Register shock-reporter Ashlee Vance wrote a ridiculous piece about a panel on which I participated at this month's Linux World Expo in San Francisco. Not sure what SugarCRM paid him for the misleading headline, but my favorite part of the piece was his assertion that I must be "desperate for attention" because I was knitting during the panel.
I have been knitting since I was 5 years old, and have been a public knitter for many years now. To date I have only caught approbation from Ashlee, despite the fact that my tendency to knit in public at conferences and long meetings has been well documented in blogs and various other commentaries.
Oh, wait, I nearly forgot. When I was in 7th Grade pesky little Michael Grossman tried to rat me out to our Math teacher because I was discretely knitting during class (under my desk). The teacher calmly told Michael that when he was earning a 4.0 GPA, he could knit in class too.
Perhaps Ashlee, like pesky Michael Grossman, is unaware that knitting enhances concentration in many people, and also allows the knitter to create something useful while otherwise killing time (as I was doing waiting to be included in yet another panel discussion about badgewear licensing).
Here are a few interesting posts on the subject of knitting in public...
The post where my Sun colleague Jim Grisanzio choose to memorialize my public knitting tendencies in his blog
A blog about knitting and politics - Ashlee will especially enjoy the quote about "brain-work" being impossible for some women...seems right up his alley, I'm sure he can make something of that.
Christian Science Monitor's review of "No Idle Hands", Anne Macdonald's book (from which the "brain-work" quote in the preceding cited blog was taken)
Fastcompany article about mathematician Brenda Dietrich who unashamedly knits during meetings at IBM.
Class offering from a recent Quaker Gathering - seems knitting during Quaker services is pretty acceptable. Tolerant people, Quakers.
A somewhat long blog post, written by a woman more timid (Ashlee might choose to say less desperate for attention) than I. But the last two paragraphs are cogent to this blog.
Oh, and there's this last one I found...you should look this guy up, Ashlee...he could be your new best friend. Apparently a shock DJ in Wisconsin tried to start a smear campaign against a newly elected School Board member, one Lucy Mathiak. Great post about shock-tactics backfiring.
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