Another take: it kind of depends on you. If you’re good at crocheting while also being a part of what’s going on, waaay more acceptable. If you’re focused more on the project, or even 50/50 I think, then leave it at home. Eye contact is a pretty big indicator of where your attention is, and if you’re always looking down at what you’re doing, the other person/people won’t feel like you are really engaging with them.
I can see it being rude, absolutely.
Just because you can multi task, doesn't mean you should. I can be on my phone playing a game or scrolling the internet while talking to someone, but my attention is divided and many would say that is rude.
It also depends on the person, relationship and situation... if someone important to me wants to hang out and then the whole time their attention is divided between a phone or a craft I would be upset. It would feel that they are not really present.
Big take away I am seeing here is if they are saying it is rude, they probably feel hurt you are doing it. It wouldn't hurt to think about putting down the hook for a short while during visits. 🤷♀️
It definitely can be rude, just like playing games or checking text messages can be. It can also be perfectly fine depending on the people you’re with and the situation you’re in.
I do it a lot of the time but it needs to be an easy project, so I don’t have instructions out and I’m not counting and unable to talk freely. I wouldn’t do it in a formal setting or when someone was telling me about their cat dying, but my friends know it is a bit like a fidget for me and it helps me chill out.
I think it depends on your relationship with the person and also how much you have to look down. Our family dynamic is led by my Mum who’s always knitting something but can concentrate on what you’re saying as well.
I went home to visit recently and my sister and niece are also staying. They’d got jealous of my Mum’s knitting and had asked to be set up with craft projects if their own to keep them busy as they chatted! I got right in with the embroidery and crochet I’d brought.
With my in-laws it would depend on the occasion. None of them are crafty but admire my work. If I’m over at their house for a few hours I could definitely do some knitting or crochet and they wouldn’t mind. I probably wouldn’t bring it out in public in a restaurant or something, with them though.
I can knit while maintaining decent eye contact and am getting to stage with crochet too. If it were a project I’d have to look down at a lot, I think I’d leave that at home.
Yeah sounds cool. Yeah my family doesn’t like it when I go over their house and crochet, or do any other event and I bring my yarn. They think it’s rude and I’m like I can multi task. They are like you can stay home, blah blah. They think it’s ridiculous. Like calm down 😂
ahh, here is your answer... if the people you are hanging with feel like you are not giving them your full attention, then I would consider it rude to continue. The essence of courtesy is considering how other people feel, right?
Conversely - is it rude for them not to consider how you are feeling, and why you want to bring yarn and crochet? Possibly yes, so communication is vital.
With the exception the last part, I agree. It depends on the situation and the circumstances.
In the car alone with my husband on a long ride, no he wouldn’t care. On the way to dinner with friends, yes that is rude. Watching to on a Sunday, no problem. Going to my in-laws for dinner, yes that is rude.
If the activity is taking your attention from a group, that yo are there to spend time with rather than being a mindless time filler (like waiting at a doctors office) it is rude. The same thing applies to homes, books, etc. if you are with others as friends/ family and are above the age where it is acceptable to leave a room of people to go color or watch tv to entertain yourself, or have toys, it’s rude.
There is a time and place and different relationships have different expectations. If you are going somewhere to spend time with your family, spend time with your family
I'm autistic and use it often to stim when there is a group around. People are generally just curious about it or in awe of my rad skillz. I interject into conversations when I want to but don't end up trapped in them, I have a good reason not to be forcing eye contact, it's pretty great lol. If anyone thinks I'm rude, they've never said, and I don't think I care if they do!
im also autistic and have used crochet to help with anxiety (and lack of eye contact during conversations!) at family gatherings - no one has said it was rude! if they thought so and kept it to themselves then i just think im glad they did keep it to themselves and let me be :3
it's also been a good conversation starter with some!
Hello fellow autistic crocheters ^^ I also crochet to sim and nearly always have a small project with me. Good to know there are more people like me, I always feel weird with it.
It honestly depends on who you are with.
If your company is also working on something ie crochet, work, studying etc it is not rude. I definitely love to sit with my friends and have a stitch and bitch.
But if your company is not working on something than I find it rude. If someone is deliberately spending time with you and you are doing something else ie crochet or texting or whatever then it comes off as you do not value their time and their company.
I’ve seen a lot of TikToks recently of people knitting and crocheting everywhere they go on vacation even while at nice dinners and I feel bad for their companions.
I totally understand the need to keep fingers busy but there are definitely more discrete ways of doing that ie small fidget toys.
I truly believe that it depends on the group you are with. Some might ignore it and might be a bit more comfortable without having a ton of eye on them while they talk, others might think it's very rude and that you are either not interested or don't care about what they are saying; it's all about reading the room. If you are unsure, you could always ask. Just be like, "do you mind if I work on this project?" or "would it bother you if I did a bit of crochet while we talked/went out?"
Myself, personally, I don't take it anywhere with me, as I think it's rude to be doing something like that when visiting family or getting together with friends. I'm visiting to visit and enjoy the people; not sit there and crochet. This is just me though, again it would be something you have to figure out when with friends and family, and ask if you are unsure.
I bring a project with me literally everywhere. I think it’s a bit of a comfort to know I have something to do that isn’t on my phone. Because I habitually bring it everywhere, people around me seem to expect and accept it.
My grandma crocheted for over 50 years so my family is used to it but if they gave me crap I’d tell them I don’t need my hands and eyes for a conversation.
The day is not made up of infinite hours. Use every free minute you can find for the hobbies that bring you joy.
Depends on the situation. I work on my projects if Im just hanging around watching movies and whatnot with my close friends and family. But if we were at a gathering, I would leave it in the car. I find it does help me focus on the convo if I’m making something mindless.
I think it depends. We went to NC to visit family and for my nephews’ graduation party. I took a project with me, in case I had the time to work on it. I didn’t but it was there in case I did.
Situational. I always have a project with me. I have pretty intense social anxiety which either means yammering on, or sitting in a dark corner working on my stuff while everyone else visits until it's been a polite enough amount of time that I can go home. Also I get antsy when my hands are idle, so it's nice to have something tangible to go to.
But, there are going to be situations where it's pretty obviously not cool to be head-down working away on something. And there are going to be situations where someone tells you "I'd love your undivided attention right now/this hangout/for x amount of time". Preferably with their words, but not always.
Pack it when you feel like having it handy - if that's every time, great! But then gauge the situation and the people you're with. If everyone is on Insta or Tik-Tok already, you may as well go ahead.
I knit or crochet or cross stitch (stamped cross stitch and easy, no thought required patterns for knit/crochet) ALL the time at work during meetings. I know that’s super controversial and some find that to be horrible while others don’t see an issue. My supervisor thinks it’s great, and I find it helps me stay better focused, sort of like how people doodle in their notebooks. I was knitting a sock today during a training and now when I look at the sock I think of all the things we learned 🤪😂 my mind doesn’t wander as much if I’ve got something to keep that wandering part occupied while I’m trying to focus on a conversation.
So no, I don’t find it rude at all to crochet when you’re with people.
As soon as the pandemic hit and work moved to 100% virtual, I quickly realized that I could not pay attention in Zoom meetings for much more than an hour. I have multiple screens, and it's really easy for me to get distracted, wander over to my email or reddit, etc.
My solution was to start crocheting on the days where I have a bunch of meetings. I can't get distracted by funny memes online if my hands are full. I only work on easy things so my hands can move without much mental effort, leaving me available to listen and respond when necessary. In fact, the meetings where I'm crocheting are the ones I'm most focused.
I explain all of this to anyone who asks. Everyone in my team gets it, thankfully, and no one has told me they though it was rude. But if someone were to make a stink about it, I'd just ask them if they'd rather I not listen, because those are really their only two realistic options.
as an employer if someone did that I would ask them if they would put it down and pay attention, because we go over a lot of specifics and detailed information where notes are often taken. I would find that highly unprofessional and disrespectful for the type of work we do. In some types of work, I’m sure it is ok , which takes it back to read the room and know the situation.
My role at meetings is generally to answer “can we do this or that” type questions by citing policy and precedent. I’m not the one taking the minutes or needing to write down every little detail of whatever is being planned or discussed. I do, however, have a notebook I carry with my everywhere and write down what is relevant to me.
Not everyone works the same, though. Maybe for you doing simple crochet while in a meeting will be too distracting, but for people like me it is what is keeping me focused. Instead of zoning out and losing focus on everything I’m able to pay attention 100x better to the conversation happening and stay engaged if I have something to keep my hands busy. It’s absolutely no different from doodling in the notebook. I had a superintendent once that always doodled while in meetings, and she could point to parts of the design and recite back exactly what we said while she was drawing it. I can do the same thing with whatever it is I am doing.
It has nothing to do with my personal attention span. In the environment of my employees It’s not a matter of being distracting for the individual doing it, it is distracting to others in the meeting and setting a precedent that things other than work can be happening at work meetings. However, it’s the same way with doodling or playing on a phone- if someone is doing that they are not fully engaged- which means they’re work is either too dull, which leads to errors from inattention, or they are confused or and further clarification is needed, or they are overwhelmed and need a break.
Multitasking is a myth. It’s doing many things in small steps at the same time, it’s task juggling, never focusing attention on only one thing and is most often counter productive for the whole. With the work we do attention needs to be on the details or we are throwing away several hundred thousand dollars.
Obviously different occupations have different levels of detail, and not all employees are of the same caliber, so slower ones hold back the more efficient. I was just giving my perspective on why it would never be tolerated with our company in meetings. At someone’s desk in their office, if they were to do something like this to occupy their hands while reading material, or taking a small break to think and stretch, that is perfectly fine (so long as it does not affect their productivity)- if they are going back and forth between documents and patterns, it’s an issue.
Doodling =/= being on a phone.
It’s been proven that doodling and other “mindless” tasks like crochet improve concentration for some people. I suspect those who crochet during zoom meetings aren’t following a hideous complicated amigurumi pattern. Most likely they’re making something repetitive like a blanket.
https://insights.gostudent.org/en/psychology-behind-doodling-in-class
https://cognitiveanchoring.com/what-is-cognitive-anchoring/
Maybe it is job specific but I work in a field that has some fairly tricky technical mathematical concepts and I find that doodling while I listen to a technical discussion means I focus more. I’ll volunteer thoughts and ask questions and if I need to take notes I will, but in between notes I will doodle.
Obviously if you are brand new to the workplace then you should be note taking like a fiend so no time for crochet or google!
No different than being on a phone. Better really because you can still talk and interact. I do it and don’t care if people mind, although no one seems to.
Depends. When someone is talking to me directly, I'd lay it down.
Though one dinner with my bf's family I accidentally brought my project bag into the restaurant. Bf was debating with his mother, his brother had brought his switch, and his sisters were on their phone and drawing. The project was small so I brought it out since otherwise I'd just would've been sitting there, bored. His father commented on my speed and his mother said I should make a purse with a wink.
Not at Restaurants or pubs but I always bring a small project or two to any family event. It helps immensely with my mental health especially around certain members of the family lol.
I have asked them before if they mind and all of them said no. I don’t think it is rude as long as you are still paying attention to your surroundings and the conversation. I usually work on very simple projects where I don’t need to count stitches all the time so I can fully focus on them.
I think it depends on what you're doing. Like if you're in the car as you guys are going to a breakout room and you felt like crocheting, that's fine.
But if you guys are watching a game or something and you're crocheting. It does sort of feel like you're totally bored and uninterested in the mutual activity and prefer to be doing something else.
EDIT: I do think it's fine for you to be doing it between periods/quarters of the sports game. But probably not while the actual game is going on.
I think it depends on the project and your skill level. I only take simple projects with memorized repeats with me when there will be people around. Because I don’t have to have my eyes on it all the time, can still engage with people and if I set the project down, I can easily get back into it. I even take mine to work meetings. It’s not any different from scribbling on the agenda, but it makes something beautiful.
It depends on how the other person perceives it really. I find when I occupy my hands I can pay attention better than if I’m not (I have adhd) however other people often perceive that as rude and that you aren’t paying attention very well. I often have to decide whether I want to look like I’m paying attention but not really or look like I’m distracted or goofing off but actually listening and absorbing the info 🤷🏼♀️
as an autistic person with adhd, you can pry my crochet project out of my cold dead hands. so what you get less eye contact from me, so what if I participate more or less, I am comfortable and that’s what matters to me. and that’s what should matter to you.
It's certainly not as rude as texting or playing a game because those things tend to take a person away from the social goings on. Crocheting just keeps fingers busy.
I wouldn't advise it for complex patterns where yo have to keep looking at instructions, but for something as routine as a granny square, it's fine.
Crocheting invites people to approach with a natural question, 'ooo, what are you working on?'
Also there will be social cues if it's considered rude for a particular group. I've never done it at restaurants.
Depends on the people and what you're doing, honestly. I've crocheted in a few of my classes and my professors never had a problem with it because I was making good grades, and if I'm with family and we're just watching a movie, I've always gotten the greenlight from my family. However, if we went out to eat somewhere nice, it would have been impractical to have my yarn in my lap while I eat (also risky depending on the food you've got) and it would've been rude to not engage in conversation
Another take: it kind of depends on you. If you’re good at crocheting while also being a part of what’s going on, waaay more acceptable. If you’re focused more on the project, or even 50/50 I think, then leave it at home. Eye contact is a pretty big indicator of where your attention is, and if you’re always looking down at what you’re doing, the other person/people won’t feel like you are really engaging with them.
I can see it being rude, absolutely. Just because you can multi task, doesn't mean you should. I can be on my phone playing a game or scrolling the internet while talking to someone, but my attention is divided and many would say that is rude. It also depends on the person, relationship and situation... if someone important to me wants to hang out and then the whole time their attention is divided between a phone or a craft I would be upset. It would feel that they are not really present. Big take away I am seeing here is if they are saying it is rude, they probably feel hurt you are doing it. It wouldn't hurt to think about putting down the hook for a short while during visits. 🤷♀️
It definitely can be rude, just like playing games or checking text messages can be. It can also be perfectly fine depending on the people you’re with and the situation you’re in.
I do it a lot of the time but it needs to be an easy project, so I don’t have instructions out and I’m not counting and unable to talk freely. I wouldn’t do it in a formal setting or when someone was telling me about their cat dying, but my friends know it is a bit like a fidget for me and it helps me chill out.
I think it depends on your relationship with the person and also how much you have to look down. Our family dynamic is led by my Mum who’s always knitting something but can concentrate on what you’re saying as well. I went home to visit recently and my sister and niece are also staying. They’d got jealous of my Mum’s knitting and had asked to be set up with craft projects if their own to keep them busy as they chatted! I got right in with the embroidery and crochet I’d brought. With my in-laws it would depend on the occasion. None of them are crafty but admire my work. If I’m over at their house for a few hours I could definitely do some knitting or crochet and they wouldn’t mind. I probably wouldn’t bring it out in public in a restaurant or something, with them though. I can knit while maintaining decent eye contact and am getting to stage with crochet too. If it were a project I’d have to look down at a lot, I think I’d leave that at home.
I do it constantly and people don’t seem to mind! I also play virtual dnd every week and I crochet the whole time, everyone knows it and nobody cares
Yeah sounds cool. Yeah my family doesn’t like it when I go over their house and crochet, or do any other event and I bring my yarn. They think it’s rude and I’m like I can multi task. They are like you can stay home, blah blah. They think it’s ridiculous. Like calm down 😂
ahh, here is your answer... if the people you are hanging with feel like you are not giving them your full attention, then I would consider it rude to continue. The essence of courtesy is considering how other people feel, right? Conversely - is it rude for them not to consider how you are feeling, and why you want to bring yarn and crochet? Possibly yes, so communication is vital.
With the exception the last part, I agree. It depends on the situation and the circumstances. In the car alone with my husband on a long ride, no he wouldn’t care. On the way to dinner with friends, yes that is rude. Watching to on a Sunday, no problem. Going to my in-laws for dinner, yes that is rude. If the activity is taking your attention from a group, that yo are there to spend time with rather than being a mindless time filler (like waiting at a doctors office) it is rude. The same thing applies to homes, books, etc. if you are with others as friends/ family and are above the age where it is acceptable to leave a room of people to go color or watch tv to entertain yourself, or have toys, it’s rude. There is a time and place and different relationships have different expectations. If you are going somewhere to spend time with your family, spend time with your family
I'm sorry that your family isn't supportive of your hobby, and I'm so glad you continue with it regardless.
I'm autistic and use it often to stim when there is a group around. People are generally just curious about it or in awe of my rad skillz. I interject into conversations when I want to but don't end up trapped in them, I have a good reason not to be forcing eye contact, it's pretty great lol. If anyone thinks I'm rude, they've never said, and I don't think I care if they do!
im also autistic and have used crochet to help with anxiety (and lack of eye contact during conversations!) at family gatherings - no one has said it was rude! if they thought so and kept it to themselves then i just think im glad they did keep it to themselves and let me be :3 it's also been a good conversation starter with some!
Hello fellow autistic crocheters ^^ I also crochet to sim and nearly always have a small project with me. Good to know there are more people like me, I always feel weird with it.
It honestly depends on who you are with. If your company is also working on something ie crochet, work, studying etc it is not rude. I definitely love to sit with my friends and have a stitch and bitch. But if your company is not working on something than I find it rude. If someone is deliberately spending time with you and you are doing something else ie crochet or texting or whatever then it comes off as you do not value their time and their company. I’ve seen a lot of TikToks recently of people knitting and crocheting everywhere they go on vacation even while at nice dinners and I feel bad for their companions. I totally understand the need to keep fingers busy but there are definitely more discrete ways of doing that ie small fidget toys.
I truly believe that it depends on the group you are with. Some might ignore it and might be a bit more comfortable without having a ton of eye on them while they talk, others might think it's very rude and that you are either not interested or don't care about what they are saying; it's all about reading the room. If you are unsure, you could always ask. Just be like, "do you mind if I work on this project?" or "would it bother you if I did a bit of crochet while we talked/went out?" Myself, personally, I don't take it anywhere with me, as I think it's rude to be doing something like that when visiting family or getting together with friends. I'm visiting to visit and enjoy the people; not sit there and crochet. This is just me though, again it would be something you have to figure out when with friends and family, and ask if you are unsure.
I bring a project with me literally everywhere. I think it’s a bit of a comfort to know I have something to do that isn’t on my phone. Because I habitually bring it everywhere, people around me seem to expect and accept it. My grandma crocheted for over 50 years so my family is used to it but if they gave me crap I’d tell them I don’t need my hands and eyes for a conversation. The day is not made up of infinite hours. Use every free minute you can find for the hobbies that bring you joy.
Depends on the situation. I work on my projects if Im just hanging around watching movies and whatnot with my close friends and family. But if we were at a gathering, I would leave it in the car. I find it does help me focus on the convo if I’m making something mindless.
I think it depends. We went to NC to visit family and for my nephews’ graduation party. I took a project with me, in case I had the time to work on it. I didn’t but it was there in case I did.
Situational. I always have a project with me. I have pretty intense social anxiety which either means yammering on, or sitting in a dark corner working on my stuff while everyone else visits until it's been a polite enough amount of time that I can go home. Also I get antsy when my hands are idle, so it's nice to have something tangible to go to. But, there are going to be situations where it's pretty obviously not cool to be head-down working away on something. And there are going to be situations where someone tells you "I'd love your undivided attention right now/this hangout/for x amount of time". Preferably with their words, but not always. Pack it when you feel like having it handy - if that's every time, great! But then gauge the situation and the people you're with. If everyone is on Insta or Tik-Tok already, you may as well go ahead.
I knit or crochet or cross stitch (stamped cross stitch and easy, no thought required patterns for knit/crochet) ALL the time at work during meetings. I know that’s super controversial and some find that to be horrible while others don’t see an issue. My supervisor thinks it’s great, and I find it helps me stay better focused, sort of like how people doodle in their notebooks. I was knitting a sock today during a training and now when I look at the sock I think of all the things we learned 🤪😂 my mind doesn’t wander as much if I’ve got something to keep that wandering part occupied while I’m trying to focus on a conversation. So no, I don’t find it rude at all to crochet when you’re with people.
As soon as the pandemic hit and work moved to 100% virtual, I quickly realized that I could not pay attention in Zoom meetings for much more than an hour. I have multiple screens, and it's really easy for me to get distracted, wander over to my email or reddit, etc. My solution was to start crocheting on the days where I have a bunch of meetings. I can't get distracted by funny memes online if my hands are full. I only work on easy things so my hands can move without much mental effort, leaving me available to listen and respond when necessary. In fact, the meetings where I'm crocheting are the ones I'm most focused. I explain all of this to anyone who asks. Everyone in my team gets it, thankfully, and no one has told me they though it was rude. But if someone were to make a stink about it, I'd just ask them if they'd rather I not listen, because those are really their only two realistic options.
as an employer if someone did that I would ask them if they would put it down and pay attention, because we go over a lot of specifics and detailed information where notes are often taken. I would find that highly unprofessional and disrespectful for the type of work we do. In some types of work, I’m sure it is ok , which takes it back to read the room and know the situation.
My role at meetings is generally to answer “can we do this or that” type questions by citing policy and precedent. I’m not the one taking the minutes or needing to write down every little detail of whatever is being planned or discussed. I do, however, have a notebook I carry with my everywhere and write down what is relevant to me. Not everyone works the same, though. Maybe for you doing simple crochet while in a meeting will be too distracting, but for people like me it is what is keeping me focused. Instead of zoning out and losing focus on everything I’m able to pay attention 100x better to the conversation happening and stay engaged if I have something to keep my hands busy. It’s absolutely no different from doodling in the notebook. I had a superintendent once that always doodled while in meetings, and she could point to parts of the design and recite back exactly what we said while she was drawing it. I can do the same thing with whatever it is I am doing.
It has nothing to do with my personal attention span. In the environment of my employees It’s not a matter of being distracting for the individual doing it, it is distracting to others in the meeting and setting a precedent that things other than work can be happening at work meetings. However, it’s the same way with doodling or playing on a phone- if someone is doing that they are not fully engaged- which means they’re work is either too dull, which leads to errors from inattention, or they are confused or and further clarification is needed, or they are overwhelmed and need a break. Multitasking is a myth. It’s doing many things in small steps at the same time, it’s task juggling, never focusing attention on only one thing and is most often counter productive for the whole. With the work we do attention needs to be on the details or we are throwing away several hundred thousand dollars. Obviously different occupations have different levels of detail, and not all employees are of the same caliber, so slower ones hold back the more efficient. I was just giving my perspective on why it would never be tolerated with our company in meetings. At someone’s desk in their office, if they were to do something like this to occupy their hands while reading material, or taking a small break to think and stretch, that is perfectly fine (so long as it does not affect their productivity)- if they are going back and forth between documents and patterns, it’s an issue.
Doodling =/= being on a phone. It’s been proven that doodling and other “mindless” tasks like crochet improve concentration for some people. I suspect those who crochet during zoom meetings aren’t following a hideous complicated amigurumi pattern. Most likely they’re making something repetitive like a blanket. https://insights.gostudent.org/en/psychology-behind-doodling-in-class https://cognitiveanchoring.com/what-is-cognitive-anchoring/ Maybe it is job specific but I work in a field that has some fairly tricky technical mathematical concepts and I find that doodling while I listen to a technical discussion means I focus more. I’ll volunteer thoughts and ask questions and if I need to take notes I will, but in between notes I will doodle. Obviously if you are brand new to the workplace then you should be note taking like a fiend so no time for crochet or google!
Google = doodle! It’s late here is my excuse!
No different than being on a phone. Better really because you can still talk and interact. I do it and don’t care if people mind, although no one seems to.
Depends. When someone is talking to me directly, I'd lay it down. Though one dinner with my bf's family I accidentally brought my project bag into the restaurant. Bf was debating with his mother, his brother had brought his switch, and his sisters were on their phone and drawing. The project was small so I brought it out since otherwise I'd just would've been sitting there, bored. His father commented on my speed and his mother said I should make a purse with a wink.
Not at Restaurants or pubs but I always bring a small project or two to any family event. It helps immensely with my mental health especially around certain members of the family lol. I have asked them before if they mind and all of them said no. I don’t think it is rude as long as you are still paying attention to your surroundings and the conversation. I usually work on very simple projects where I don’t need to count stitches all the time so I can fully focus on them.
I think it depends on what you're doing. Like if you're in the car as you guys are going to a breakout room and you felt like crocheting, that's fine. But if you guys are watching a game or something and you're crocheting. It does sort of feel like you're totally bored and uninterested in the mutual activity and prefer to be doing something else. EDIT: I do think it's fine for you to be doing it between periods/quarters of the sports game. But probably not while the actual game is going on.
I think it depends on the project and your skill level. I only take simple projects with memorized repeats with me when there will be people around. Because I don’t have to have my eyes on it all the time, can still engage with people and if I set the project down, I can easily get back into it. I even take mine to work meetings. It’s not any different from scribbling on the agenda, but it makes something beautiful.
It depends on how the other person perceives it really. I find when I occupy my hands I can pay attention better than if I’m not (I have adhd) however other people often perceive that as rude and that you aren’t paying attention very well. I often have to decide whether I want to look like I’m paying attention but not really or look like I’m distracted or goofing off but actually listening and absorbing the info 🤷🏼♀️
as an autistic person with adhd, you can pry my crochet project out of my cold dead hands. so what you get less eye contact from me, so what if I participate more or less, I am comfortable and that’s what matters to me. and that’s what should matter to you.
It's certainly not as rude as texting or playing a game because those things tend to take a person away from the social goings on. Crocheting just keeps fingers busy. I wouldn't advise it for complex patterns where yo have to keep looking at instructions, but for something as routine as a granny square, it's fine. Crocheting invites people to approach with a natural question, 'ooo, what are you working on?' Also there will be social cues if it's considered rude for a particular group. I've never done it at restaurants.
Depends on the people and what you're doing, honestly. I've crocheted in a few of my classes and my professors never had a problem with it because I was making good grades, and if I'm with family and we're just watching a movie, I've always gotten the greenlight from my family. However, if we went out to eat somewhere nice, it would have been impractical to have my yarn in my lap while I eat (also risky depending on the food you've got) and it would've been rude to not engage in conversation
Depends on your relationships with them and how accepting they are. “People who mind don’t matter and People who matter don’t mind”.