Knitting should bring out

the craft-creative best in people, like woodwork, carving, weaving, sculpture, patchwork, printing, paper-making, crochet, emroidery - or whatever people do in order to create things which are both useful and decorative.
I knit. Yes, it is a sad fact of life. I knit. I am (almost) as addicted to yarn and needles as I am to words.  And, I do create things. I start from the beginning and fight my way to the end. Knitting is a challenge for me. It is a physical, intellectual and artistic challenge.
I also belong to a "knitting guild". I have mentioned this before. I am also the librarian for the group - a fact I mentioned recently.
This past weekend they group had their biennial exhibition. I dutifully pedalled off to the hall in which it was being held on both days. I went early and did the first two hour shift on the door on Saturday and then on Sunday. The group was charging two dollars to look - the idea is to raise enough money to cover the cost of hiring the hall. It belongs to a local council and is used by their Senior Citizens and for meetings of all sorts.
I spent the weekend intermittently glaring at a professionally made poster about another event in which they had written "practise" rather than "practice" and attempting to smile nicely at people who came through the door.
Most people paid their two dollars quite happily. One or two tried to pull the $50 note trick..."that's all I have". From past experience I was prepared for that and gave them change, rather a lot of change! Two people went through and refused to pay anything.  "Just want to..." There is, short of physically barring their way, very little that can be done about that.
Two younger women left saying it was not worth the money because there was nothing they wanted to buy. Would they like to be reimbursed? No. Then why say anything?
Later I took a wander around myself. I talked to the woman running the book stall. She comes to each event. We buy some books through her. I bought a book from the bargain box to give to someone else who could not attend. I wandered further and chatted to someone else with yarn for sale. We have known one another for years and just needed to ensure I knew what she had there so she could take a quick break in the middle of the day. The other yarn stall, natural yarns only, had two people so that was not a problem. I have always done this. It seems only right and proper.
One of the members wandered up to me. She had been walking around the hall knitting but I noticed she had not spoken to anyone - although she is normally a very gregarious person.
       "Oh these things are so boring!" she told me.
It made me wonder whether the other guild members, some of whom had come but had congregated in the tea and coffee area, felt the same way.
It made me wonder why we bother with an exhibition. Maybe we need Mrs Weasley's magic knitting machine to cause some interest?