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The last two Saturday nights my parents have come over to watch the Bit so my sweetie and I could go out (thanks, guys!). This is unprecedented in our life as parents, going out two weekends in a row. We’re growing up!
Last week we went to see John Carter, which would not have been my choice, but any time I get to sit by my love for a couple of uninterrupted hours is still pretty nice.
This past weekend we went out to a restaurant that was having jazz in its bar area. We ate yummy pasta, listened to some good music and made fun of frat boys (Sigma Nu was having a very noisy function in the next room).
From this experience I learned a lot of things:
- Jazz and karaoke don’t mix.
- 9 p.m. is way too early for “Friends in Low Places.”
- Frat boy moms will go to a lot of effort to try to look like they’re still in college.
- Chevrons and polka dots really are “in,” at least in Arkansas (let’s hope not in the same outfit).
- The frat boy going out uniform is a striped, button-down long-sleeved shirt, untucked, worn with khaki shorts. At least when they go out with their moms.
- It is possible, but really weird, to sit still for hours at a time and not knit.
I spend the vast majority of my time at home. If I’m watching TV, I’m almost always knitting. Sometimes just watching the Bit play I’ll be knitting. It’s my work, but I also enjoy it.
I’ve been known to take knitting to parties, out to restaurants and to friend’s homes. Most people who know me, I think, expect and tolerate it.
I strongly considered taking knitting to the movie. I even started a Garter Stitch project that day so I could take it with me (it’s just as well I didn’t, since I was sitting next to a stranger).
I really wanted to take something to the restaurant, but I didn’t have a good project. I’m working on two things right now:
A vest for the Bit with a diamond pattern. I’m up to the armhole shaping and need to chart out the pattern so I can keep it aligned. Math is not for doing outside of the house.
A linen market bag. I’m on the bottom of the bag, which is worked with two strands of yarn held together on needles that are smaller than they ought to be for such a thing. That will make the fabric really firm, which is good for the bottom of a bag, but when knitting it makes you want to weep a little because the yarn is so unyielding. Also, this yarn sheds little orange fibers everywhere, which I didn’t think would look great with dark blue jeans and a black tank top.
So I sat. I watched a movie, and listened to music. I talked to my husband and our friends. I did not knit. And my fingers actually didn’t get that itchy. Remarkable. This must be what it feels like to be a “normal” person, someone who doesn’t take her craft (or her work!) everywhere she goes. No one to ask you what you’re knitting, to subtly (in their mind, at least) make fun of you for being a young person who knits. In public. In a restaurant, even.
It’s a little strange, but I could kind of get used to it, too.
Do you craft in public? I’d love to hear your stories.
