KIP it Real

I am a huge fan of KIP (knitting in public) especially lately, as I have been leaving the house before 8 in the mornings and coming home a little before 8 in the evenings at the earliest. This means the only time I can knit while giving it my full attention is on the metro or if I am waiting to meet up with friends after work. I am not self-conscious about it in the least- people do much weirder things in public and I also I love knitting, so that's that.

Until today, no one has really said anything to me about it or at least nothing that I was startled by. Some people might ask what I am doing or what I am making and I am happy to answer them. Today I was taking the train home with a co-worker who gets off at the same station as I do. We were chatting and I had told her when I sat down that I was going to work on my sweater and I wasn't ignoring her, etc., and we were having a nice conversation about work and the sweater and I was saying how even though I knew it wasn't likely to happen, I really wanted to finish it by Saturday evening.

All of a sudden, a woman who was sitting to my left decided to chime in. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," she said (at which point I knew I wasn't going to like what came next), "but I really don't think you are going to finish that sweater by then." Gah. "Well, maybe by Sunday," I suggested and was in the process of turning my body away from her and toward my buddy from work when she continued, "Yeah...so I don't know how fast you knit but I'm a knitter and I knit pretty fast and that sweater isn't happening by then."

Wait, what? Seriously?!  Who says that?! I think by this point I was making my most extreme lemur face because I don't know why she felt the need to chime in at all, let alone to rain on my knit parade. Of course she was right, well sort of. If I pulled a couple of all nighters I could totally finish. But given the fact that I have 3-4 hours of awake time at home during which I have to make and eat dinner and clean up and the fact that I have plans Friday night and am out all day Saturday...it's not going to happen. I know that. But something about this interaction got me quite riled up and I walked home telling myself I was so going to finish that sweater.

Once I got home though, and Missy ambled over and nuzzled me and wanted to settle down on my lap, I realized how silly it was to get so worked up over it. What I like about knitting is that it is fun and relaxing, even when I am trying something new that scares me (I'm looking at you, lace). If I put the same amount of stress on it as I do on other parts of my life I will lose the relief it provides me on days when those other stressors are getting me down.

Also, more importantly, when you are making something for someone it is never nice to do it while angry. Maybe I am superstitious but I really believe that your feelings can seep into what you make (see e.g. Como Agua Para Chocolate) and this is why I am going to chill out about the sweater. For now the postal service is still in business and it will get to the cute baby when it gets there.

Perhaps most importantly, I can now finish my cowl in the spare moments I do have because it's dropping below 60 degrees this weekend. Yay! So thank you random lady on the metro. I hope you have a fantastic rest of the week.