Snobs

[lilpug]

I was at the store the other day and a fellow shopper said I only knit, I wish I could crochet. I was surprised!

[Podger1]

OK - Have to jump in on this thread. I am also AMAZED at the people who look down on crochet as if it is a low-class pasttime. I just don't understand it. I can knit, but I don't knit well...my tension gets off, I drop stitches, etc. and I find it to be very slow (I'm an immediate gratification type of person!) And to be honest, I have to concentrate on it so much that I can't carry on a conversation with someone while I work or watch TV, etc. For those reasons, I don't knit often which means that I never really get better at it.

However, I LOVE to crochet. I could do it with my eyes closed and half asleep (especially one of those big ghans where you have 150 stitches per row and do the repeat stitch over and over and over.) It's what brings ME enjoyment. I do it because it relaxes me and I love to create a finished product out of yarn.

 

I'm rambling. I guess my point is you need to do what you love doing and not worry about what others think. I've had others look down their noses at me. However, the WORST incident occurred in another city before we moved here. Our church had a group of women who would knit prayer shawls to share with people going through illness or crises. I thought it was such a lovely idea and called the coordinator to ask about the meetings and that I would like to participate. After a nice conversation, I mentioned that I would be crocheting, not knitting. She proceeded to tell me that they only accepted knit shawls only and perhaps this wasn't the group for me at that time! And I was young at the time, I never made a big deal about it or really told anyone. If it happened today, I would give her an earful!

 

Do what you love to do! Becky

[PBLKNP]

Becky, that's just insanity on their part! If anything, I'd think crocheted prayer shawls would be more practical as they'd take less time to make and you could get more out to people in need...

 

Hopefully, the current trend towards crochet will make some of these people less snobbish...

[Kiirs]

According to the Sn'B crochet book, crocheting began as a way for poor people to afford lace...they wanted to look nice like the rich people. The rich got angry that the poor had fine-looking clothes, too, so they began to do their best to put down crocheting and make it a "lower" form that was only for "simple" people that weren't talented enough to learn knitting. I think those attitudes have been passed down...it's a learned thing, in my opinion.

 

My children will grow up knowing that any handcrafts are wonderful things to learn and that they're all equal. Similarly, people who look down on crocheting have to have been taught it at some point...either by reading material (books, magazines, etc.) or by the person they learned knitting, etc. from.

[lilpug]

Read in the Denver Post today: "Crochet is the new knit"

[Pamdelion]

My sister and I went into a LYS in Exeter, New Hampshire. As we opened the door I noticed under the store hours on the door it says "Knitters Welcome", so I turned to my sister and whispered, don't say we crochet.

The shop is fantastic and I'm very disappointed that I won't be going back.

My sister had some yarn she was going to buy, and we were looking around a little more to see if there was something she liked better before she bought it. The woman came up to us and started talking, and in the conversation it came out that we crochet (remind me to never rob a bank with my sister). Anyway, she said "oh, well that's alright too, but you know you can get better prices in Walmart and Aimes". I was trying to save the moment so I said, "yes, but we can't get yarn this nice at Walmart or Aimes". If the woman were smart that would have been her chance to correct it. Instead she said, "Have you ever crocheted with this yarn before? This is fine yarn, and it needs to be hand washed. I'm not sure how it will look crocheted, there's no acrylic in it". At that point my sister handed her the yarn and said "I spend a lot of money on my yarn, and you just lost a good customer". She complained all the way home.

You would have to be there to get the full benefit of this story. As soon as she found out we crochet the whole expression on her face changed, and she talked about the yarn as if she was really worried about its future. My sister was mad, but all I could do was laugh. The way the woman acted just struck my funny bone. My sister was right to me upset though, and I won't go back in there.

A lot of these places that call themselves yarn shops aren't really "yarn shops", they're "knitting shops".

 

:ladybug Pam

[ErinLindsey]

I wonder if we should start a message thread where everyone can post reviews of their local yarn stores.

 

Messages on Crochetville get archived dont they? and they show up on Google searches right?

 

Then maybe some crocheters can be forewarned that they might have a problem with the snobby knitters, and the crochet-friendly places can maybe get some increased business.

[SeaShelly]

Why are people who only knit like that? It's very silly and shallow.

[lunchbox]

Hi, since I live in Michigan and try to get to lys all over the state, would mind telling me the town it was in. I think I might know, but want to be sure. There is really only on I have found here in Mi that has been like that.

 

Honestly, I can't recall. They were visiting friends who have a lake house. Does that narrow it down? I'll ask next time I talk to them.

 

How is this for IRONY? I just moved to this town a few months ago and recently met a great woman. We have tons in common, but she is a knitter, more of a fiber artist. She spins, dyes, paints yarn - you get the idea.

 

Well, I could tell that she was a little hesitant when I mentioned I crocheted because there is such a stigma to it with knitters. When she saw my stuff, she had a whole new take on it. She is still a self-professed yarn snob and that is fine. She's been surprised at the quality of some of the acrylics that I've had.

 

She is helping me with my knitting and I am going to teach her to crochet, since she wants to put some edgings on her stuff and make a granny square.

[Starr]

I just don't understand how these shop owners and their employees can be so rude! I mean IT"S RETAIL people!!!! CUSTOMER SERVICE.... means....CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!! no matter what! *sigh*

 

At the LYS that I go to, there are 2 women that own and run the store, they are both knitters. One of them is very interested in crochet and the other could care less.

 

Now the one that could care less bothered me. I do both knit and crochet, although I prefer and I'm better at crochet, I think that both have their pros and cons, but she just told me that in no way is crochet more versatile than knitting and a bunch of other rude put downs about a craft that she knows absolutely nothing about. We really don't talk much, but she "puts up" with me and my crochet because her partner wants my "expertise" in their storeand the items that I can make for them that their other crocheter cannot do because she is more of a knitter and basically only sticks with basic crochet for embellishments for the knitting.

 

I had posted a huge rant about this in my Livejournal early last month too.

 

I also couldn't believe that a yarn store OWNER was complaining how crochet uses more yarn than knitting...well, sure it does, but doesn't that mean more sales for them?

 

I have had this dream of opening a yarn/bead store and the yarn side to focus on crochet! I love beading also, especially bead crochet, although, the prestringing can be a pain for the kind of bead crochet that I do! LOL

 

 

 

GAH....this subject just really errks me big time!!!!!!

[ErinLindsey]

I have had this dream of opening a yarn/bead store and the yarn side to focus on crochet! I love beading also, especially bead crochet, although, the prestringing can be a pain for the kind of bead crochet that I do! LOL

 

 

 

GAH....this subject just really errks me big time!!!!!!

 

 

I want to open my own yarn store too! I've actually been thinking about seeing if I can get a loan to do it too. Either that, or hope that I win Powerball soon.

[Starr]

I want to open my own yarn store too! I've actually been thinking about seeing if I can get a loan to do it too. Either that, or hope that I win Powerball soon.

 

 

Yeah, winning a lottery sure would help! That would be so cool if you could actually do it!

 

The only thing that is keeping me from looking at getting a loan is the fact that I practically have no credit and what I do have isn't the greatest because of my ex-husband *sigh*

It's hard on the income being a SAHM...I have to rely on my DH for all income.... *bigger sigh*

[ErinLindsey]

I doubt I'd be able to get a loan... I havent really worked for the past 4yrs (been taking care of my mom. she'd been having health problems)

 

Now I'm starting to develop a few health problems of my own. Not exactly sure if they're serious yet, but it's enough to scare me out of wanting to go back to work again soon.

 

If I could win Powerball, I wouldnt exactly have to work...I could just buy the yarn store and hire someone to run it for me.

[mythunderbird]

i too have to answer here since i have had the same problem witn a snob, i teach crochet at joanns and i was helping a student pick the yarns for her project, when this other lady was looking at yarns i asked her what she was making.didn't ask if she knit or crocheted , just what she was making, well she answered that her friend's daughter was going to crochet her some socks, the "friend" stood up and said she is NOT crocheting anything, crocheting is tacky, i said really, you think so?(thems fighting words for me ) she said oh yes its just tacky all those doilies, i said what about other things? i was wearing a shawl i had designed and made, and she said like what

i said like this shawl, now mind you, i am not the most perfect of a crocheter but come darn close to it when i am making something,if its wrong, it gets frogged no questions asked, and she said well thats lovely, you could never make that in crochet. i said well i did, she looked at me like sure ya did, so i showed her, she was shocked, she actually thought the only thing you could make from crochet was afghans, and doilies bedspreads ect. things that for years our older realitives did. when she looked again

she started asking how it could be made in knitting

i said it can't

as these stitches are crocheted, you would not be able to change it enough, she said how do you know, only the person who designed it would know that, i said well i designed it too:devil she stuck her nose up in the air, but her friend asked me how she could learn to crochet. i showed her the classes i had sceduled and she signed up right then and there. well when class time came, she brought her friend too, which then i asked if she was not going to take the class, could she please leave(she wanted a free lesson) she left then and her friend said she was just trying to learn how cause she really liked my shawl and wanted to make it, not believing i had designed it

well to bad for her, i do both as well as many other things, i quilt, paint, pottery ect,, you name it i do it . i too think we all can do whatever and nothing is better than anything else. mind you i crochet alot better than knit, but i have made garmets and of course scarfs, hats and sweaters. even a purse, but my first love is crochet even though i learned to knit first. people are stupid when they think they are better than others.as far as being a yarn snob, it never fails to amuse me that people look down on acrylic yarn. not all of us can use animal fibers(thank god for acrylic) and i find that depending on what your making, there is a place for the red heart as well as the finest acrylic mohairs as well as cotton and everything else. i have more of that in my stash than anything, but i don't look down on anyone who just uses red heart. after all thats what i learned on and still to this day make my afghans out of. in fact am trying to decide what colors to use to make he catherral rose window afghan. any suggestions as far as colors? i have looked and looked and can't make up my mind. i am thinking cool colors but not sure. might just make it in jewel tones.anyways back to the subject, sweetie i would have done the same darn thing, although i would have spoken to the manager unless she was it, but my business and money would have gone far away from there. our closest place to being called a yarn shop that i have shopped at is a place called pacific fabrics and also artco, both have a very nice selection of yarns. in fact artco had a awesome sale not long ago and i decided to use my b-day money on the sale. along with about 95.00 more , now to find a use for it all hehehe. hang in there some day the snobs will have it come back and bite them in the rear, might even be a dog wearing a crocheted coat:nahnah :rofl

[Ashley's Mom]

Wow reminds me of a store in my small town that resently went out of business.. hmm wonder if they had they same rude sales skills!.. Sounds like you gave her a good taste of unsatisfied customer!

[kathome]

Yeah - crocheting seems to be the "poor relative".

 

We have an every Wednesday lunch-time craft session at work. Knit, crochet, quilt, beading - anything that can be carried in to work. Usually it's only 3 of us who show up and we have gotten to know one another very well and have established nice friendships. We all look forward to our Wednesday "Stitch & Bitch".

 

ANYWAY....... when newbies come into the conference room us crocheters always get, "Oh look! WOW Julie is knitting!" We now all respond with, "We ALL know how to knit and crochet. Some of us just prefer to crochet.":rolleyes

[squish_52]

There is a yarn shop near the college i attend who caters more to knitting, but the lady who was tending the shop was as nice as can be. She even invited me as a crocheter to join their KNITTING circle on monday nights, how cool is that? I'm unable to join but still it was cool to be asked, I thought they would look down on me because I crochet and knitting confuses me but she told me crochet confuses her so it's all good! Its amazing how you get the good, and you get the bad everywhere you go.

 

 

It's a shame though that some people just aren't educated enough to know the difference.

[mythunderbird]

 

It's a shame though that some people just aren't educated enough to know the difference.

honey, let me tell you, no matter how many times you tell someone it don't matter, hubby and i have been married going on 28 years now and to this day he calls it my knitting. one day my hook is going to get revenge and stab him when he sits down:devil

actually come to think of it, that already happened with a steel hook:lol

:lol and yet it calls it knitting to this day, although i long since stopped correcting him as his answer was always same thing:P but i got even the other night, he was talking about wanting to buy some fancy sports car(so not happening) and i said well why not buy a small car like a economy car sub compact, he said no its not the same, i said sure it is, they are both cars:devil , course i know the difference in cars myself and while would love to own a nice sporty car, i also want to eat for the next 6 years so he is not getting one:lol

[librarycat513]

My guy also gives me the blanket "you're knitting" no matter whether or not it's knit or crochet. I don't mind though, as I know he knows the difference because his mom crochets.

[Suebee42]

My guy also gives me the blanket "you're knitting" no matter whether or not it's knit or crochet. I don't mind though, as I know he knows the difference because his mom crochets.

 

My hubby does it just to be a smarta$$... LOL!

[lunchbox]

My hubby does it just to be a smarta$$... LOL!

 

After reading a couple of things you've written about your hubby, I would almost swear we are married to the same man.

[dragonfli]

Lunchbox: While this has nothing to do with this thread (sorry) I just had to say, that baby in your avatar is so darn cute, when I look at her/him I just want to giggle!!!!