Our children have been so desensitized to the horror of Halloween that commonplace handcrafts apparently scare the jeepers out of them!
My son and I headed to my mother's house for Trick-Or-Treating and helping pass out candy. She didn't have the house all decked out this year (owing to her recent skin cancer surgery) and neither of us had on costumes. My son (who is 8) was a blue ninja. Nothing scary there, right?
Wrong!
Everything was fine for this pair of little ones that came up for their candy, until they turned and saw me knitting. I have never witnessed such an abrupt change of mood. They both paused for a second, staring as if transfixed...then starting crying and wailing like some monster just stole their favorite toy away or something. They then dived behind their parents legs, continued to cry, and peek out at my knitting again.
How do I know it was the knitting and not some horrid fashion faux pas on my part? Well, when I tucked the "uber-scary" green striped dishcloth and needles away in my bag...they stopped freaking out! I was even able to coax them over for extra goodies (to make up for the "trauma"). They gave the bag with "the evil" in it a wide berth, but didn't seem opposed to more treats. The parents were confused and apologizing, to which I assured them it was no big deal. They left with only an occasional glance at "the bag with the scary stuff in it".
Who knew that a plain old, striped green dishcloth being knitted would be the epitome of horror this holiday? As a Mom, I was horrified that something I love so dearly could cause a child such distress, but on the other hand...it was so freaking strange that it caused a secret snicker deep inside.
Skeletons, Zombies, Murderers, and Monsters beware! Us Knitters own on Halloween!
