two quotes from Adrienne Martini's SWEATER QUEST

In chapter 7, Martini meets up with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot, a popular blogger who compares coping with hundreds of comments to coping with family:

"You say to your mother, 'Here're my new pants.' And she says, 'They're a little bit short.' And you're like, 'Did I ask you if my pants were too short? Did I ask for a judgment from you? I've already bought the pants. I'm wearing the pants.' ...

"The Internet is like that," she continues. "There is this huge community whether you want it or not. If you want the pleasure of being able to say, 'Where do you think I should put this button? then you also have to put up with the fact that once you've decided, hundreds of people are still going to tell you your button is wrong. You have to learn how to take that the same way you learn how to take your mother's pants advice."

Stephanie has handled the pants advice with aplomb. Her mantra appears to be that you get more of what you pay attention to. Rather than focus on the irritating comments, she pays more attention to the mighty power of knitters.

"You can get them fired up about something and they will en masse go to the rescue of anyone who needs them. They form -- I hate to say it because of the sheep connotation -- but they form large and effective, fast-moving herds that get a great deal done quickly. Knitters are by nature efficient, productive people or they wouldn't be knitters. You get a lot of people who are very good at getting things done, give them a mission, and it is game over. When I said I think we should raise money for Doctors Without Borders, game over. How much would you like? Would you like that by five o'clock? No problem. You need more? I can get it for ya." [Knitters Without Borders raised over $600K for DWB within two years.]

Earlier in the book, Martini writes about meeting with Ann Shayne, a Nashville knitter:

For Ann, those moments when you get lost in the pattern are "like weeding. There is that meditative thing. It's quiet. It's pretty cause and effect. And your garden will be the better for it," she says, reaching for a pile of yarn ends on her desk, which are all the bits she snipped out while finishing Keava [a sweater designed by Alice Starmore].

"I have a bag of those too," I said.

"What do you do with them? My friend Sheila puts them in the bushes for the birds. They make nests out of them," she says. I'm charmed by the idea of all Nashville's birds sitting in Easter-egg-colored nests.