Today the beau and I spent a busy morning shifting the stuff that didn’t sell in the garage sale to either the op shop or home. On the way back we dropped by The Purple Onion in Heathmont for their yummy award-winning pies. As we were feasting in the car I heard a woman in the car next to us declare in a loud voice.

“Oh, knitting was done exclusively by Egyptian soldiers and no-one else!”

“That’s crap!” I said to the beau. “That’s the sort of thing that evolves out of the inaccurate pseudo-history you get in naff magazine articles or knitting book introductions.” (Actually, I didn’t say the second bit, but I thought it.)

Well, give her a break, I told myself. Not everyone who knits is as nerdy and obsessed enough to read knitting history books. (If you’re interested, Richard Rutt’s A History of Hand Knitting is an excellent book which neatly and affectionately dispells all the urban myths.) She believes this nonsense because most people will only encounter pseudo-history. And isn’t it amusing how the myth about the Egyptians knitting has evolved – kind of like Chinese whispers?

But then I looked across and realised that this woman and her elderly companion were sitting in their SUV with the engine running in order to run the aircon – with the windows open.

No, I decided, it’s more likely she believes this because of an incurable case of stupidity.