I Could Be Knitting

I am a Podcast junky. I love podcasts. I listen all day long. Mostly about knitting but there other stuff as well. I love hearing about what people are knitting, whats going on in their area. I live vicariously as I listen to their lives. I enjoy what they are doing and I don’t have to do any of the work. I get inspired to learn and try new skills.

I will and have stopped listening for a variety of reasons. I am not interested in a podcast that spend most of the time salivating about yarn. Podcast are put out by real actual people and I try to give them some slack.

What I don’t like are the podcasters who badmouth, disrespect, and belittle others. I have recently started listening to a podcast. She has shared about her son who is hearing impaired. I have friends who are deaf and I have taken classes in sign language. I really enjoyed her podcast and learning about the trails, tribulations, and joys she experiences. I have been listening to all the back episodes trying to catch up.

Well last night I listened to one episode in which she called Kelley P. a liar and a thief. Oh she did it in a very nice way. She kept saying “Don’t get me wrong, but” She did not say Kelley was a liar but she did say she did not “believe” Kelly’s story about how she came up with the Harmony needles. Humm, if you don’t believe it then that would make Kelly a liar. She then proceeded to insinuate Kelly had stolen the idea from another small manufacturer.

Let me say this. Ideas are not limited to one person. Elizabeth Zimmerman acknowledged this when she refers to her ideas as “Uninventions” . Other people have the same ideas. The telephone is a good example there was a race between Alexander Bell of the USA and Elisha Grey of England to finish their work and get a patent.

I figured out a toe up cast on and I would not be surprised at all if someone else thought of it too. I did not steal it I just thought of it. I taught myself to knit continental after watching someone knit that way for 20 minutes. I could not do the purl stitch the way she did it. I ended up purling by scooping the yarn up from underneath. I did this a long time before the internet was invented. I thought for years I was knitting wrong. I was so happy to learn I was using the combination method. No one showed it to me. I essentially uninvented it. I did not steal it.

This is a free country. Meghan is free to express herself. I am just so disappointed she chose to in this insulting and hurtful way. It does not matter how sweetly she says it. Wrong is wrong.