…Where Lolly braves the wilds of the nation's capitol, and the public transit system, with her trusty sock by her side…
I was off to a school-related workshop on Tuesday night, and I took my sock along with me on the Metro train into DC. Any other public transit knitters know that people STARE at knitters… like they are mesmerized by the knitting motions. It is an unusual phenomenon, and has held true in my years of riding the train and knitting. And nothing seems to draw the stares more than the double pointed needles. Maybe people are afraid I will use them as a weapon… who knows.
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Yes, I took a picture of myself on the train with my sock. No, there was no one else in the car at the time. There is about a 5-minute lull where I can get this picture – from my stop (at the end of the line) to the following stop, where lots of people get on. I snapped the picture just in time too, right before anyone saw me. My second Lace (Not So) Knee High is even further along at this point, into the lovely lace panel!
See the headphones? That is to keep the weirdos away. (Yes, I know I am a weirdo too for taking a picture of myself on a train with a sock WIP… but these are different weirdos altogether).
Let me explain: I am not adverse in any way to sharing my craft with the casual stranger. I have had many nice people compliment my work, ask about knitting classes, or simply smile and nod. However, I had one particular encounter with a woman a few months ago that I just can't shake…
…It was bad from the beginning. She was a protestor – not that that is automatically a bad thing – but she was in support of something that I am very much against: Her t-shirt actually said (and I kid you not!) Make War. She was decked out too: pins and buttons and picket signs. (Okay, no more politics, I promise…) The train was not full, and yet, she came over and sat right next to me. I was working on my Trekking XXL #108 socks. She was inches away from me and was staring at my knitting. I shuffled to give her some more room (and to get a breath for myself) and she took that as a cue to strike up conversation. Let me preface this by saying: I am a nice person. I will not be mean to anyone unless insulted or provoked in some way. And although I don't remember the exact wording, this is definitely the way the conversation went:
"Is that hard?"
"No. It is not too bad."
"It looks awful."
[flustered] "No it doesn't! This is only 1 inch of the cuff, and it looks exactly like it is supposed to look."
"I meant 'awful hard'. So, it's a sock, right?"
"Yes."
"Is that wool? the scratchy kind?"
"It is not scratchy at all. It is called merino."
"Lemme give you this… [fumbles around in one of her bags] Here is my address. I want you to knit some size 8 socks for me, and some size 4 socks for my daughter. Pink for her, and purple for me, and I don't want the scratchy kind. You can mail them to that address."
"Excuse me?" [I totally heard her, I just couldn't believe what she said]
"You do make socks for others…"
"Um, no. These are for me. I only knit for my family and friends… and I don't take orders! I can't believe that you would say that to a complete stranger!"
I stood up, did not look back, and promptly got off the car at the next stop. I could not believe the audacity of this woman! I moved one car up, and thankfully there were no other propositions there!
I do wish I had seen the look on her face, however…
The point is: make things for people who will truly appreciate the work that was put into your craft. Someone who will value it, cherish it, and take good care of it. Sometimes that person is you, and you alone. Sometimes it is your mother, your sister, your dad, your best friend, but don't EVER make things for weirdos on the train.
PS-I was holding on to this story for weeks and weeks - I couldn't wait to post about it for Socktoberfest 
ew! what a freaky weirdo.
I’ve never had a knitting-related public transit incident, but not long after I moved to Chicago, a woman on the bus kept leaning out into the aisle so that she could stare and then wiggle all of her fingers as if she was putting a spell on me. It went on for about 30 minutes. My husband and I will still wiggle our fingers at each other for a little laugh nearly 13 years later!
wow… that is insane! i’ve never had anyone flat out tell me i should make them something (aside from coworkers… and really they were joking until I said “ok..what color?”). when i was riding on the train and bus, people would definitely stare.. but mostly people are just like “omg, what are you crocheting?” (lol.. hello, people, it’s called KNITTING) and lots of “my mom/grandma/aunt/whoever does that.. i could never learn. blahblahblah” i did have a lady give me a card – she apparently just started a company and wanted people to knit things, but that’s not my deal. if i feel like I “have to” then i don’t. simple as that..
and one guy kept staring at me while i was knitting in the round, on huge pink dpns, on a sleeve for a child’s sweater. ehehe that was amusing.
Whacked.
I wonder what she would have thought if you’d asked her to paint your house. Not that you’d want her anywhere near where you live! But still, you know what I’m getting at. No conception of the labour involved.
That’s just too weird for words!
dude. that’s a total wth?!
a woman who works at an office i visit sometimes (dr. office, and she’s the person you turn your chart into and pay …. and i told my doctor that she doesn’t “represent well” and is too casual with the patients) had the audacity once to say to me “so, whacha makin’ for me?!” i told her she was the low woman on the totem pole and at the end of the line for even a glimpse of consideration. she just smacked her gum and stared at me.
and, i totally understand about the headphones. i learned that trick traveling cross country on greyhound years ago. you don’t even have to be playing music, the earphones are usually enough to discourage conversation. usually!
Alrighty then….some people are just plain strange.
You handled that well!
I was LMAO!!
Thanks for sharing!!
We all need a good laugh as often as possible!!
You handled the situation very well, and I cannot believe the audacity of that stranger on the train. I always feel uncomfortable when being confronted by people like that, its like they have no limits on their boundaries or others. I like your sock by the way, I cant wait to see the end result.
Holy cow! That is the weirdest thing I’ve heard in a while! Some people have more nerve than brains, obviously.
WOW! That’s … yeah, that’s just… wow.
Honestly, I don’t know whether I’m more appalled by her behavior or her T-shirt. What a total package.
And I can’t imagine how hard it must’ve been to sit on such great blog fodder until the appropriate Socktoberfest moment!
A friend of mine was knitting at the diabetes clinic. The nurse admired her knitting, and then told everyone in the waiting room that my friend would knit socks for them. Jeanne’s stock line for this is “I’ll teach you all how to do it yourself.” She got no takers at the diabetes clinic.
Bizarre! Switching cars was an excellent idea.
Dang that woman had a pair! I can’t imagine someone actually telling (not asking) me to make them socks! Some people, you just have to wonder:|
Whoa! That reminds me of a time when a woman I had just met wanted me to knit socks for her teenage daughters for Christmas. She brushed straight passed my polite, “no more room on the Christmas knitting list, but I’m willing to teach you,” told me the girls’ shoe sizes and handed me an envelope with her address. I didn’t knit socks for her daughters, and she doesn’t have a very high opinion of me. That’s okay. I’m busy knitting.
Total psycho, with no concept of boundaries, definitely – I don’t call it brave or balsy, though, more like clueless and illmannered with an overly indulged sense of entitlement. And seriously…. “MAKE WAR” ??? what the heck? Send that freak to the frontlines and see how she takes it when the bullets whiz past her head. It’s not a nice sound, even if it’s only a 22 and the guys are trying to shoot rats instead of in your direction… trust me.
Yikes! That’s the most nervy psycho public transit encounter I’ve heard of! Hopefully posting about it will help you shake it.
What a crazy story! I’ve never had anything like that happen to me when knitting on the bus here in Albuquerque, but then again, it’s the bus, and most of the people are not exactly in their right minds to begin with. I do get a lot of stares though…but mostly I get a lot more looks in all of my classes. The international students look at me like I’m from another planet, I just want to retort back, “you think I’m weird? You’re the one who doesn’t wear deodorant!” Anyway, here’s to knitting in public, and all the weirdos it can attract
Aww, that poor woman sounds certifiably crazy and totally lacking in social graces. Poor thing, she sounds like she honestly does need help. (I mean, Make War? Seriously?) I am attempting to knit a sock for the first time in months. I don’t know if I can actually do it.
I cannot believe that woman! I mean, I’ve had people touch my yarn inappropriately/without asking/tug off needles, but I’ve never had a woman quite that crazy. I think you handled it beautifully!
Wow! She was definitely an “unbalanced” person. I probably would have laughed in her face out of sheer disbelief. Your actions were definitely justified.
Oh dear…. She was definitely a weirdo!!! I just cannot stop laughing here….
What a horrid woman!
If it will make you feel better I will share with you a True Rude Story of my own.
Setting and stage blocking: Lovely Saurday morning in early winter, neighborhood coffee house, myself seated at window table working on a gift for Xmas, waiting for a friend to join me. I am wearing handknit sweater, jeans, knit socks and Birkenstock clogs. Fifty-something, full-bellied man in khakis. steel-rimmed glasses and commercially made navy sweater at next table, reading paper.
I knit and sip coffee. Man reads, glances over at me, smiles.
Close approximation of conversation:
MAN: “What are you making? My mother used to knit.”
ME: “I am making a beret for a Christmas gift.”
MAN: “That’s nice.”
>
MAN: “You know, with all the radical feminists out there, it’s really nice to see a woman with old-fashioned family values who’s not afraid to be seen doing traditional women’s work in public.”
>
ME: “Um…what makes you think you can guess my values or my politics from my hobby?”
MAN: “Well, I’m sure no femi-Nazi would be caught dead knitting a hat.”
ME: “Did you say Femi-Nazi?”
MAN: “Yes.”
ME: “That’s what I thought you said. I think Rush Limbaugh is a pompous, atavistic ass, and he certainly isn’t a gentleman.”
Man becomes silent. At that moment my flagrantly gay male friend — who I was waiting for — arrives to join me for coffee. Man makes face and returns to paper.
it is too weird that people think that the knitting is too hard to learn yet never hesitate to ask a knitter to make something for them.
i love KIP and i mostly knit in ferry or long bus journeys (where i dont need to catch a stop) and i always put my music louder to stop them to think that i am a grany and avoid their attention. i got too many weird stares and even last time while i was knitting on circulars with hot neon pink yarn a guy kept staring at me and it was the hardest knitting i ever did…
Oh my God, I can’t believe that people would actually do that kind of thing! You handled it really well though, I would’ve been stunned!
HOw rude!! People do expect you to be able to knit things in 5 minutes. I will show projects to friends and they are like- “you’ve been working on that for two weeks- aren’t you in the same place as the last time I saw it!” I makes me want to scream! I wish I could knit all day eveyday, but that is the only way I could churn out things that quickly!
A funny example of knitting requests:
I am a middle school teacher and all my students know I knit (who doesn’t actually- I tell everyone that will listen and needles are in my hand at every waking moment possible). They allllll want me to knit them something and are extemely offended and think I don’t like them when I don’t!! Too funny!
Last year, I actually taught them to crochet- most of them only learned to chain, but they loved it! You should have seen some of my “hard, ghetto” boys fighting over a crochet hook and fuzzy pink yarn!!
That’s a hilarious story!
Just this week I had a man turn his whole body around just to face me and stare at me knitting on the train. I decided the next time someone gawped I would put my knitting down and stare back, which I did, but he actually stared me out! I ended up picking up my knitting again and blushing furiously.
I love the title for this post. I don’t think that you aren’t a nice person. I think you are very nice, but this person was obviously deranged. No need to keep her going with her obvious deusion. I can’t believe the nerve of some people!
hahahahaha
what a weird woman!
Wow… I would have… I dunno. It’s not like you’d walk into a building, see a janitor and say, “Listen, here’s my address, come over around 8 pm and mop my kitchen floor. This is what you DO, right? Mop floors?”
Whatever, the woman sounded like a communist. I get pissed when I go to my local food co-op and as SOON as I get out of my car, some woman (who has just finished loading food bags into her trunk) says to me, “Are you going in? Here, take this cart back.” I don’t want to be mean, but if I’m going to do you a favour, I’ll be the one who offers to bring your stupid cart back. Don’t demand of me (a stranger) to do something for you.
I guess I should be glad that there is no public transportation in the suburbs! People never cease to amaze me! What a hoot – at least Ms. Make War wasn’t packing! Thanks for a morning laugh!
How awful…and different from the woman I chatted with at Starbucks this morning as I turned a heel on a dreaded second sock. She was bemoaning the fact that she found knitting difficult and I was trying to encourage her to try it again…in between managing her 1, 3, and 5-year-old kids… Did you consider accidentally poking her with a needle?
OMG….I can’t believe some people! There are several of those (although, not complete strangers to me and not quite as rude) who keep demanding things from me. I simply tell them that wool doesn’t grow on trees and if they want to pay me, I’ll do it. I may stop saying that though. Oh, how I hate rude people!
BTW, I have a theory about the train-staring. I think it may have something to do with the rhythm of the train and the rhythm of the needles. It’s mesmerizing. Like a blinking red light when you’re sleepy. You just can’t look away. (Of course, I could be way off. It could be because we knitters are that odd, but I don’t think so.)
I can totally see that happening on the Metro. I ride it (and the Marc and a Metrobus) every day…and I could tell you stories upon stories about the weirdos I’ve encountered. And I’ve only been riding public transit for about 5 months! Kudos to you for switching cars…and standing up for yourself!
The only person I take knitting “orders” from is a close friend of mine. She’s a very picky person, so when she sees something I’m knitting and mentions that she’d like one too, she’s sure to get it as a gift.
I am currently scraping my jaw off of my office floor. Unbelievable!! I have had strangers joke with me before – “here is my address – it looks like that sweater would fit me perfectly” etc. but never a serious demand! Wow – some people.
:O !!!! Whoa! That lady has some stones.
I’m very impressed that you had the wherewithal to respond the way you did, I probably would have sat there stunned.
Have you ever done the Pomatomus sock pattern? I need Pomatomus pom poms at the moment.
OMG! I am speechless. I knit on the Metro all the time and, yes, there have been odd conversations and curious looks but never anything even close to what happened to you. People are nuts!
Oh my goodness! Yikes. Sounds like you handled it perfectly. Oh, that just proves my suspicians about those pro-war people….
The audacity! Oh, my goodness! I mean, they talk about entitlement, but holy smokes! It sounds like you handled it very well… and seriously filled we Socktoberfest sockers with ire, based on the number of comments!
oh man! haha that is hillarious! i think you really would have gotten your point across, had you made the infamous “face” we made at your house hahaha…hillarious! speaking of which, can you make me a pair of socks? :-p haha jk
Wow, that lady had some nerve. Socks take a long time to knit…idiot!
Re: people staring at knitting, my Dad does it to me now and has for the 20 years I knit. He finds it mesmerizing……
Good for you to tell her NO!
What a strange experience you had.
I knit in public all the time, and I like people to ask me about my knitting, but never had anything happen like that.
I think I would have done exactly what you did.
LOL! I don’t even know what to add. INsane.
That is a total WTF moment. You just have to wonder what runs through people’s heads sometimes. Although, if she’s all gung ho for war, it’s safe to assume that she’s not the most logical, rational person. I’ve been lucky that most of the people who’ve made comments to me on the Metro/Bus have honestly been curious or very nice.
Once, at Stitch n Bitch, an older gentleman approached our group and said “wow, this is the largest group of pregnant women I’ve seen.” WTF!!!
Weirdos on trains suck! And trust me, Lolly no one would ever accuse you of being mean. EVER!
I’m so jealous you got a metro car all to yourself. Love that!
Cannot believe that crazy woman. The nerve of some people!!
I am impressed by your self-control, keeping that story locked up! Too funny–makes me miss public transportation.
Dude! Good for you! The nerve of some people. You remember my crazy encounter, right? Gotta love the public… NOT! I’ll stick with tech. services any day!