Why is this so bad?

[rhiandmoi]

It is sad when people become isolated, no matter what the reason. What I am saying (not very clearly i guess) is that is one thing to enjoy being around cats and knitting all the time, or to enjoy being around your baby, or to enjoy working all the time and to choose that path and it is another thing to become a hermit because you were too busy knitting, being a mom or working to notice.

[sandraregina]

Oh, I agree with you.

I've just come across some people that assume that any time spent alone (okay, not 5 minutes, but even just a day or two) is equivilant to being a hermit or anti-social, which just isn't the case. What I was trying to say (not very clearly  ) is that no one should feel guilty for being solitary once and a while. The trick is getting other people to recognize that you're not isolating yourself (or heading down that path) just because you happen to like knitting or rocking chairs or a day alone once and a while. (The key being alone 'once and a while')

Although I think I'm getting off of neko kitty's original reason for posting.  I do that. Ramble. It comes from living alone with no one but cats to talk to in the middle of the night. 

[neko neko kitty]

I agree with both of you. I really love it when I have a day or two alone to recharge and just not do anything with anyone, but I hate being alone after too long. And I really didn't have a clear intention for this topics so it's okkie 

[cranteach]

On the subject of being alone.  Hubby is a landscape photographer, and I spend a chunk of time (or did, B4 baby) sitting on a stump somewhere, knitting or what have you.  Once had some old guy keep trying to make conversation, and kept telling me how sorry he felt for me that hubby wasn't paying sufficient attention.  Made me annoyed with him, and also intensely grateful that I have the wherewithal to entertain myself when I AM solitary, which we all are on occassion. 

The crazy old cat lady may just have more internal resources than the average folks.  And more power to her.

[RomBookLover]

I don't understand why it would be a bad thing to end up like that. I've always owned cats and I will keep having cats, and I hope that I can continue to knit and craft well into old age... so why is this a bad thing? Does anyone else here have the same kind of thing happen to them?

Sounds to me like your friend cannot see past the stereotypes of knitters and female cat owners.  I don't know what's going on is his brain, but I'd be willing to bet a lung that he's envisioning some elderly woman in a dirty housecoat and ill-fitting wig with no (human) friends, 20 odd assorted cats, a hoard of yarn, and lots of dirty litter boxes scattered around a huge two-story clapboard house.  Crazy Cat Lady: Can't get much more stereotypical than that.  Methinkest he needs to meet a few cool male knitters and spend more time around felines.

Knitting and being owned by cats are two of life's little joys.  To hell with anyone who thinks otherwise.

~ Carrie, offering 2 cents

[RomBookLover]

BTW, I am a recluse of sorts.  I work, I read, I knit, I sleep, I work some more ...  Socialize with real, live people?  Rarely.  Do I feel lonely?  No more so than anyone else I've ever met.  Spend a lot of time with my two cats?  Of course; they're cats, so they  wouldn't stand for me to ignore them!  I do what I like, I like what I do. 

Works for me,
Carrie 

[neko neko kitty]

BTW, I am a recluse of sorts.  I work, I read, I knit, I sleep, I work some more ...  Socialize with real, live people?  Rarely.  Do I feel lonely?  No more so than anyone else I've ever met.  Spend a lot of time with my two cats?  Of course; they're cats, so they  wouldn't stand for me to ignore them!  I do what I like, I like what I do. 

Works for me,
Carrie 

That's basically me right there. I have my boyfriend who I'm stuck to the hip with, well would be if it wasn't long distance (15 more days I'll be moving to the other side of the country and moving in with him ^_^) and my really close friend here in VA who I hang out with quite a bit other than that I'm a loner. I always have been, and I don't see myself changing all too much. I'm hapy with my life though.

[thebagfairy]

BTW, I am a recluse of sorts.  I work, I read, I knit, I sleep, I work some more

Just look at it this way: we crafty people are intelligent enough to keep ourselves entertained And what's with mainstream society hating on introverted personalities, anyway? Your friend probably just has a foot-in-mouth problem (don't we all sometimes?), don't worry. If he knew about all the nifty stuff people can make for themselves using needles an yarn, he'd probably want to learn how!(I used to look at the yarn section in the craft store and think 'that's probably the most useless section ever'..totally the opposite now!)

[canarysanctuary]

I've encountered the same sorts of stereotypes, and I think I've got some of the "thinking" behind it figured out:

It's threatening to some people that women could be self sufficient and entirely happy without a man in their life.  So that's the issue they take with the cat - the cat replaces a man, and OF COURSE, every woman needs a man 

The knitting, I'm not too sure about.  There's far too many motivations for seeing that in a bad light (not a useful way to spend time, betraying the advances made by second wave feminists, etc...)

Basically, crafting falls into a 'waste of time' category according to much of western society.  Why spend time, effort, money, etc... on making something when you can get one (that in many people's opinion is of better quality) at the local Wal-Mart?

Sorry, it's a rant, but it really irritates me when people think knitting is negative!

also... you have no idea how lucky you are to have a supportive boyfriend!  Mine hates it, thinks its stupid, but thankfully doesn't make fun of me about it.  I just don't talk to him about it (though I'm always knitting when I'm at his place). 

[neko neko kitty]

Don't apoligize for ranting. It's good to rant to people who can understand. I'm sorry about your bf, the most mine ever jokes about it is that one day I'll open my yarn shop and steal yarn from myself, and that he'll try to learn to knit and make a blob of tangled yarn since he's legally blind. I know I got really lucky with him, my boyfriends before, the whole 2, both wouldn't have appreciated the crafting. Well the first may have since after about 3 years of dating he decided women belong in the kitchen blah blah blah. I put up with that for 6 months before leaving him.