I’ve encountered some knitters, and even a few crocheters, who are a little closed-minded. They say things like “you’re doing that wrong,” or “you should knit Continental because it’s faster” instead of something like “would you like to see a different way of doing that?”
We live in a society where people insist there’s a right way and a wrong way to do things, where authority figures preach that only their methods are correct and that if you follow another path you are doomed or poisonous. But for the most part, crafters are not like that: we value looking at things in different ways and figuring out what feels best in our hands.
My favorite knitting book is Anna Zilboorg’s Knitting For Anarchists. It looks closely at how the loops of various stitches physically connect to each other and at all the ways those connections can be accomplished. There’s no “best way” or “right way.” There ARE ways that won’t get you what you want, but there’s no moral value on making mistakes — something only needs to be “fixed” if the maker finds it unsatisfactory.
What I love about the crafting community is how warmly it embraces new crafters. How eager we are to teach people who want to learn. But always teach and embrace with care and without judgement. Everyone holds things a little differently and moves yarn and stitches and tools around in their own unique way. I’m always fascinated to watch someone else’s hands moving, and at how many different “right ways” there are to be in the world.