Knitting and the Age Divide

I was reading The Knitting Curmudgeon's blog the other day, and she brought up an interesting point--maybe there's no real "age divide" between knitters. Maybe it's divided by interest or style instead. I think she's onto something.

This is a topic I'd been thinking about a week or so before Marilyn's post. I went to an NYC knitting store to knit with Karen. Sitting at the window were the regular Friday night knitters, all working on something from the latest Vogue Knitting. There were a few other people who seemed to have their own group going on, all knitting the latest trendy sweater or accessory. One even had the yarn to make that monstrosity on the cover of the latest VK. (If you like this design, we need to talk. Seriously.)

The point is, this is one of the two types of knitters you'll find in NYC. The trendy, hip knitters who are always making something that costs a fortune to make and will be out of fashion by next year.

The other type is essentially the same thing, but older. These are the people who have knitted the same garments since 1980 and never really venture into newer styles.

I always wonder where the "other" people are--those who are fairly adventurous in their knitting and like to hone their craft, but are also interested in adding new techniques and styles to their repertoire, so to speak. You find one or two at knitting groups, but too often it's the same people making the same set of legwarmers/shrug/fingerless mittens as everyone else. (Not to say that I have never made any of those, but still.)

In other news, I just found out on Sunday that one of my closest friends at work is probably leaving. This (along with various other issues that have cropped up in the last few months) has made me begin to think about going elsewhere, though it's nothing more than a thought at this point.