2012, but the line was too short for me to even get the project out.
When I go to roller derby bouts just to watch, I take knitting with me. I started derby via my knitting group, which always surprises people.
I participated in World Wide Knit In Public Day a few times, back when my knitting group also met on Sundays (with a different crowd from the Wednesday group). Once we got space at the local weekly farmers market, which was neat and fun but kind of confusing for people because we weren’t selling anything. We had a few people who pulled up chairs and pulled out their knitting! Overall, a delightful way to spend a few hours on a Saturday morning.
Little Golden Notebook 
Love, love, love this!!!
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Thank you!
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When I was in Europe , I saw women knitting while in the train, the waiting area, bus stop, and I love it. I love that they are being productive of their time. 🙂 I’m a fan of knitters. I told myself that I’d knit one day when I have free time and make scarves. 🙂
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That’s exactly it: I like being productive with my time. Knitting keeps a lot of boring things interesting, like waiting in line. And it adds a new layer of experience to watching TV/movies & listening to podcasts.
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I saw this question on another blog and thought it was odd. Is it controversial to knit in public?! When I used to knit a lot, I knitted everywhere. How else was I going to get things finished? So, on the train, the London Underground, a bus, at my boyfriend/partner’s, work at lunchtime, everywhere. Is it a European thing?!
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Yeah, I think it might be. We’re doing what we can here but people still look at me sometimes like I’m sheering a sheep in public or like I’m trying to be the ultimate hipster; it’s even worse when I spin in public. Some people look at knitting as being a frivolous hobby and nothing more.
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Strange! if you were painting they would just think you were ‘arty’! Maybe it is because a lot of us have quite long commutes to work by public transport, so filling your time usefully seems perfectly sensible.
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A lot of people here have long commutes as well. When we lived in the Chicago suburbs & took the train into work downtown every day, I saw women knitting, crocheting, and even doing needlepoint. That was just before I started knitting again, so I used my commute to read.
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Maybe I just never noticed people staring then!!
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Well, who knows – I could be a bit paranoid too, lol.
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