STRANGE TRAITS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 171, 22 July 1941, Page 11

STRANGE TRAITS

Mannerisms in the Knitting Sisterhood The added impetus which the war has given to knitting these days has brought feminine idiosyncracies still more prominently under notice. Knitting, to the male viewpoint, s(?ems as though it should be a more or less straightforward process. And yet it produces an amazing variety of exponents, writes Beaucaire in the Melbourne "Argus." There is, for instance, the Nonchalant Knitter—or should it be the Knonchalant Knitter? The only times she ever seems to glance at her work are when she takes it out of her bag or when she puts it back again. She has the ability to carry on multitudinous conversations, read a magazine, gaze brightly around at the people about her, and yet produce by rome mechanical means, an extremely worthy garment from her speeding needles. This type of woman is really an exhibitionist, and must be the despair of all other knitters. The Intent Knitter __ In direct contrast is the Intent Knitter. She is usually a beginner, and knits raptly with her work held about three inches from the tip of her nose. Handicapped by perpetual pauses to pick up dropped stitches, she seems to be making little or no impression upon the garment she is struggling with, and inevitably induces a sense of great weariness among onlookers. Similar in technique is the Engrossed Knitter. This type is quite expert, but prefers to keep her head buried in her work, because the job in hand temporarily fills her whole horizon. Take her for a car ride and she just knits. Take her to the football and she never once glances at the game. Take her visiting and she finds a corner and still keeps knitting. It's a wonder to me she doesn't lock herself up in her room and just knit. She might just as well for all she sees of the outside world. Other Members of the Craft But the Careless Knitter is the most disconcerting of all. Her work is always in a tangle, and people sitting next to her and opposite her in trams and trains are kept fully occupied picking up her ball of wool and handing it back to her. She also has the happy habit of dropping one of her needles down the side of the carriage seat which necessitates everyone standing up while they pull out the seat and recover the needle for her. The Tidy Knitter, of course, knits impeccably with lavish - looking needles, and always has her wool tucked neatly away in expensive sorts of holders . . . pleasing contrast to the rough-and-ready type. The Temperamental Knitter, who uses a free elbow and arm action with devastating effect on those sitting next to her; the Complicated Knitter, who causes a certain amount of congestion in crowded trams and trains by using several balls of different coloured wools and working from a large chart: and the Rowdy Knitter, who clicks annoyingly with steel needles instead of bone ones, are other species of knitter to be met with fairly generally among this "K 1, k 2 tog. slip 1, k 1" sisterhood.