stick to one's knitting

English

Alternative forms

• attend to one's knitting, ’tend to one’s knitting, tend to one's knitting, keep to one's knitting

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

stick to one's knitting (third-person singular simple present sticks to one's knitting, present participle sticking to one's knitting, simple past and past participle stuck to one's knitting)

1. (idiomatic) To concentrate on one's own tasks, affairs, area of expertise, etc., especially in order to avoid distraction, embarrassment, or other needless problems.
   • 1935 October 27, “Helene Mayer to be in Olympics: Woman Fencing Champion Accepts Invitation”, in New York Times, retrieved 1 October 2013:

     [A]s sportsmen I think that we should stick to our knitting and not allow economic or social conditions to interfere with the Olympic Games.

   • 1975 Nov. 21, "Puritans Denied Drumstick" (editorial), Spokane Daily Chronicle, p. 4 (retrieved 1 Oct 2013):

     Researchers should stick to their knitting, finding cancer cures and discovering new shades of lipstick, and refrain from debunking history.

   • 2001 July 15, Chris Taylor, “E-Grocers Check Out”, in Time, retrieved 1 October 2013:

     "We stuck to our knitting and stayed in one market rather than going for growth," he says.

Usage notes

• The alternative forms attend to one's knitting, ’tend to one’s knitting, and tend to one's knitting are still used, but appear to have been more common in earlier usage, as in:

    Early-20th-century citations of alternative forms

• 1917, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 8, in The Sheriff's Son:

"No, you'd better mind your own business, girl. Forget your foolishness and ‛tend to your knitting."

• 1919, Ralph Henry Barbour, chapter 19, in Full-Back Foster:

"You attend to your knitting and let theirs alone."

• 1922, Laura Lee Hope, chapter 3, in The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle:

"Tend to your knitting," she warned him. "Didn't you see that we almost ran over that dog?"

• This expression may be received as sexist, especially if directed to a woman and if the pursuit she is apparently being admonished to leave alone is one traditionally reserved to men. [1]

Synonyms

• mind one's own business
• stay in one's lane
• paddle one's own canoe

Translations

to concentrate on one's own stuff

• Finnish: pysyä lestissään
• Polish: nie wsadzać nos w nie swoje sprawy impf
• Spanish: no meterse en camisa de once varas (idiomatic)

See also

• let the cobbler stick to his last
• ultracrepidarianism