Seriously, I’m the authority???

I don’t know about the rest of you, but since I’ve started knitting and crocheting in public (KIP or CIP), I’ve discovered an odd thing. People start to think of you as the authority on your craft.

Now, I’m not even close to being the authority. While I love to knit and crochet and love a good challenge (my next plan is to learn Entrelac), I’m far from being an expert. I have one friend who’s capable of not only knitting two sleeves at the same time using two circular needles—she’s capable of doing this and carrying on a conversation at the same time! I have as of yet to figure out how to knit garter stitch and talk, let alone anything else. I have friends who have mastered the art of felting, lace, and still others who are complete experts at stranded knitting. I can do these things, too, but there is usually a liberal use of life-lines, swearing, and honestly, I’ve only ever felted by accident.

In spite of this, I find I constantly have people approach me about knitting, like I’m some sort of ambassador the Kingdom of Yarndom. I’ve had people come up to me at doctor’s offices, Starbucks, support groups, work—work is the funniest. One time, a manager burst into one of my work meetings, clutching a granny square afghan. She spread it out on the conference table, and asked, “Why is this CROOKED?” Just recently, one of my coworkers asked if it would be possible for me to teach her how to knit. Right now, I have her checking the needles she bought for size, so that I can bring in suitable yarn for her. One person came up to me yesterday, wanting to know how to sew knitted sweater pieces together.

In some cases, it doesn’t even matter if they’ve seen me KIP—sometimes, the people are complete strangers who just happen to have heard about me through a coworker or friend.

Now, if I could just figure out how to make money from this…