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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

in thinking that all WOMEN should be able to knit? I mean, its a life skill!!

82 replies

purpleduckUnderTheMistletoe · 17/12/2009 10:56

Nevermind if they don't WANT to, or have no talent at it. They just SHOULD!!! Its a damned inconvenience to everyone else if they don't, and I'm annoyed at all the women who don't knit.

I mean, I have a friend who doesn't knit, and I think her life must be so, so, limited. Imagine only having the choice of shop bought.

Unbelieveable!!!

OP posts:

Yellownotblue · 25/01/2021 22:15

@Tortington and @juneybean, casting on and off is the best bit! You can learn it very quickly by watching YouTube videos, it literally takes minutes to learn and is so enjoyable. Much more than the actual knitting.

Pretty sure the OP was taking the piss though.

FangsForTheMemory · 25/01/2021 22:16

I don’t see why you think it should be restricted to women. My dad could knit. So could my maternal grandad.

WithinAForestDark · 25/01/2021 22:17

Bloody hell - who bumps a 12 year old thread?

ktp100 · 25/01/2021 22:18

Men have opposable thumbs too, ya know.

And your hobby is feckin' boring to many.

Life's too short for that shit.

1Morewineplease · 25/01/2021 22:29

I can knit , but I don't. I don't like it, it's boring and I don't like knitted things . Barely wear jumpers or cardis unless they're finely machine knitted.

HPLikecraft · 25/01/2021 22:30

In the past few months I've knitted a walrus, shark, 2 stingrays, a golden retriever, a wren, a zombie and a big stripey jumper.
I am the last word in womanliness.

ViciousJackdaw · 25/01/2021 22:47

I am unable to knit as have arthritic hands. I think your OP was really rather cable-ist.

BonnieDundee · 25/01/2021 22:50

Knitting. Ugh! Was made to do it at school. Couldnt.wait to drop home economics. The stitches just wouldnt sit right or more likely I was crap at knitting

480Widdio · 25/01/2021 22:56

Love knitting,always have.My husband asked not to knit him any more Aran jumpers.Finding out knitting with a cable needle was easy peasy was one of my greatest discoveries.

I have knitted so many things in these lockdowns,3 jumpers,3 wool blankets.Several snoods.

Just finished a pure wool waistcoat and have the wool for another one.

If we ever get back to normal,that level of knitting will cease.

Rizzoli123 · 25/01/2021 22:58

I love to knit. Im not very good but I try my best. I prefer to cross stitch.

FuckinGoddess · 25/01/2021 23:00

I’d rather stick knitting needles in my eyes than knit.

Tyredofallthis1 · 25/01/2021 23:04

I can knit the basics.

I'm scared of my sewing machine, though, and only bought it after the men in my life saw the Great British Sewing Bee and looked at me meaningfully. Does that mean I am less than feminine?

I can manage basic hand sewing, though - I've hand sewn massive curtains before now and I can sew on a button.

VestaTilley · 25/01/2021 23:23

Why just women? I hate the notion there are women’s hobbies and men’s hobbies. It’s sexist bollocks. Either you think everyone should be able to knit, or no-one.

But just women? Away with you.

MrsClatterbuck · 25/01/2021 23:29

I really can't knit. At school and this was a very long time ago we used to have two afternoons a week where we did sewing or knitting and the boys did handiwork. did say a long time ago While the other little girls knitted pieces of work with no holes and totally straight. Mine had holes and were more like the hind leg of a donkey. A few classes later my fellow classmates were allowed to knit jumpers and I was only allowed to knit a pair of mittens which never got beyond the start of the thumb in the whole school year. We would have been about 11 years old. Sewing ditto. Lots of relations who had these talents which sadly passed me by.
Told DH when we got married that I could cook but sewing was a no no apart from maybe sewing on a button.

CounsellorTroi · 25/01/2021 23:38

I can't knit nor do I want to. I can sew buttons on and do hems but that's the extent of my sewing skills.

LakieLady · 26/01/2021 00:37

@TheFormerChild

My dad was in the Navy ~ they were all taught to knit socks, including turning corners.

That explains why my DF could knit - he was ex-RN.

Amazingly, I've managed to reach the age of 65 without ever learning to knit.

I don't believe I've been disadvantaged by it.

peak2021 · 26/01/2021 06:55

I can't knit. I couldn't 12 years ago when the thread started either. I have managed OK without this.

MeanWeedratStew · 26/01/2021 06:57

I can't do any of it, wouldn't know where to start. Well, I suppose nowadays, one could start with a good Youtube tutorial, but in my youth we had no internet and my mother, who excels at needlework, refused to teach me (that's a whole other story). So I put knitting, sewing etc into the too-hard basket, and there they remain to this day.

I can honestly say that, aside from an occasional fleeting thought of "That's lovely, I wish I could do that", my lack of needle skills has not affected or limited my life in any way of which I'm aware.

Nicolastuffedone · 26/01/2021 07:36

I can’t knit, and luckily have never had a knitting emergency

ReggieKrait · 26/01/2021 07:39

Um. What?

This cannot he serious. Please tell me it’s not serious........

They tried to force me to learn me knitting age 6. It still traumatises now. You literally couldn’t pay me enough to even look at a pair of knitting needles. Urgh.

RaspberryCoulis · 26/01/2021 08:02

Totally agree OP. I have knitted for as long as I remember, from making little knitted clothes for my Sindy doll in the late 70s. Cast on this pattern yesterday using up some green flecked yarn which has been sitting around for years, not sure how it's working out yet but we'll see.

www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/snowmelt-shawl

I also dabble in patchwork (hand sewing, not machine), cross stitch, needle point.... Basically anything crafty I'll give it a go.

Crochet and I are not friends. Have tried multiple times but just don't "get" it at all, I think it comes with being left-handed.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 26/01/2021 08:14

Hems and buttons are more important IMO - how on earth my dds still didn’t know how to do these after at least a year’s ‘needlework’ at post 11, I don’t know.

Knowing how to run up a pair of curtains also v useful. But not at all difficult if anyone wants to,. esp. now there’s YouTube to help with everything.,

I’m old enough to remember when virtually everybody’s mother could knit and sew - but that’s because before everything came from China, Vietnam etc., it was cheaper to make than to buy.

Quite the reverse now.

Hankunamatata · 26/01/2021 08:20

Sewing yes knitting no. But knitting needles could be a handy weapon

Nowstrong · 26/01/2021 08:22

I would love to know how to knit! My granny knitted all of my (itchy) jumpers. She also made most of my dresses. I can sew. Just can't knit beyond a scarf. Might give it a try...

Tyredofallthis1 · 26/01/2021 09:03

It used to be cheaper to knit a sweater than buy one. I remember my grandmother having yarn 'put away' and buying it in bits. Now it's cheaper to buy than knit. I can probably pick up a decent sweater for around £20 (though prices are going up). Even acrylic yarn is dear nowadays.

(I haunt Aldi when they do their yarn in the aisle of tat and use Marriners Yarns for their double knit)

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