Crocheting in Public

The other day I took my godmother to a doctor's appointment. Sitting in the waiting room, I pulled out the Tiramisu Blanket I'm working on. If you follow my projects of Ravelry, you know this blanket is causing me some issues. I'm worried the yarn/stitch/hook combination is gonna make it way too stiff. I'm hoping against hope that once washed it softens up a bit.

Anyway, this lady, probably in her mid-60s, comes over and asks what I'm crocheting. She said she was a crocheter until she had to have a surgery of some sort. She started fingering my blanket.

"It's just single crochet?" she asked.
"Yes," I replied, "two single crochets in one stitch, skip one, repeat. Pretty basic body but I'll add a really cute border once I'm done."
"Hmm" she sort of grunted, "It's pretty sturdy, huh?"
"Yeah, well, I've read that this yarn softens up once machine washed."
"Hmm. Still pretty... thick. Well, I guess it might be good for December."

Um. Excuse me? Maybe I'm being overly sensitive because she was calling out my own fears about the project but I thought it was fairly rude for a complete stranger to be so negative! Maybe she was just trying to show that she really does know the craft? Later, an elderly woman asked what I was knitting. Normally I let the whole crochet/knit thing go, because the person asking is just making conversation anyway. But noooo... the first lady says "It's crochet, not knit". The elderly lady apologized & I just told her it was a small baby blanket. She commented that she liked that it was solid & simple but had an interesting texture. THANK YOU LADY! I told her that's exactly what I liked about the pattern.

People are strange creatures. I guess I can't expect every crafting in public interaction to be positive.

Anyway- I've broken my New Year's Resolution finally. I didn't work on anything at all yesterday. I have an excuse though- I'm really focused on finishing up my current crochet & knit projects so I can start trying to figure out Nana's dress. However, this has caused me to have some pain in my thumb from overuse while crocheting! I'm giving the paws a break for a couple days and getting back to it over the weekend.