The general public

[tinker]

The last two times I have gone to the coffee shop to crochet (one of my favorite escapes) someone has said something to me. The first was a woman that asked me if I know Irish crochet. I didn't have a clue but ended up talking to her about what I was working on. Then, yesterday a businessman asked me what I was knitting. I told him I was working on a scarf for a friend but I debated whether I should educate him on the difference between knit and crochet. I decided against it because he was just making conversation since he was sitting in a chair next to mine.

 

How many of you have had strangers come up and talk to you because they are curious about crocheting?

[mercy7]

i sit and crochet in the doctors dentist and hospital while waiting and sometimes people do talk to you.

[dhaunae]

I've had lots of people talk to me in airports, on planes, in the dentist or doctor's office, even at work (I work in a call center and crochet at my desk between calls, and in the cafeteria on breaks). Most of them relay stories about their mother/grandmother/aunt/other relative who knitted or crocheted, and a lot of them sound slightly envious as they ask what I'm making, and how long it will take me, and so forth. I've also had total strangers come over, sit down beside me, and whip out their knitting/crocheting/needlework without saying a word. Sometimes I strike up a conversation, other times I don't feel like it and we just sit there companionably working away in silence. It's kinda neat

[lilhatshack]

Once when I was getting my hair colored at one of the guys came up to me and asked me about it...he was all into crochet and wanted to know about the hook, etc.

[CatsCradleCreations]

Just last week as I was crocheting in the waiting room, a lady asked what I was crocheting and we ended up talking about how we taught ourselves how to crochet, and were unsuccessful in teaching ourselves how to knit! I thought it was funny that someone else (who is much older than I) was having the same difficulty going from hook to needles.

 

Other times, I've been asked what I was crocheting or knitting. I don't bother correcting people. If they don't know the difference, then I figure they're not too interested in the craft, just making polite conversation.

[nataleeza]

Well, I tend to knit in my lab when I'm not busy, so the other members of my lab are always wanting to know what I'm making this time. I'll be teaching one of them how to crochet at the end of the acadaemic year (when they have free time of their own). The same happens when I crochet at the call centre I volunteer for.

 

I also crochet on the bus, and in waiting rooms and the older people normally smile, but don't ask questions.

[diamond]

This has happened to me many times as well. Usually they ask what I'm knitting and I correct them politely that I am crocheting whatever it is I am working on. Usually that's the end of the conversation but sometimes, usually a woman, they will continue making conversation and asking how I learned, when I learned, etc. None have ever gotten upset that I've corrected them by saying I was crocheting vs knitting. Most don't even realize there is a difference so I explain.

[Julie]

I crochet in public all the time. My favorite time was earlier this year when I was waiting for new tires to be put on my car and the young man sitting in the waiting area started asking questions. By the time my car was ready I gave him the hat I'd been finishing up. He was thrilled and I was pretty happy about it too.

[NurseFrawg]

I haven't been spotted crocheting in public yet. However, I have been asked about crocheting in the book store. I was hunting for a crochet book and muttered something about there being a lack of crochet books (You can find me in the bookstore easily. I am the one that pulls up a patch of floor to sit on and mutters slightly while waiting for the perfect book to jump into my arms. ). A lady heard me asking the book gods why there weren't more crochet toy books and said that I looked too young to be crocheting. I politely replied that learning to crochet is like learning a new language... younger is always better. She then asked how I learned to crochet and how she could learn as well.

I was also asked about crocheting when I scored a bundle of hooks at the Goodwill. The checkout girl said that she was envious of others wearing things that could be made, but that she didnt know how to crochet or knit. I told her about the webites that could help her.

I am starting to think that with our hooks we can unite and take over the word.... but in a good way.

Elizabeth

[CorinneM]

I am always crocheting.......at the dentist or doctor's office, in the car, at work shops,at long boring meetings, on the bus while traveling some place for a field trips. I like to have something easy to crochet that you dont have to think about the pattern. People are always asking me what are you making? When I go back to work next week (I work at a middle school) I am going to start crocheting at lunch:lol. I find it very relaxing and I have to keep my hands busy, busy, busy:manyheart

[tinker]

You know one thing I've noticed is that where I used to eat out of boredom, I now crochet instead. So, I've lost weight as well as making things to give as gifts.

[Lorrie]

I crochet just about everywhere.I was crocheting in the laundry mat last week when 2 ladies came up and asked me to help them They were new to crocheting. They ran out to their car and brought back a patternand asked me to explaine it to them We exchanged numbers and I have since walked them through their project. I get asked all the time what I am working on or what I am doing. I Love IT.

[tinker]

I crochet just about everywhere.I was crocheting in the laundry mat last week when 2 ladies came up and asked me to help them They were new to crocheting. They ran out to their car and brought back a patternand asked me to explaine it to them We exchanged numbers and I have since walked them through their project. I get asked all the time what I am working on or what I am doing. I Love IT.

 

That's really cool!

[sem464]

I never go anywhere without yarn & a hook. I keep a ball of cotton & a hook in my purse. Sometimes I will crochet on the way to my friends house. (I clean it). I crochet while I am stopped at all the red lights. (it is a 45 min. drive one way). Last night I chaperoned Sp? my daughters football game. I pulled out my hook & yarn, & worked on yet another dishcloth. (I made sure the kids couldn't see me working on it. My daughter would have died) . The other chap. asked me what I was doing & said that her grandmother had taught her & her sister. She had forgotten how, but her sister did it sometimes.

 

We should all keep it up & not be ashamed. I think it is perfectly alright to politely correct someone. After all, it is educating them without going into alot of detail!

[tinker]

I need to get a bag big enough to take projects with me.

[mythunderbird]

you could always crochet yourself a large tote bag to hold all of your crochet. i crochet in public all the time, any place i have to wait for more than 5 minutes, i whip the yarn and hook out and prodeed to crochet whatever i am making at the time. i have actually crocheted in the mall and had some kids come up and ask me what i was doing(teenagers) when i showed them my purse i had made and was making another one, they loved it and one girl asked me if i could make her one. so i got her name and phone number and when i finished it i called her and she met me at the mall i gave her the purse, she gave me 35.00, and what was so cool, was i was telling her about how i teach crochet at joanns and she said wow i would like to learn, so she and her friend decided to take a class. so was a great thing all around. i think if we show people that this is not their grandmas crochet(who says so, my granny crocheted everything LOL) and that we can actually make some awesome stuff with it then i think more and more people will learn to appreciate the fact that it is a art. :manyheart

[CraftyChristine]

I've never been approached and talked to while knitting or crocheting in public, but I *have* been stared at. Well, gawked at is more like it lol.

[Harvestar]

Oh yes, all the time. Today it was while I was waiting in line for the plane (flying Southwest). The guy behind me said, "wow! that's a lost art! who taught you to do that?" He was also amazed that someone so young was crocheting. I explained that many of my friends knit and my high school friends all crochet. I also said that I taught my fiance to crochet too. He was impressed and said his wife knew how, but never taught him (said he didn't want to learn...).

[Katandia]

I crochet at work... almost more than I actually work! I just learned last year and it was someone at work who saw me crocheting and lamenting the fact that I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to read a pattern that taught me how.

 

About the Irish crochet - if it's the same as Celtic crochet, I am attempting to learn it right now. I bought a Celtic afghan pattern book - man, it's hard! My little sister loves all things Irish though, so I'm trying one for her. You make up these twisted little o's and curly things, then sort of weave them through one another, then crochet them together with more o's and curly things. I'm not sure if I'm doing it right, but it's pretty close to the picture in the book. I'll post a picture of it on my blog soon.

[tinker]

I'd love to crochet a bag for myself, but I haven't quite figured out how.

[VenLuvsCrochet]

I've never been approached and talked to while knitting or crocheting in public, but I *have* been stared at. Well, gawked at is more like it lol.

 

That's the response I've gotten so far. Nobody ever comes up and talks to me. They just stare.

 

I was at Starbucks this weekend relaxing in one of those plush, cushy chairs crocheting away. A few minutes after I got there, a group of people came in and sat at the table opposite the chair I was sitting in and one of the women in the group just stared at me the whole time, at least an hour. I got the feeling she wanted to come over and ask me about it but didn't because of the people she was with.

[mercy7]

you know it really is quite easy to make a bag thinking about it cos i made one after starting out making a blanket and ran out of yarn so folded it in half and sewed the sides together and made me two handles but not got around to sorting out the lining.

[tinker]

you know it really is quite easy to make a bag thinking about it cos i made one after starting out making a blanket and ran out of yarn so folded it in half and sewed the sides together and made me two handles but not got around to sorting out the lining.

 

I started making one like that but wasn't sure how it would look so I frogged it. Maybe I'll try again.

[wendyb532]

I always bring my crocheting with me when I have to take my son to an othrodontist appt or some other doctor appt. The receptionists and dental assistants love to see what I am making and I am always getting questions from people waiting for their family members as well. I have never had anyone think I was knitting , they usually know it's crochet.

Wendyb532

[Burgandy]

I am a "bowling widow" and spend quite a few weekends at bowling alleys and I never leave the house w/o my current WIP. When I first started out I was starting a blanket and forgot how to loop the yarn around my fingers to get the chain started (cut me some slack, it was only my 2nd project:blush ). Luckily one lane over was a lady crocheting a beeeeeaaauuuuutiful white baby blanket (wish I had asked her the name of the stitch) who saw me looking perplexed (or maybe just lost). I swallowed my pride and asked her to show me how to get started. I chit chatted with her for a real short time after that. So mystery lady in Rio Rancho, NM THANK YOU!