Boon, Blast, Bust . . .

I saw the male model posing as my orthopedic surgeon today. Looks like he ditched his non-model-with-the-braces assistant in favor of a new colleague, a very, very nice Dr. Wong. Hello Dr. Wong: Shouldn't you be running on the beach, instead?

So anyway. I came home ready for a day of work, and like most of my days, nearly every moment I managed to grab got interrupted by a phone call, two poops on the floor, and of course, at least an hour of deep and important knitting blog/forum research.

I don't normally read too many blogs for a lot of reasons, but hello?  The forums here and there? What the heck is happening in the forums?

Have a goodly percentage of the posters lost their minds?

Has kindness, generosity, grace, and all those other nice words describing how one should behave gone to heck in a hand basket?

I was just talking to a friend who works at my not-so-local yarn store (NSLYS). I mentioned something about certain forums and lists to her, and she said: "Oh, I stopped reading them months ago. It's like the knitters are a bunch of piranhas, laying in wait for a snark fest."

And it isn't just knitting, either.

The other day in my Temari class, one of the gals mentioned a list where there was yet another hububub. Some really bad you-know-what. The list owner had to actually round up the stitchers and tell them to behave.

The internet has been a boon and a blast, but it's also a bust in some ways. As much as it has brought us together, it has also torn us apart.

That said, I'm going to do something that I rarely do and have only done once before in my life. Join a sock yarn club. First, I want to give a virtual hug to the independents out there, because I know that they rely on our support so they can pay their bills, etc. PLUS, my experience with the Wollmeise sock yarn club has been such a delight, so why not try one more?  (The colors Scout is using are based on Lolly's Project Spectrum, so it should be a lot of fun. Oh, and check out a hank of yarn I already have on hand, above. The woven item that it is sitting on? Well, that's just something that I whipped up last night on my loom. Just sayin'. PM me if you want to come over to the dark side because sock yarn works like wonders on a loom...)

Comments

[Beth]

Hi Wendy--love your blog and your patterns.

I've stopped reading a well-known adoption forum and the Weight Watchers community forum for pretty much the same reason: too much nastiness. It seems like the perceived annonymity of the internet has let loose crazies who simply would not be listened to anywhere else, and others who have "baggage."

Still, it can all be quite fun taken the right way...

[thegeorg]

Do you use sock yarn as warp and weft, or just weft only? I'm so used to cotton crochet thread as warp, but I'm curious about stretch if I used the sock yarn for warp too.

[Vickie]

NSLYS - You crack me up! I wonder if you realize just how often you lift my mood. Thanks!

[MX]

I've been meaning to write telling you how much you're killing me with that loom. I've always wanted one but now that want has been ratcheted up more than a notch or two. A loom has zoomed up the priority list with a bullet.

Thanks for the inspiration is what I'm really saying!

[Boo]

Amen. There seem to be many people out in the cyber world who are mean, because they know they can hide. If they had to look you in the face and say the same things, they wouldn't. They would think them, but they wouldn't say them. We need to hold each other accountable here in cyberland, too. It's called being civilized! ;)

[Lauren]

The nastiness is WAY out of hand in the forums; a fact that I find really depressing. What's wrong with people? Or (dare I be more specific?), what's wrong with women? Why are women so mean to each other? In all my 44 years, I've never been quite able to figure that one out.

[KB]

I echo a lot of posters here about the snarkiness on other sites. Honestly, Wendy, it's one of the many reasons why I like coming here. Your peeps are nice!

And I love the weaving projects, too. It makes sense that you'd need some down time from knitting after writing a book. I have friends that are writers. It's as if they have given birth once the final edit is done. The last thing they want to do after all that is write!

Because you're using sock yarns in the weaving, is the FO soft? Not like a cotton towel, right? You're making me think I have to try this.

[Melanie]

I had a translation to correct last week.
Instead of "mainly younger surgeons", the translator had written "MANLY younger surgeons".

I had to laugh and think of your male-model surgeons... then I reluctantly corrected error. Sigh.

;)) ROFL

[elizaduckie@gmail.com]

Just got the book. Fab-U-lous!

[Marti D-A]

I'm glad to learn I'm not the only person who has experienced this (snarkiness on comments). I left the Ravelry SOS 2008 group because the moderators were so mean to some participants. This is supposed to be FUN (intentional shout) people!