All my pet peeves wrapped into one post. Just thinking about some of these things make me cringe!

Wow what are you knitting?

This one gets me all the time. Now, I’m a pretty calm person but, when someone calls my crochet, knitting (or vice versa), my blood just seems to boil. But, I just do my best to smile, say what I’m making and then try to not to make it obvious that I think that person is an uneducated peasant!

Mixing up crochet and knitting is like mixing up apples and oranges. Just because apples and oranges are both fruit doesn’t make them both apples. As for knitting and crocheting just because they both include yarn doesn’t make them both knitting!

There was one specific time I did call someone out though.

” What have you been knitting lately?” Someone I work with asked.

“I crochet.” I shortly responded.

“Oh, isn’t it the same thing? They both use those stick things.”

First of all those stick things that you just referred to are called either needles (for knitting) or hooks (for crochet). And those ‘stick things’ are both completely different from one another. I just looked at them with dumbfounded awe then I replied.

“Hey, here’s a fork.” While handing them a spoon.

” This is a spoon?”

“Oh, isn’t it the same thing? They are both used for eating.”

I’m sure I made my point but, even if I didn’t, I got 10 points for being a smarty pants.

Expensive/You Should Make Me…/If I Buy The Yarn Will You Make It For Free

As much as I love my costumers and try to give them the best deals, sometimes I just want to tell some of them no. When people I know ask me to make them something, they always assume that since I am their friend I am going to do it for free. Then when I tell them they’ll have to pay me they complain that it is too expensive. Most of the time the conversation stops here. But, some of my customers can be relentless.

“If I buy the yarn will you make it for me for free?”

No! It isn’t just yarn that goes into a project. It takes a lot of time and love to create something for someone else. Why would I take time out of my day to work on something for someone else to not get anything out of it?

Now, I’m not trying to sound selfish. I love making things for other people as gifts! It makes me so happy to watch someone else’s face light up when they see my work. But, that doesn’t mean I am just going to make anything and everything for someone because they give me the yarn for it. I would go out of business really quick!

Yarn Barf and Yarn Barf Complainers

What is yarn barf you ask? Yarn barf is when you pull your yarn from the middle of the skein and your large skein decides its time to give birth to a baby skein. 90% of the time this baby skein is a tangled mess!

Yeah, the baby yarn barf is annoying and it happens more often than not. But, what is even more annoying and cringe worthy is when I see people incessantly complaining about it. Yes, it happened, but, that doesn’t mean you have to call the yarn manufacturers and get compensated! I’m just throwing number outs here but I’m 99.99% sure that it’s not the manufacturers fault. The reason that this yarn barf occurs is because of the way that you or the store you are buying from stores the skeins. Keeping them squished on a shelf or in a box is not the way to go!

Knots In the Skein

I get so diScouraged when I’m working along my latest crochet/knitting project and I hit a bump in the road. LITERALLY! Knots in the skein really put a damper on my day. Depending on the project, I’ll either work right over them or cut them out. I just despise how it messes with my flow! I wish there was a way for manufacturers to better prevent this. Maybe if instead they made smaller skeins with the inconsistencies. But, that’s the price we pay when we don’t buy high end shanks of yarn.

When The Yarn Has 5 Different Weights

I come across this problem a lot. Usually when working with Red Heart Unforgettable. It makes me so mad because the color combinations that are offered with Red Heart Unforgettable yarn are amazing! My work ends up looking so uneven when I work with this yarn because all of the sudden I come to place where the yarn goes for worsted weight to bulky then back to worsted weight then to fingering weight. Its so frustrating! No one wants a huge bulge or skimpy section in their work. When this happens I usually cut it out just like the knots that I find.

When You Think You Find The Perfect Pattern…

I’ve actually cried over this several times. Just when I think I have found the most perfect pattern on Pinterest I click the site to find out that I have to follow a series of links just to get to it. Click. Click. Click. Finally, you get to the pattern. Then you see that its just a long complicated series of charts that you don’t even think you can even begin to comprehend. 5 minutes wasted and still no pattern. Time to start the search over