Grandma vs. Hipster

Before I begin, I should thank my perfect fiancé, Mike, for setting me up with a Ghost blog! Pretty soon, I'll be switching blogging platforms. I'll let you know when that happens, but you will always be able to find me by typing in grammaruthie.com.

He also set me up with an email address, so if you ever have any questions for me feel free to contact me: ruthie@grammaruthie.com

Grandma vs. Hipster

In my procrastination over the past week, I stumbled upon this article.

I laughed, because the groups in question are often the same groups knitters are stereotyped as. First, you have your grandmothers. The elderly women who force scratchy mittens and scarves upon their young victims (AKA grandchildren.) These women knit for practical reasons. Grandmothers don't knit to be cool, they knit to stay warm and to keep their families warm.

Then you have the hipsters. The young people who are too cool for mainstream society. They want to tell the world that they are different and special. These are not just women, but men who don't feel constrained by gender norms.

From what I can tell, when future knitting historians look back, they will call this the flux period. I think knitting stereotypes are changing, because in addition to people like grandmothers and hipsters, you have people like me.

Now, my moniker suggests that I have chosen to more closely identify with the elderly, but that's not completely true. I chose the name because of my two awesome grandmothers, and it's ironic. You know, because of knitting stereotypes. There's one of my very few hipster qualities-irony. In reality, I don't readily identify with either group of knitters. I'm really just an average 20-something. And that's OK. I knit because I grew up watching my mom do it. I knit because I love making things. More than anything, I knit because it calms my brain down.

How I am not like a stereotypical grandmother:

1. I have no children. Or grandchildren.
2. I can navigate computers fairly easily.
3. I'm not a big fan of old music.
4. I read on a Kindle and I don't need reading glasses.
5. I am more liberal than most grandmothers I know.
6. I thought I would have more to add to this list...

How I am not like a stereotypical hipster:

1. I really like pop music.
2. OK...I LOVE country music.
3. On the conservative-liberal scale I am more on the conservative side.
4. I buy most of my clothes at Target (although this is changing).
5. As per the BuzzFeed article, I do take a lot of prescription pills, but they are, in fact, for legitimate medical concerns.
6. I have never tried drugs even once and I don't even like alcohol.
7. I am perfectly content with being average.

O, the times! These days, knitters are changing. In my little piece of Missouri, I can't say these stereotypes are completely inaccurate, but they are changing. I don't believe the stereotypes will ever completely fade, but I am lucky that the stereotypes that come with knitting aren't too shabby. Grandmothers are great, hipsters are great, people are great (ask me again tomorrow for a different answer), puppies are great, cats suck, trees smell nice, candy is delicious, and....oops off track.

The point is: you're awesome just the way you are, and you should keep knitting (or start knitting) regardless of how you are stereotyped.

So, my dear men, women, grandmothers, and hipsters, canines, people of my blog:

Go forth, be average, and KNIT!

Ruth(ie)

P.S. I think it's strange that I feel like I might get a lot of backlash for telling people to be average...Really what I mean is-it's OK if you're not the best at something. It's OK if you're a human and make mistakes. It's OK if you don't stand out from the crowd. It's OK if you do. Just be nice to people.