Baggage

I purchased an online class a while ago to learn Portuguese style knitting and haven't gotten past lesson 1 yet.

I know my reason is petty and what we call in Hawai'i "manini" (small time, stingy, not worth spending time on); however, in her discussion of purling in the Continental style she says we "cheat" and use a lazy method of working.  This has stuck in my head and I can't get rid of it -- *especially* when I am knitting, and that's why I'm writing about it here. I'm hoping this will make it go away because it's having an effect on my enjoyment of knitting.

Maybe if I had learned knitting from a kindly, gentle, understanding teacher it wouldn't matter to me, but I didn't. Everything had to be done exactly the way it was taught and if it wasn't I was berated. There was one right way and only one right way to do things, and if I couldn't do them that way then I must be stupid or lazy or an imbecile. It's the reason I stopped knitting before I was even seven years old and didn't pick up needles again until a few years ago when I taught myself Continental style.

There have been times when I've turned off youtube videos because of people who think the way to make themselves good teachers is to make fun of the way other people do things.  And this is a class I paid for and a method I want to learn. I feel trapped in the middle of my own baggage and her prejudice. Teachers should be aware that students carry baggage and use language in their instruction that is nonjudgmental.

I'll try to get over it, but some things just stick with you no mater what you do, you know? Like they have a life of their own.