Friday 10 April 2009

How come knitting doesn't count as a legitimate weekend activity?

I am feeling got at because people want me to go out and do things this weekend. This is despite the fact I made it clear weeks ago that I would be staying in, relaxing and mostly knitting for this holiday.

I know a lot of people like their work and thrive on the whole work thing. It gives them a sense of satisfaction and a buzz and some of them even enjoy it. My career to date has involved encouraging people who aren't really interested to do career development just in case they become less employable by not doing it. It's difficult to get a sense of satisfaction from that. Some aspects are enjoyable but I have never made any secret of the fact that I work to live and that if I had another way of paying rent, bills and funding my yarn habit I'd pack it all in.

Don't get me wrong - work isn't a living hell. I enjoy interacting with people and not everyone I speak to nowadays is swearing at me. In fact I was corrected the other day when I asked someone to stop swearing in a phonecall because they kept calling one of the Supervisors a bitch. "It's not swearing." she told me "It's a noun, not an adjective." What I didn't say, not wishing to lengthen the conversation, is that so is "cunt", but I'd still call it unnecessary language when discussing career development. That though is beside the point - if I had an alternative I would not be working as a career development 'expert'. I might volunteer a day or two a week at a charity shop or something like that just to get interaction with people but largely I'd be at home listening to the radio or an audio book or watching tv and knitting, thinking about knitting, or planning knitting.

In my free time - the time I fund by working - all I really want to do is knit. Call me an obsessive, call me sad, call me boring, but that's what I want to do. It doesn't hurt anyone, it won't give me cancer, it's not exciting to watch but then I'm not doing for attention. I just want to knit. I don't demand everyone around me knits - but I would prefer it if they respected my right to spend my spare time doing something that is relaxing, therapeautic and which I really love.

I am a knitter. Hear me roar.

10 comments:

Rosie said...

Yay! Maybe we could have a pressure group:knitters with attitude?

suse-the-slow-knitta said...

I love the start to Brenda Dayne's podcast- knit like the wind- you knit to your heart's content Lixie-it's good for your brain, good for your sanity, and is better than gambling, watching Jordan & Peter and a billion other things that i could mention!

Unknown said...

You said it!! It's a healthy addiction that doesn't harm anyone.

knit nurse said...

hear hear! And what's with the attempted grammatical justification of swearing? Swearing is swearing, whether it's noun, adjective or adverb!

Spinningfishwife said...

Sometimes I leave my noisy, demanding, ever hungry family (including the cats) behind and take the car down to the prom, sit and watch the sea and knit for an hour. It's really the only place I get any peace to do it.

Liz said...

Totally agree (although I actually like my job, too, which is something I didn't think I'd ever say). I'm taking advantage of there being no public transport out of the village for three of the four days of the long weekend; after a brief trip out for food and dye, I'm spending the weekend making stuff...

Anonymous said...

I'm visiting family and they want to "play" all of the time and are very vocal when someone doesn't want to join in. But, I told them that I MUST finish my brother's socks this weekend and to leave me alone. Don't think it will help, but I am going to knit anyway!

Enjoy it! It's your time.

Donna said...

Hear hear!

ouryve said...

Hah! Even my husband had a laugh and a nod at that. He's not a knitter, but I suspect he recognises the sentiment and understands the need to do something quiet. Alone. Often.

Annarella said...

AMEN!