May I rant? Of course I may, it's my blog and I'll rant if I want to.


What is it about knitting in public that makes people think you're open to conversation? I wasn't even in public today - I was in my husband's room at the nursing home, trying to work on the Pink Lady bag between endlessly tending to my husband's needs (he was in an active mode again today). He had a weekend roomie, now thankfully gone - a cute little old guy deep into Alzheimer's - he wasn't the problem. His visitors were the ones stepping on my last nerve. I'm sitting there knitting, and they come waltzing in with him, doing the "Look how wonderful we are, tending to the old fart," ostentatiously solicitous shtick. Puke-o-rama already. You know they see the poor old guy one hour a week at most, just from the awkward and cloying way they interacted with him.


Woman sees me and asks, "Oh, what are you making?" in precisely the tone one uses when asking a six year old what she's making from Play-Doh. Oh, you're making something, how cute!


I answer, politely but briefly, "A bag."


"A BAG?" Tone of condescending interest. Okay, did you not hear me? Yes, a bag.


"I like to knit. I knit sometimes." How nice for you, now leave me alone.


Husband/boyfriend/whoever he was chimes in, "Oh, but everything she makes is too big!" and they coo at each other until I want to barf.


I remain silent, not inviting conversation, they continue to try, I continue to answer in monosyllables, trying to convey the message "Fuck off." I mean, come on, I'm sitting in a depressing nursing home tending to my dying husband, and I'm quite sure I'm not wearing a T-shirt that says, "Ask me about my knitting!" Leave me alone already! If I'd been reading a book, would they have thought it was okay to start talking to me? I'm thinking maybe they would have been more polite - this doesn't happen when I AM reading. But there's something about knitting that people take as an invitation. You're not invited. Go away. Knitting is not a signal of a desperate soul looking to talk to somebody. I'm not desperate, I don't know you, I already have friends and I don't need your attention. Go away. They kept trying, until I guess my rudeness finally penetrated their thick skulls and they shut the hell up.


I've decided that the next time this happens, I'm going to pull out all the stops - I"m going to stop what I'm doing and say, "Is there anything I did or said that caused you to believe I want to have a conversation? Because believe me, it was unintentional. Thank you." Yes, I am a very tired and bitchy woman. The best thing you can do is snub me for my rudeness. We'll both feel much better.