Why do you think women were encouraged to sit and knit during executions?

During the French Revolution, many women took their knitting to the scene of the guillotine executions. There are several theories on why women did this. Knitting was a common hobby and an opportunity for women to socialize. Executions happened so frequently in revolutionary France that they became a social event. Women would sit, knit, and chat while people were being executed. Also, economically times were tough and many of these women were poor, so it was an alternative source of income. (See image: Courtesy of Wikipedia) Finally, it was speculated by some that the knitters were revolutionaries themselves, and were recording either the number of heads or the names of those executed in their knitting. This theory can be seen in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.