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Sometime I struggle to find something to write about and other times it’s as simple as looking at my twitter feed. Yesterday, Kim (@atknitsend) tweeted about how the instructor at a work training session asked her to stop knitting while he was lecturing. I’ve thought a lot in the past about stitching at meetings and I think my feelings really come down to 2 points:
Point 1: There is nothing wrong with knitting or crocheting during a meeting or class.
Knitting or crocheting is not a sign of disrespect. It’s just something we do. A lot. For many of us, it actually helps us to concentrate better by keeping us from getting fidgety.
Point 2: No non-stitcher seems to understand point 1.
They just don’t get it. When I came back from my first Professional Development Day at the annual Knit & Crochet Show, I told my husband how they had yarn out on the tables for us to work with. He was shocked we crocheted while speakers were talking. I told him we could all crochet and listen at the same time. It still weirded him out.
Unfortunately, my fear of Point 2 seems to outweigh my confidence in Point 1, and I find myself at many meetings twiddling my fingers and getting no crochet done.
Have the same problem with doing origami during meetings.
Part of the problem is that folding paper can be quite noisy and distracting to other folks. Noisier than you’d think. I wonder if it was the “clicking of the needles” that caused the request? Crochet at least is quieter. And since doodling has been shown to be productive: http://lifehacker.com/5162029/doodling-increases-focus-and-recall I don’t see why knitting, crochet, and/or origami would not as well!
We could’ve done with that insight early on.