I was talking to a friend a couple months ago when I said something in passing about knitting. “You know how to knit?” they asked. “Yeah!” I started to reply with enthusiasm before I felt myself backpedal. “Well, I can knit scarves.”
They followed with a question about whether I might be interested in learning how to knit sweaters or socks to which the honest answer is no. Do I think I could learn to knit a sweater? At the risk of sounding braggadocious, yeah I do. I don’t think it would be perfect by any means, but I think if I wanted to learn how to knit a sweater, I could.
The thing is, I don’t want to. I’m so unbelievably happy with the way I know how to knit. For me, it is a relaxing and mindless activity to do while I’m visiting with friends, watching a movie, or taking a 9-hour train journey. I don’t want to have to think too much about patterns or sleeve length. I just want to knit my little straight lines over the course of a couple weeks and enjoy the process of creating something tangible out of a ball of yarn.
I think we’ve lost sight of casual hobbies. Well intentioned people will encourage you to monetize the skill or read this book or watch this video so you can learn and become really, really, really good at it.
But it’s fun to do things casually. Without the pressure of improvement or achievement. It’s fun to be satisfied with something. It’s rare to feel like I’m exactly where I want to be with a skill. And knitting has become that. I can’t knit you a hat or vest. But I can lose myself in a scarf for a few hours and emerge a calmer person. And any hobby that has that kind of payout is something worth pursuing.
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