I Am A Demonstrator - World Wide Knitting in Public Day

From the time I was a child, I knew that there were public things and private things.  I can still hear my mother's voice chastising me once when we were outside and I started to put my finger in my nose..."Patricia, we do not do that in public!"  I was warned that things that happen within the family, stay within the family and are not to be broadcast to the world. "We do not air our dirty laundry!"  When we were out of the house and I was wearing my pretty new dress and shiny patent leather shoes, I was reminded "A lady always keeps her knees together and her ankles crossed in public." There are things we do in public and things we do in the privacy of our own homes.  Overtime, these boundaries can seem to blur.  I know today it is not unusual to see a young mother discretely nursing her infant in public and it touches my heart, but I always retired to a back bedroom when I nursed my babies...thinking it made others uncomfortable if I were to do it in public and it just wasn't "seemly!"  And...there are many articles written about "PDAs" (Public Displays of Affection) and when is it just tooooo much! So what about knitting?  Is knitting one of those activities that should be confined to ones home or is it OK to knit in public?

I will never forget the first time a woman friend and member of our Learning-in-Retirement organization took out her knitting when one of the presenters began to give his presentation to the class.  The look of horror on the faces of other class members was memorable.  My friend, recognizing the non-verbal signals, calmly assured everyone that she was perfectly capable of knitting while listening to a lecture and would also be making intelligent comments...she could do two things at once!  She broke the glass knitting ceiling!

Today, I ventured out to a very public place, Wilson Park in Torrance, to join other members of my Slipt Stitchers Knitting Guild who were participating in the 2012 World Wide Knit In Public Day.  

This is the largest knitter run event in the world.  It began in 2005 and grows each year in participation. Thoughout the world, on the second Saturday of June, knitters gather in public venues...in parks, in malls, in libraries, in coffee shops.... Even in Palermo,Sicily at the Fiori in Zucca shop, Italian knitters would be celebrating: “GIORNATA MONDIALE DELLA MAGLIA IN PUBBLICO"!!!!   Yes, knitters demonstrate to the general public...demonstrate their knitting and demonstrate that knitting can be a community activity.  I am sure today we broke the stereotype of the grey-haired granny sitting in her rocking chair with her needles clicking (while we do have some of those too!)

as we sat in our circle outside the Sports Center and next to the Weekly Farmers' Market and talked to passers-by and each other about the craft of knitting.

 Fred, one of our members who gives us gender diversity, also showed up and a woman who stopped by to speak to us said she knits and so does her husband!

While the actual event is fairly new, I stumbled across the photo taken in 1941 of the Queen Mother with her daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, showing off some of their knitting supplies that they received from Canada as Britain was rationing for the war effort. I don't know if their surroundings was a public area but it was outside!

So today was fun... a wonderful way to pass a few hours of the morning,

I do enjoy knitting...this is the beginning of a baby blanket for charity.

sharing knitting secrets, laughing, telling stories, buying fresh vegetables and delicious hot food from the market and showing the world..."Better Living Through Stitching Together."