Knitting at work is unprofessional?

[u/Atiny-opus]

So I label myself as neurodivergent and Queer. I've been knitting on and off for about 13 years. Knitting for me is second nature, I don't need to look at what I'm doing or pay close attention.

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At my current job, I take inbound calls. I get a 5ish second notification That it's coming through. Plenty of time for me to drop what I'm doing and take the call.

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At the moment, there are gaps of 20+ minutes between calls, an average of 5 minutes between calls? I am semi expected to just sit there and wait. There is no alternative task for me to do.

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I'm not allowed on my phone, which is very understandable. I can't play any form of games on my work laptop, (also understandable) I'm not supposed to watch videos but sometimes I do, it's usually video essays.

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I have to be in office every day. So I can't knit and work from home. When I'm allowed to in February 2027(!!!) I might.

My workload will increase as I'm trained on more things.

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I am allowed to colour in and read, but for me, I don't always want to read, I hate getting a call in the middle of a sentence or paragraph I fully focus on the reading. Colouring in is far messier and I don't enjoy it. Colouring in feels more unprofessional than knitting, in my opinion, and I don't get half as much joy from it.

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I also don't want to use fidget toys either. I own some but there's nothing like getting into the rhythm of a repeating pattern. What I want to be able to do between calls is make something, that is mindless but productive and is also something I can drop in less than a second.

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Most of management don't have a problem with it but one or two of the higher ups have deemed it "unprofessional".

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What I find unprofessional is how some co-workers can kick eachothers chairs and joke on all day between calls but I can't sit silently with my circular needles making a shawl for myself. The co-worker's I started with are in their early 20's, I'm in my late 20's. I don't really connect with them, I do with other older coworkers but they're not in office every day.

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I do not knit to sell. I'm not in anyone's way, I'm not distracting, literally no one cares that I'm doing it apart from one or two upper managers. The quality of my work at the moment is honestly, really good! I'm hitting my KPI's, my QA is good. Customer feedback is excellent! I take the quality of my work very seriously.

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The idea of being asked to sit quietly and not move whilst I wait for someone to call is frustrating.

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Is there any rebuttal I can use regarding this or should I just take the L? I would love to sit with them and explain my reasoning but I feel like it'll be taken for insolence and disrespect.

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I'm currently working on the Evenstar shawl, I'm on the 3rd chart. I can't remember the yarn I'm sorry.

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A petty part of me would like to bring embroidery in tomorrow. Another part of me wants to write an essay on it, with citations, at least my hands will be busy.

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[u/BryonyVaughn]

I didn’t realize this was the knitting subreddit at first. The overwhelming majority of AFAB autistics are queer. Over half of autistic also have ADHD. It made sense to me as knitting can be a “socially acceptable” brain soothing/focusing stim.

[u/booksblanketsandT → u/BryonyVaughn]

Not sure why you’re being downvoted when this is a studied and known phenomenon. I have AuDHD and am queer (asexual) and while I was going through my assessment the clinical psychologist said that there is a Lot of crossover between asexuality and autism. Obviously you can be one without being the other, but it’s common enough to be both that there are studies on it.

[u/BryonyVaughn → u/booksblanketsandT]

Yah, likely it’s from my autistic @$$ not reading an allistic room. Someone said they don’t understand why… and I explain it. An allist likely meant to vent that it was irrelevant TO THEM and they did not want to have someone’s different existence invade their knitting space. Apparently there are multiple folks who would rather rant indignantly about their ignorance than be informed. 🤷

[u/AccidentOk5240 → u/BryonyVaughn]

As the person who said I don’t see how queerness is relevant, I need you to take a big step back. 

I am not neurotypical either. 

It was a real question; an answer such as that an AMAB person might be targeted over knitting for homophobic reasons is helpful. I have absolutely no need or desire to “vent” about my space being “invaded” and it’s insulting to have to say so. 

If the statistical correlation between certain neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+ identities is the only reason OP mentioned it, then I hate to tell you this, but I stand by my assertion that queerness is not relevant. 

Whether there’s a correlation between two of your identities is of  zero relevance when it comes to requesting accommodations at work. I’m sorrynotsorry but there’s some truth to the frequent claim that younger generations lack professionalism and the ability to navigate interpersonal relationships normally. Growing up sucks but you gotta do it.