(OT) - what does Ashlee Vance have against knitting in public?

[Danese Cooper]

(also just posted to my blog at http://danesecooper.blogs.com/ 
divablog/2007/08/ashlee-vance-wh.html)

Ashlee Vance, what in the world do you have against knitters?

Register shock-reporter Ashlee Vance wrote a ridiculous piece about a  
panel on which I participated at this month's Linux World Expo in San  
Francisco. Not sure what SugarCRM paid him for the misleading  
headline, but my favorite part of the piece was his assertion that I  
must be "desperate for attention" because I was knitting during the  
panel.

I have been knitting since I was 5 years old, and have been a public  
knitter for many years now. To date I have only caught approbation  
from Ashlee, despite the fact of my tendency to knit in public at  
conferences and long meetings has been well documented in blogs and  
various other commentaries.

Oh, wait, I nearly forgot. When I was in 7th Grade pesky little  
Michael Grossman tried to rat me out to our Math teacher because I  
was discretely knitting during class (under my desk). The teacher  
calmly told Michael that when he was earning a 4.0 GPA, he could knit  
in class too.

Perhaps Ashlee, like pesky Michael Grossman, is unaware that knitting  
enhances concentration in many people, and also allows the knitter to  
create something useful while otherwise killing time (as I was doing  
waiting to be included in yet another panel discussion about  
badgewear licensing).

Here are a few interesting posts on the subject of knitting in public...

The post where my Sun colleague Jim Grisanzio choose to memorialize  
my public knitting tendencies in his blog

A blog about knitting and politics - Ashlee will especially enjoy the  
quote about "brain-work" being impossible for some women....seems  
right up his alley, I'm sure he can make something of that.

Christian Science Monitor's review of "No Idle Hands", Anne  
Macdonald's book (from which the "brain-work" quote in the preceding  
cited blog was taken)

Fastcompany article about mathematician Brenda Dietrich who  
unashamedly knits during meetings at IBM.

Class offering from a recent Quaker Gathering - seems knitting during  
Quaker services is pretty acceptable. Tolerant people, Quakers.

A somewhat long blog post, written by a woman more timid (Ashlee  
might choose to say less desperate for attention) that I. But the  
last two paragraphs are cogent to this blog.

Oh, and there's this last one I found...you should look this guy up,  
Ashlee...he could be your new best friend. Apparently a shock DJ in  
Wisconsin tried to start a smear campaign against a newly elected  
School Board member, one Lucy Mathiak. Great post about shock-tactics  
backfiring.


Danese

On Aug 21, 2007, at 2:53 PM, Ashlee Vance wrote:

> Danese Cooper is knitting the minutes into a quilt. Please be patient.
>
> The OSI moves at needle not internet speed.
>

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