talking back to a knitting blog

[firecat]

Knitting Daily has had a new theme since the beginning of the year—Be a Fearless Knitter. I don't like this, and I was ignoring it and hoping it would go away, but after the third blog post on the subject, I talked back.

I really don't like this "fearless/fearful knitting" theme.

I feel like people, and women especially, pile too many "shoulds" on ourselves and spend too much of our lives feeling guilty and unworthy.

I gather that "Be a fearless knitter" is intended to end that. But I think it reinforces guilt. To me, "Be a fearless knitter" says "It's not good enough for you to enjoy a hobby. You have to turn it into a self-improvement project. You have to be constantly vigilant that you have goals that are challenging enough, and that you are working hard enough toward your goals." "Be a fearless knitter" is yet another way of telling myself I'm not doing "enough".

Affirmations work, but affirmations need to be stated in a positive manner. The word "fearless" focuses the mind on fear and is negative.

Let's say "I am a joyful knitter," "I love to knit," "I love to learn new knitting techniques," "I love to try new projects."

This is not intended to disparage people who find the theme useful.

Comments

[stitchinthyme.livejournal.com]

For some reason when I read this post, scuba diving popped into my head. I got my certification in 1999 and enjoyed diving at first, but one too many instances of severe back pain (from staggering across a lurching boat deck with 50+ pounds of metal on my back while trying not to trip on my fins or on anyone else), choppy water, and strong currents that made me use up a good portion of my air too quickly started making me dread going out. Eventually I decided that although I love being underwater, I really don't like to dive unless conditions are nice and easy -- it's supposed to be fun, not stressful.

I feel the same way about knitting; though there are certainly things that challenge me, if I don't enjoy doing a pattern, I either stop, or if I must persevere, I just make sure not to do that particular pattern again. Simple. I knit for fun, so when it ceases to be fun, it becomes a job, not a hobby. So no, I don't fear anything in knitting, really. (Well, except steeks. The idea of cutting a knitted item does still kind of freak me out.)