I think the phrase - BITE ME!!! - would have mumbled past my lips.
First you have to sit through a crappy movie then to be asked to stop knitting? Oh hell no!
:)
Holly

I would have insisted she tell me why it bothered her. I would have acted like I was confused and continued to push the issue until she got so annoyed she moved her seat. Then I would have happily continued knitting.

Frankly, I would have left after the first 10 minutes of this hideously boring movie, found a little cafe, and ordered a glass of wine. Knitting in a restaurant is permissible...right?

What a horrid movie experience! If I were in the situation, I would probably just move to another seat and keep knitting.

C and I have worked out the days and times that the theatres are the least crowded and THAT'S when we go. Sunday 11:00 am Matinees are usually pretty good.

That's annoying. But, I would have stopped too. I was just analyzing your Keyhole Top -- damn that thing is sexy -- not it it will work on my 5'1 bod -- maybe with a few fewer pounds . . .

Yes. You were right to have stopped. Whether or not she SHOULD have been bothered, she was. I like to think we live in a civil society and since she asked, I think you were right to comply.

However...

If the theater wasn't too crowded, I would have moved and knit there.

I use circulars all the time and the movement is barely noticable.

I use circulars all the time and the movement is barely noticable.

Agh, I had a similar experience last night (minus the knitting) at a bar. A band started to play and eventually a woman at the next table asked my friend and me, not very nicely, to shut up for at least one song. Granted, it was an an unaccompanied song, but-- IT'S A BAR, not a concert hall. Her daughter followed us outside a few hours later and berated us further. Not. Fun. At. All.

Other members of the public can be so demanding can't they? I don't know what I would have done.. Probably stopped too. Probably carried on being really annoyed by everyone else too.
I love Liz's comment about the popcorn though!

"..oooops, I'm soooo sorry. My addis, they're sooo slippery. I really didn't mean to stick you - you see, it's soooo dark in here". (wicked thought, just a thought :)

I would have stopped. If she continued to talk and repeat the narrator, I might have resumed my knitting. When she asked me to stop again (I would imagine), I would tell her that I will stop knitting when she stops talking. Actually, I would have just stopped knitting at the first request and vacillated between feeling annoyed and embarrassed. I'm a bit of a chicken that way. At most, I might have shushed her, but probably wouldn't even do that.

I would have stopped -- but I'm kind of conflict avoidant.

Having waited for Godot in a three-hour play, I cannot fathom waiting for him (with subtitles and dubs) in movie format. Especially without knitting. I would have stopped if she asked politely, because I know some people get distracted by motion in their peripheral vision, but honestly I also think I would have just moved to another seat and resumed. That theater cannot have been full. I would never ask someone to cease knitting in a theater myself - that's pretty whack. If for some weird reason I found it distracting I would opt for relocation. There's plenty of room for all of us, no? Very odd!

It depends what kind of day I was having. Normally, I'd have stopped, but if I were particularly snarky, I'd have switched seats with my husband and continued knitting.

The translation polka you described sounds like a Babelfish train wreck. Maybe the lady needed every ounce of energy to concentrate on finding the humor that may or may not be in "Waiting for Godot".

I would probably be incredibly distracted by you knitting next to me, and I probably would have asked you to stop as well. I find movement during movies in my peripheral vision almost more annoying than something in my direct line of sight.

That said, who the hell was she to be asking you to do anything when SHE was talking!? I can't stand people who talk during movies. It's SO rude!

That is unbelievable - people have a lot of nerve!

I think I would have stopped. But I know how annoying subtitles etc can be - try coming to the Film Theatre here in Dundee where if someone sits directly in front of you you can't read the subtitles without contorting yourself into some extremely painful position which leaves you unable to straighten up at the end - hurrah for the front row!!

Socks look fabulous though!

I'm mainly using bamboo cirular needles these days no noise and nice and light, probably not a quick though as metal needles but I am happy to be slowed down just now. I cant imagine that your knitting would have stopped my enjoyment of the film, but everyone is different

I find that if someone asks me nicely then I'll oblige, but if there's the slightest hint of nastiness then I dig my heels in, say nothing and carry on. A cat doesn't converse with its fleas. Ouch :)

Wow. I want to say that I would have kept on knitting, but I probably would have been too shocked and offended by the situation to do anything besides put it down, and then resent her for the rest of the movie. I think maybe I would have just walked out.

I would have stopped too. . .

but I am moved to tell a story of similar setting... several years ago, at a local Movie Festival, watching an Icelandic subtitled movie, a friend I was with had brought popcorn with her, and the bag was a little crinkly, she was doing a good job of reaching into the bag quietly.

A yell from the front of the theatre "stop crinkling your bag so loudly!" To which we smiled at each other, and she put the bag down.

A moment later, a downbeat shall we say, and a shout from the back of the theatre... "It's subtitles, let them eat!" And the whole place erupted into laughter for about 5 minutes... we missed reading some subtitles.

On metal needles? I probably would have stopped. But on plastic? Not on your life. I know that for me, personally, it is the little sounds that get to me so that might be what the lady was focusing on. But plasitic doesn't usually have the same sound. I have sat through enough movies in which people talk, kick my seat, do god knows what with their friends and knitting is the least intrusive. The only place I will draw the line for knitting is in church during a service (not during a service, no problem). For some reason, this is the only place that it seems wrong . . . then again, I once graded essays at Carnegie Hall during a concert.

Hey, you know there are lots of other movies playing in town, right? Good ones!

I would have stopped, even though I don't understand how it could bother anyone. But when I ask people to stop doing things in a theatre, I expect them to stop -- like talking or jostling or whatever. It's just good public-sphere karma.

Maybe you should have told her that you'll stop knitting as soon as she'll stop talking. I don't see where knitting could have bothered her, since she should have concentrated on all those subtitles instead. But being a chicken I would have probably stopped too, before I'd drop a stitch because of her.

Those sort of incidents always feel so ugly, don't they? I knitted through a live performance recently and people sitting around me thought it was charming. Ninety-nine times it is like this, and then once in a while it is like THAT.

I hope I would have moved. I would have stayed put and stopped, or moved and kept at the needles. Click on!

Maybe you should buy uglier yarn and then you wont be moaning and stroking it and disturbing others!! HEHE

Funny- I knit through a movie yesterday afternoon, too (although it was in English). And the 80 year old woman at the end of my row got a phone call and told the caller very loudly what was going on in the movie. Then she told her companion about the call, like she hadn't heard the whole thing!

Anyway -- I probably would have stopped, out of shock, but then been very, very annoyed. And I would have tried to move.

oops sorry about posting twice. i got an error message the first time

i would have stopped. looked at her and said "you're kidding, right?"

if able to, i would have moved though because i wouldn't have wanted to be involved in a scene of some sort.

and when i moved, i would have done so loudly. i'm a coward, but i'm a passive aggressive coward.

you're a better woman than me, chere kate

i would have stopped just because i wouldn't have wanted to be involved in a scene, but i might have moved so as not to be seated so close to her, in which case i would have continued to knit. and i would have done it with a lot of huffing and puffing after asking "you're kidding, right?"

knitting is totally appropriate in a dark movie theater.

You were right to stop knitting. There are many ways to be uncivil in a crowd and even though knitting is wonderful it might not be appropriate to do in a movie theater. Unfortunately there is to much "freedom to" instead of "freedom from" nowadays. You showed good judgment in stopping, despite the fact that other people were behaving poorly. The notion of telling someone to move is just downright rude. We may love knitting but that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do in every circumstance.

i do believe this story is surreal enough that beckett himself would have loved it. why on earth was it dubbed into german? (notice i'm not asking why on earth you went to see a french movie dubbed into german with french subtitles as your first cinema experience since france)

I would have stopped - and then spent the rest of the movie resenting it. If there was lots of room in the theatre, I might have moved...

First, Love the colors in the socks! I would have told her we were even - your narration is bothering me. Then I would have stopped just long enough to switch seats with my companion, thereby putting someone not knitting next to the noisy one. Then I would have kept right on knitting!

Hello. My name is Sandy (perhaps we've met) and I'm a chicken. I would have so stopped. In fact, I stopped right now, just thinking about it. I would have been steamed about it, but stopped nonetheless.
Hey, there is a Kate with a great pattern in a little magazine called IK, know her?
;) haha
xo

How strange. I knit at the theater all the time. What a thing to complain about with everyone else talking, taking phone calls, texting, rustling their candy wrappers, etc!

How strange. I knit at the theater all the time. What a thing to complain about with everyone else talking, taking phone calls, texting, rustling their candy wrappers, etc!

She was just jealous - what beauties! :)

I don't know if I'd've stopped or not, but I hope I would have pointed out that her talking was bothering me. I might have moved to the other side of my friend, if the theater wasn't too crowded.

I would have stopped, but then I'm bit of a coward. I'll do anything to avoid confrontation.

i think i would have stopped because of the sheer shock of the whole thing (are you serious? my knitting is bothering you?!?)

then i probably would have started up again 10 minutes later. i can't sit still and watch a movie and not knit...even when there aren't any battling german/french subtitles ;)

Um I don't think I would have stopped. She could have just as easily got up and sat elsewhere.

BTW... the color in the socks are gorgeous!

I would have stopped knitting. Just because all the other members of the audience were rude and inconsiderate doesn't mean you have to be. Maybe it was one of those things where she could see the motion out of the corner of her eye. Of course, Leah has a point - that was always the rule with me: If someone is bothering you, it's up to you to move!

OMG!I am tired of always being so politically correct myself - i would have asked if the women in front of us was bothering her while she kept on talking !!! She should get a life !!!

I totally wouldn't have stopped. Seriously, a silent activity occupying your hands & not invading another person's space? She has a bug up her butt & it's not anyone's problem but her own.

The same thing happened to me! Except that I gave the guy a blank stare and kept on knitting. Like you, my friend who was sitting on my other side didn't notice I was knitting...

OMG those socks are so cute. I must have that yarn.

You should have tried the, "I don't know what you're saying" blank stare. I use this in Holland all the time, though it's mostly because I really don't know what they're saying. Sometimes they'll try English on me, and if I'm particularly nonplussed about whatever is going on they continue to get the stare. Thankfully in Europe you could speak anything, so they'll eventually run out languages to try on you.

I probably would have moved. I definitely would have said, "Well, your narration of the film is bothering me."

I doubt it! Anyway, there were probably plenty of other places she could have sat. I would have politely asked her to move if my slight hand movements were bothering her!

You know I wouldn't have stopped!! How the heck are you??

I don't think I would have stopped. But how the hell did your knitting disrupt her enjoyment of the film? It's not like people scream or speak loudly when they knit.

I wouldn't have stopped. Unbelievable! Makes me mad.

I might have moved to a different area of the theater though, if it was possible.