crafting in public
For me, crafting in public has always been out of necessity and a desire to use all my time wisely. When I first moved to the big city in the early 90s and started taking buses to work, I realized at least 2 hours a day were being trimmed from my free time. But, unlike commuters who drive, I was lucky enough to have my hands free. I would carry around small crochet projects everywhere I went. If I wasn’t working on a hat for a friend, it was granny squares for a blanket; anything small enough to fit in a pocket, a purse, a backpack. Everywhere I went, I had something useful to do.
It’s now become a habit for me to grab a project as I walk out the door. Especially when I know I’ll be waiting around, like doctor’s appointments, movies, afternoons in the park, and even when I’m driving somewhere. More than once I’ve been stuck in traffic for long stretches of time where it was nice to have a little crocheting to do. I’m amazed at how much time I’m able to reclaim from my life by always having a project with me.
Taking advantage of a few minutes here and there has brought real-world experience to the idea that small things add up to something bigger. I tend to be all-or-nothing about life. I’m not usually patient, and I don’t like to take baby steps. But seeing that I can crochet a whole blanket in 5-minute snatches of time reinforces that slowly working toward your goals can pay off eventually.
When I’m crafting in public, people don’t talk to me as often as I’d expect. There have probably been less than 10 people who’ve ever said anything about it. But I like to imagine that my crafting in public is more subversive than it seems. I may not be putting knitted cozies on lampposts or embroidering on public transportation seats, but when someone sees me making something, I hope it counters their consumer mentality (if they have one) and implants the thought, “Hey! I could be making something, too.”
About the writer: Alice (aka futuregirl) has kept a craft blog on futuregirl.com since November 2005, but she was passionate about crafting long before that. Currently, Alice is focused on crochet and hand sewing felt, and enjoys creating original designs for both. She contributed several projects to the Anticraft book that comes out November 2007. Photographer: Andrew Merlino
November 12th, 2007 at 3:38 am
I was knitting in Auckland in NZ recently and four different people commented in the same day. It got me talking to some interesting people and I felt I was doing my bit…
November 12th, 2007 at 4:19 am
I also like to work on my craft projects on road, specially on train every weekend. Sometimes, it’s my only chance to get crafty during the whole week. :P
November 12th, 2007 at 6:36 am
I’ve noticed that, over the years, less and less people comment on my “crafting in public”. I’ve always brought my embroidery with me on travels, as far back as a trip to Europe in 1978. I nearly always got the “oh, that’s beautiful” comment, in the States, and in Europe the ladies would tell me how I could do it better. Now though, it’s harder to bring my embroidery with me; partly because I don’t want to lose a favorite needle or pair of scissors to the airport security thieves and partly because… I’m not sure why. I sew at the laundromat and the coffee shop, and get the occasional comment when I’m alone, but in the group I hang with on occasion, the knitters get most of the comments. And the laundromat isn’t graced w/my sewing basket anymore, since a pile of rather expensive embroidery thread and a small box of beads got taken from it. I do love it when someone sits down to really watch what I’m doing and asks questions. but it doesn’t happen too often anymore; I usually get the “I don’t have the patience” comment. My response is “it’s one stitch at a time; it doesn’t take patience, it takes time”.
November 12th, 2007 at 6:43 am
oh how pretty, is that you in that picture. what beautiful red hair. I used to craft in public too. i would work at a call center and to keep my hands busy between calls i would knit or crochet
November 12th, 2007 at 10:18 am
My favorite was a recent flight I was on where I was embroidering, and when I got up to go to the bathroom I noticed that the lady sitting two rows behind me was also embroidering.
November 12th, 2007 at 10:33 am
I too craft on the go… I call my projects on the go ‘the stolen project’.. as it is usually made from stolen time.. time wasted sitting and doing nothing.. I usually have a teeny weeny tin in my handbag with some hexagons that need basting or some piecing.. I find its a great conversation starter too, people are born sticky beaks and will always ask ‘what are you up to?’.. my kids used to be embaressed, but now they just say ‘mums into sewing’.. I am always amazed at how much I can sew while doing nothing but waiting!
I love the red hair, unfortunately for me, my gorgeous red locks went grey.. :-(
November 12th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
[...] bussing to work so today’s whipup article was particularly relevant- I have a crochet project on the go (much harder to drop [...]
November 12th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Unfortunately my garment sewing isn’t usually that portable, but I do enjoy writing in public. It’s a way to get out of yourself a bit, by being surrounded by others but not necessarily interacting with them all the time. And it does feel a bit different, when everyone else is staring into space or consuming some kind of media. Also, there’s a similar learning curve when you realize that if you only do 5 minutes at a time, eventually you will have accomplished quite a lot, without even seeming to.
November 12th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
I fly reasonably often (in Australia) and I’m always a little annoyed because I can’t knit or crochet because both knitting needles and crochet hooks are not allowed throught the security gates. It seems like such a waste to have all that time waiting and in transit, and not be able to be productive! Does anyone have any ideas for crafting that I could do – I’ve seen someone embroidering on the plane and was surprised that knitting needles are considered a dangerous object, but sharp pointy needles aren’t!!
November 12th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
It`s very healthy to make activities in public, and I`m agree with Alice, it`s very subversive! Is a way of letting know everybody that the stuff you make /do is avayable for them also, and that is great! I`d love to see more people in my city making crafts(anyhow), then I could find better supplies stores, there could be faires, meetings, shows….movement!
November 12th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
I don’t usually get any comments when I craft in public but in the breakroom at work I can barely get a stitch done before I’m interrupted.
I never know if I should be flattered by the attention of annoyed at the lack of time I have to finish what I’m working on. :)
November 12th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
I always cart handsewing or needle-felting along with me, and do get a lot of questions, especially with the needle-felting (“I’m sorry, but I have to ask: what are you doing?”), but never quite thought about it as craft proselyting. I loved your little essay! And am happy to report that I am getting converts: after a not-shy 10 year old felted a bird with me last week, I’m bringing supplies for everyone to my daughters’ dance class tomorrow: all the waiting moms and grandmas have agreed to try it, too.
I wonder if I could bring felting needles on the plane; they’re deadly little numbers…
November 13th, 2007 at 2:02 am
I knit most days my commute to and from work (It’s about 45 minutes each way) and have lately gotten really good at balancing no-hands on the subway so I can keep crafting even when it’s crowded. sometimes it bugs me that (especially for me as a knitting-boy) crafting in public breaks the no-talking-to-strangers rule on the subway, but every now and then the people I meet or the props I get really make my day.
November 13th, 2007 at 8:01 am
I love stolen projects! It is one of my main motivations to returning to knitting and taking up crochet after many years of primarily garment sewing. I love the portability, the way otherwise wasted time becomes a joy. And I always get lots of comments on the tram. And once when I was pregnant a lovely woman procured a seat for me by jabbing a young man and saying ‘give a seat to the knitting lady’ and as I hadn’t actually produced my knitting yet I realised she had been watching me from previous trips and knew me as the lady who knits. I’ve had teenage girls with chins on the floor watching me produce amigurumi toys who had never seen crochet done and a couple of German backpackers who chatted for half an hour about the meaning of handcrafting in a modern world. I remember reading a blog post by someone detailing an unexpected and lengthy trip to the hospital who finished by saying the biggest tragedy of the whole experience was that she had been caught without her knitting. Hear hear!
November 13th, 2007 at 8:53 am
I hand-piece a lot, right now a tumbling blocks quilt. Someone commented that it is slower by the hour, but faster by the week. I find that a good needle threader makes up for the lack of good scissors on a plane.
November 14th, 2007 at 7:36 am
These mini segments of time I spend crafting in public have become most essential to me. There are weeks, often a couple of weeks in a row, I would have to declare as weeks without any possibility to craft… yet I do manage to make things in these times by using every moment I spend on a train, the playgound or wherever I have to wait for something. It’s amazing how much time there is that normally would just disappear into nothing.
Loved reading your article.
November 15th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Thank you all for such insightful, funny, and interesting comments! Yes, that is me in the picture. While I crochet in the park, my husband is busy taking photos of everything, including me. :)
November 15th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
Whenever I was living in NYC, it was a given that I would have a project lurking in my purse. With all the waiting around on the subway platform, sitting (if I was lucky) for my 15 minute commute to work, I really needed to be able to calm down with knitting or embroidering.
The only comment that anyone has ever made to me was when I was sick of being cooped up in my shoebox of a room and I went to happy hour with my knitting. I was sitting there, a beer and my Stitch and Bitch book on the table in front of me, and some curious patrons asked me what I was making. It was actually really sweet.
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:18 am
my crafting in public has led to many conversations about craft. I almost always carry knitting, crochet, or embroidery with me when I ride the train in LA (which is everyday) and DON’T take my bike. People usually ask me how I come up with my designs – an easy answer is that I make them up as I go along. It hasn’t made me any new friends, but it does keep the ride from being boring.
I’m actually kind of an antisocial public crafter – I put on my headphones and concentrate on my work unless some one talks to me. I only tolerate people staring at what I’m doing.
The stolen time that normally would be spent staring at the tunnel walls going by is so much more productive than trying to craft while watching TV.
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:37 am
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