About that "sister knitter" rubbish...

I read Ravelry forums a lot. Usually, I can find some really interesting threads, but after the first few informative posts, I generally get too irritated to continue reading.

Part of the underlying set of problems that contribute to this high incidence of miscommunication is the popular romantic misconception that merely being a knitting or fiberart hobbyist means that you share a sacred bond with everyone else who does the same thing.


Oh, no, no, no.

Knitting is a a vocation for a few, a passion for many, and to still others, just something they do with their hands. We're not priests, doctors, or legal officers; we don't take any oaths to uphold any sort of moral or ethical ideal and we owe each other nothing. We're a big group of people which likes to make things on sticks with yarn. Just like any other group of people I'm involved with, I love many of them, I like most of them, and there's a small subset who I wouldn't stop on the street to piss on if they were collectively on fire.


So, when I read comments from people who say things like, "I don't want to have the ability to ignore other people who are demonstrated troublemakers; we're both knitters, we'll work it out", or "Everyone here should be posting pictures of their projects because that's a great resource to me and you owe it to the community", I sign off and go do something else. I don't need any sister knitters; I have three real sisters. We get along fine most of the time, but occasionally we can be judgemental, petty, mean-spirited, and sometimes senselessly cruel to one another.


Actually, now that I think about it, maybe most knitters are my sisters.