So Little Man was at day camp last week. Its at the same place he has pre-school, but his usual crowd wasn’t there, it was all new kids. This of course means new moms. There was a very friendly mom who’s daughter was really liking Little Man and kept calling him her new best friend. The the mom and I chit-chatted quite a bit over the week during the drop off/pick-up times and all was well. Then I saw the needles.
I honestly was only walking past her car when I noticed the two giant (I’m talking green 14 inch aluminum here) needles sticking up out of a bag on her front seat. This was great: another knitting obsessed mom! I mean, anyone who has knitting needles just sitting there in a bag, poised for action much be as obsessive as me, right?
So the next day after we dropped off the kids and were heading back to the parking lot, I casually mentioned, “I noticed you’ve got knitting needles in you car…are you a knitter?” This is where I expected the “Oh, yes!!! Are you a knitter too?” Then we would have the exciting knitting conversation and it would be fun.
Instead I got this: “Oh…yeah…I knit.” Then nothing.
I replied that I knit too, and asked her if she had a knitting group (thinking I’d invite her to SnB). She replied that yes, she did, and well, it was only three people and they only met once a month. She then said they were always looking for more people and invited me, but was really weird about the whole conversation, not her usual chatty self. I mentioned my group and that she’d be welcome to come anytime as well, and that was that. See ya’ later.
The whole conversation was just weird and awkward and then I realized there are three possibilities.
1. She’s really just not that into knitting and my enthusiasm for it is just too enthusiastic.
2. She thinks I’m a weirdo who was standing there looking in her car. (I swear, I seriously just walked by a noticed them. She was parked right next to me!! I do not make a habit of walking around parking lots looking in people’s cars. I mean, this is Minneapolis, you’ll get arrested for that here, right?)
3. Both.
And with that, I’ll leave you to ponder it all. The Skeptic is waiting with coffee.
Knittymama 
Maybe she belongs to a super-secret-spy-type knitting group and they are plotting to take over the world one stitch at a time. She can’t afford to let you in on it until she is sure that you are worthy and able to keep the secret. Maybe?
That or she is a snobby knitter. In which case, you probably don’t want to hang out with her. And you just know that she doesn’t have a blog…
Weird. Hmmmm…what could her story be?
I’m always taken a little aback by people who knit, but aren’t knitters, if you know what I mean. I’m steeped in this knit-crazy world, so I just naturally assume that anyone who knits but buy yarn obsessively, talk about knitting every day and have dozens of knitting friends. But there actually are those who knit every now and again and aren’t captivated by it. Weird!
Hmmm, I’m not sure why she would act like that. Perhaps she just a more standoffish person.
maybe she’s just not a strong knitter and doesn’t think it’s something to talk about. like if you saw someone reading a book and then said “OH YOU READ?” not that your enthusiasm isnt awesome…just maybe her perception of your enthusiasm was misread. 🙂 what kind of knitting group only meets once a month? doesn’t that seem infrequent?
Well…she has a group, so obviously she must like it a little bit – maybe she’s not had positive feedback about her hobby from other people?
AH, she was probably just not having a good day…maybe the washing machine busted and she was thinking about having to get someone in to fix it or something like that.
I’m with Trek–I’m guessing she had something else on her mind. And perhaps she’s never been in a yarn shop before–maybe all this time she’s been knitting with bad acrylic. That would dampen my enthusiasim.
Oh, that’s a bummer. 😦 You didn’t mention being a knitblogger, did you? 😉
Well, not everyone who knits is a Knitter, if you know what I mean. That’s probably it.
I too get a bit disappointed when I see others who knit and respond with a “Yeah…I knit” whatever sort of attitude. They just don’t know what they’re missing 🙂
I think this is why I’m scared to approach other knitters. I was waiting downtown for a bus last week and noticed a woman at the stop with a felted bag slung over her shoulder. as the crowd shuffled around, I ended up by her and noticed she had a Knit Picks bag/purse. I was tempted to say something but was afraid she’d be all weird about it. (and unlike me on most days, she wasn’t knitting while standing out there. I wonder if I had been knitting if she’d have said anything)
maybe one of these days she’ll come around and you can have good knitting chats
I’m going to go with the bad day thing. Or maybe you just caught her off guard. Maybe she’s really shy. The barista at Starbucks was telling me about just starting to knit, and I’m shy, so I’m afraid I came off like a snob when I told her what I was knitting was just knits & purls.