Comments on: An opinionated knitter

By: Kristen

Kristen — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:26:49 +0000

Thank you all for your thoughts. There’s been a lot to mull over, both on my own, and with the help of a lot of interesting people. twig, I sincerely hope that if ever I start spewing bile and hatred, people will call me on it very quickly!

Sarah (sans T), I was thinking about what you said and realizing that apart from my husband, I have very few outlets for my thoughts on the Big Issues in my daily life. I also tend to find (though it does commit one) that I express myself better when I’m writing than when I’m speaking. So I end up writing a lot rather than speaking my thoughts. Perhaps having a verbal outlet would help, too.

Sarah T., I like opinionated knitters, too. That’s part of what feels a little silly about my ambivalence. I don’t intend to turn overnight into a nasty person who disregards the opinions of others, so what makes me think the knitting world will dislike me if I express a little personality?

I did intend to keep most of my deep thoughts separate from what began as a hobby, but at this time in my life, knitting is more than a hobby. It’s taken a role I would not have expected, and it brings its own thoughts and ideas with it.

Actually, the other reason why my worry is a little silly is that my double last name makes me fairly distinctive and a Google search will already bring up a couple of my radio editorials and essays. If one wanted to know a little more about my opinions, it is already fairly easy to find out.

I guess I’ll depend on the knitting community to recall me if I overstep any bounds, and I’ll try to stick to topics that are pertinent. I mean, I don’t think the Pope is going to come up much with knitting.

Still thinking,
Kristen

By: wendelene

wendelene — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:26:32 +0000

I just wandered here after reading your “rants” on Ravelry. In a perfect world, your designs would be judged by merit alone. I don’t think I would ever not buy a pattern because the person who designed it had different personal beliefs than me. Unless of course it was a case of “all profits from this design will be used to support X”.

Maybe you should start a thread on this and see how many rants you get

By: twig

twig — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:36:46 +0000

Interesting topic. I think that if you want to sell on a large scale instead of selling on a level like through your blog there comes a point when you have to choose to censor yourself at least a bit. I don’t necessarily avoid folks who I think are “wrong” on the big issues (keeping in mind that I realize that my “right” is their “wrong” and I fully support their right to be wrong *snicker*) but I won’t go out of my way to read their blogs. However if they were to express themselves in a hateful way, like Ann Coulter or Al Sharpton, I would never consider purchasing a damned thing from them.

I guess what I’m taking up tons of room to say is that I think you can be opinionated but if you’re on the fringe (either fringe)and militant about it you’re going to lose a lot of potential customers. So yeah, I think there are times and situations that it’s better to censor yourself.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:54:13 +0000

I haven’t visited the Big Issues forum at all – partly because I haven’t had much time to spend in the forums and I’m generally there looking for opinions on patterns or yarns, so politics, religion, etc. aren’t even in my head at the time. But like you, I have strong opinions on these things, and I’m wary of getting into it over email or the internet because it’s so easy for others to misconstrue and take offense. Some people aren’t close readers and jump at a few inflammatory words, taking them out of context. It’s hard for anyone to rightly interpret your tone, and I hate it when people take things I write entirely the wrong way as a result. So I like to confine my Big Issue to debates to real life interactions. I go out with my neighbors for a beer and what we’ve laughingly come to call “vigorous political agreement,” since we’re like-minded folk and only hash over the finer details. I save my rants for my husband, who’s always good for a round or two on any issue. (Again, it’s more vigorous agreement than debate.) I’ll bring the fire in public if I feel there’s injustice or bigotry to be spoken against, but I’m trying to tame my temper to make those instances more fruitful. Most people meet confrontation with defensiveness and even anger, or more frustratingly, with avoidance and unwillingness to consider the roots of a held opinion at all.

But on the whole, I think it’s good and necessary to be opinionated, so keep pouring it on! Of course we’re interested in more than your yarn!

By: wazzuki

wazzuki — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 07:15:20 +0000

Opinionated good! And I think its refreshing to find yourself in opposition to others — debate is always healthy. Speaking of which, I was interested to see ‘Canadians’ in Sarah T’s account of ‘what’s VERY different from me’ above . . . is nationality an absolute category of difference? . . .

I’ve not been on the ‘big issues’ group on Ravelry. Perhaps I’ll check it out.

By: TheWilk

TheWilk — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 23:56:16 +0000

I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Heck, I’d probably knit a pattern written by a racist, sexist homophobe if it was pretty enough

By: Sarah T.

Sarah T. — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 20:51:40 +0000

Interesting. You know, I’m opinionated, too. Super opinionated. But I’ve been avoiding the “Big Issues” group on Ravelry like it was the plague. I sometimes invest too much emotional energy in dumb things that I don’t even care that much about.

But, I like opinionated knitters. I like reading other people’s opinions and viewpoints, even if I don’t particularly share them. Some of the people on my blogroll are VERY different from me – stay at home moms, conservatives, Canadians, writers, musicians, and so on. But yet, we all struggle with the same stuff.

So yeah, BE an opinionated knitter. Anyone you alienate is probably easily offendable.