mizarchivist

I've been knitting a lot on the train lately. I may have people staring at me constantly and I may not notice, because I certainly stare a lot at other knitters when we cross paths. My current project is a sock with a wandering, free-form cable design. And for whatever reason, I've noticed 2 sets of admirers on 2 consecutive evening commutes.

The first was group: mom her 2 daughters, the younger was probably 6 or 7 and the other a young teenager, I think. The 7 yr old was just fascinated in the way that kids are. So I asked if she wanted to see. OH yes. I let her touch it, showed her it was a sock, showed her how stretchy it was. The mom stated "I [the mom] could never do something like that." This was the red line, they got out at Central-- I suggested she go to Minds Eye if she wanted to try it out. The mom was pretty much not convinced. Then yesterday, I had 2 women pretty much do a repeat of admire and praise and emphatic self-deprecation that they could never.

This time I was not having it. Sure you can. First you really suck for a while, then you get better. Just like everything. It's OK if you don't want to figure it out, but I am not OK with the concept that it's impossible. I taught myself to knit in college. It's been in my background for years and lately I've made a point of doing more. Primarily because I have in-house encouragement in

asciikitty. And lo! I am light-years better in all my fiber activities because I keep at it. But please, dear ones... and I'm looking even more meaningfully at The Ladies who have thus far filled my interactions this week... don't undercut yourselves. Be free to not pick up a new skill because you are not interested (Hi, I don't want to sew, possibly ever), not because you think you just aren't capable.