Stuck in the Middle

Wednesday night knitting with the Skanks can be hit-or-miss. Tonight I was the only one to attend, and I knew this would probably be the case when I left the house. Actually, I was not on my own. My husband came with me. He dropped me off and joined me later after he ate some lousy fast food.

In spite of the lack of Skanks, the place was quite full. When I arrived, there was only one empty table. It was uncomfortably close to the back of the already occupied couch. Since I figured it would only be Brucie and me, I settled in at the table with my coffee and knitting. It appeared that the young ladies on the couch were no more thrilled with me being perched next to their heads than I was.

Once I got out my current work and pattern, I had an audience. The high school girls on the couch were interested. They wanted to see what I was doing, questions about my mittens, how long it would take to do whatever I was doing, if I knit earflap hats, if I had knit my sweater, how long I had been knitting, and what other things I knit. Apparently, they had seen us on other Wednesday nights, as they had questions about the big machine (JJ's Ashford Knitter's Loom) and what it did. They really liked my sweater (Arwen), and did their best to compliment it without saying that it looked like something one could find in a store. I believe they settled on saying it looked like it could be expensive. They were very sweet. Then, as soon as the interaction began, it was over. They had homework to do. It would also appear that they have just begun to learn sign language, and that was entertaining to watch.

Shortly after I sat down to knit, there was a change in the people at the table behind me. This group was decidedly less sweet than the young ladies at the couch were, and it was a bit disheartening. One of the young men has, shall we say, a public speaking voice. I concentrated on my lace chart, but even it could not drown out their talking. I think the ipod was the only thing that could have prevented me from hearing their conversation. This is not the first time I have had the occasion to hear this group of young men. I do not necessarily recognize them all by sight, but their voices and discussion topics are familiar to me. If I could give them a bit of advice, it would be to not combine publicly their religious conversations with the other topics they discuss. It was also a bit disturbing to hear their interpretations and twisting of sacred texts. What distressed me the most was that it appears that the loudest of the group might be in a teaching or leadership position in a church. At one point, I found myself tempted to tell them so, but then I remembered that they were not really listening to each other, and I would be wasting my time. Additionally, their respect level for women appeared to be somewhere less than zero.

I probably would have stayed until closing time if I had been on my own, but my husband grew weary of it all and was ready to leave early. And that, my friends, is my excuse for not having more knitting to show you. However, I think I am getting ready to find my rhythm with the current lace piece, so maybe their will be something to see tomorrow.