There's been a lot of talk lately on the knitlist about people feeling "guilty" when they knit - because they are not cleaning house or (one person said) exercising to try to lose weight.

I don't feel guilty when I knit. Part of it is, the whole house-cleaning thing? I live alone, I only clean house when the state of my house gets to me. Or when I know people are coming over. Or when I'm all energied-up or angried-up and need to DO something physical instead of going and screaming at someone.

Actually, my house is usually in a pretty good state, because I like to use the 10 minutes waiting for dinner to cook, or the 20 minutes between programs I want to watch, to go and quick put something away, or sweep, or tidy. Maybe I'd feel differently if I had a bunch of little anklebiters kids who ran around making messes. But my rule in my house would be "you mess it up, you clean it up, or face loss of priveliges." so hopefully that wouldn't last long.

Besides, I don't want anklebiters kids, so there.

I used to feel guilty when I would knit instead of working on research. But you know what? I can't work 100% of the time. I'm not happy when I work too many hours, and I'm not productive. I'm most productive when I say "I will work x hours and then quit." and stick to it. If I work too long, I begin to do bad work.

And as for "feeling guilty for knitting and not exercising"? um, yeah. Unless you're on your tuckus for 14 hours a day with yarn in hand, a little bit of sofa-time isn't going to kill you. In fact, getting too obsessed over exercise just might. (what is it that they call it now, exercise bulemia? where people get so obsessed that they have to be going at it for multiple hours a day?).

I don't know. I wonder if some of the "guilt" these people feel is guilt that is imposed on them by picky significant others (my argument would be: you knew I was a slob when you married me. Live with it or clean it up yourself) or by parents or by society in general. I guess there are some lingering Puritanical attitudes of "if it feels good, you shouldn't be doing it"

Ironic, in that 100+ years ago, a woman would be expected to be sitting and knitting or crocheting or sewing during her "down" time - lest her idle hands and mind become the "playground of the devil".

I also don't feel guilty for buying yarn. I can budget. I know how much I have in the bank. I am well-prepared for fiscal emergencies of various sorts, with money put aside that is not to be touched unless my house/car/furnace/air conditioner/body/you name it stops working and needs costly repair. But I can live - and live very comfortably - on my salary and still put some away each month.

I know I'm in an unusual circumstance, being a single, well-educated, childless, well-employed woman who owns her own house and lives somewhere that the cost of living isn't that high.

But I wonder how many people who trumpet their guilt are doing it to get justification ("Oh, dear, you shouldn't feel GUILTY") or to draw attention to themselves. Because I think if someone had a real problem - like they were spending the grocery money on alpaca and feeding their children macaroni and cheese out of a box every night, they wouldn't expose it to the world.

Guilt? Pfui. Guilt is for when you do something that is actually morally wrong. Guilt is not a stick to beat yourself up with when you miss ONE workout, or when you let the dust accumulate for ONE MORE NIGHT while you try out a stitch pattern, or when you spend money on a few skeins of something that's going to make you happy, allow you to be creative, and maybe keep you (or someone you love) warm.

The other thing that gets me are the smug folk who nod smartly and say "nope, I don't feel guilty because I only knit for charity" with the implication that people who knit for themselves should feel guilty. Knitting for charity is great, but - again, it's not something I believe should be trumpeted to the world. (consider the widow and her mite, or the publically-praying Pharisees).