History Main / ThisIsNoTimeForKnitting

* Hilariously parodied in the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' short ''Film/AYoungMansFancy''

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': When Harry Dresden first encounters the eldest queens of Faerie, Mother Winter is quietly knitting a small gray square despite the fact that the rest of their kind are marching to war. This turns out to be a powerful form of AntiMagic that, once unraveled, will take any spell it touches with it, [[spoiler: including the one that turned Lily to stone]].
* In ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'', Sybil discovers [[spoiler:a secret door]] while measuring some rooms for carpets. She later explains her discovery to Vimes:

* A few examples from ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** In the episode "Tooth and Claw", the Doctor asks Rose to help him with a giant telescope as they're being chased by a werewolf. Rose comments that it's hardly the time for stargazing. The Doctor replies, "Yes it is!" and uses the telescope to defeat the werewolf.
** In the episode "Robot" (the first Creator/TomBaker episode), the Brigadier, Harry Sullivan and the Doctor are investigating the scene of a robbery, only to have the Doctor play a seemingly inordinate amount of attention to a squashed flower on the lawn. However, the Doctor explains that he is investigating an important clue, considering that flower was near pulverized by being stepped on by something that apparently weighed a quarter ton, a piece of information that the officers definitely find interesting.
** The Doctor pulls this on ''himself'' in the finale of season 2. While encountering the Cybermen and Daleks, he repeatedly dons a pair of 3D glasses to look at them. Eventually he demands to know why no one has asked what is up with the glasses yet - they allow him to see the "void stuff" surrounding the invaders, which provide the key to sending them back where they came from.

* In an episode of ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'', the eponymous character has trouble concentrating on a project he has to complete in 3 days, and has a bet going on with Moze on whether or not he'll actually finish it. She catches him goofing off time and time again with such activites as constructing popsicle-stick ninjas, practicing origami and selling sushi from a stall. It turns out [[spoiler:the subject he chose for the project was on Japanese culture]], and (surprise, surprise), he wins the bet.

-->'''Penelope Chase:''' Why is your Ghoul friend picking their pockets? This is no time for sticky fingers, Daring!
-->'''Herbert 'Daring' Dashwood:''' It's not what he's taking out, my dear, but rather what he's putting in! DUCK AND COVER!
-->'''*BOOM* '''

* This was a brick joke in ''Webcomic/DubiousCompany''. [[BadassInDistress Tiren]] is kidnapped by TheMole. After getting the tech needed to find her, [[GadgeteerGenius Walter]] goes on a drinking binge, much to [[LeeroyJenkins Leeroy's]] chagrin. Several strips later, Walter reveals to the QuirkyMiniBossSquad that the engine [[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum runs on drunkenness]]. So Walter needed to be sufficiently plastered to work with it.

%%* [[WesternAnimation/AlvinAndTheChipmunks An Alvin and the Chipmunks Halloween Special]] has Simon listing off things they need to save Alvin, BuffySpeak style. Theodore goes to the snack table to ''get the items Simon was asking for.''
* In ''WesternAnimation/AtomicBetty'' episode "Galactic Guardians No More", Betty announces that it is time to start baking while they're under fire from numerous enemy ships in their own ship -- which had been previously decommissioned as a military vessel and turned into a traveling pie shop. Of course, Sparky and X-5 question her timing. This is part of her plan to save the day, of course -- she uses the dough as improvised ammunition for the ship's torpedo launcher, then lures the enemies close to the sun to bake the dough into a debilitating mass.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': In the DVD character commentary of "The Chronicles of Meap," Doofenshmirtz is shocked that Candace would play baseball in a life-or-death situation. Monogram, quite rightly, predicts that she's saving the day.

* This happens to DaveTheBarbarian quite a lot. For instance, in one episode, he's been holding auditions for a local play. Then the narrator is captured by Chuckles, forced to do his bidding, until he gets laryngitis. At this point, the action stops entirely (no narrator means no story), so Dave suggests they go back to auditions! Fang snaps at him for this, but he really means auditions for a new narrator.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' episode "The Troll", a troll attacks the city of Baaaa-halla to steal their sack of food. While everyone goes out to fight it, Wander just stays inside and takes a nap. Even when Sylvia calls for his help, he continues to lay there and she just assumes he's being lazy. But when the troll comes inside and starts throwing insults about Wander's appearance, Wander just continues resting and ignores him, revealing that the troll grows when someone reacts to his insults and ignoring him makes him shrink. This prompts Sylvia and the rest of the warriors to do the same.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Bad Jubies", Finn, BMO and LSP are busy building a shelter for a huge storm, but Jake is seemingly just sitting there, listening to birds sing. LSP in particular is angry at Jake not helping them out, but when the storm hits and the others are inside the shelter despairing, Jake reveals that he was memorizing bird calls to calm their nerves while cooped up inside. [[spoiler:Jake's singing also stops the storm, which turns out to be sentient, and is so enthralled by the bird calls that it ceases its rampage.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode "Operation: D.I.A.P.E.R.", when the babies Sector V "rescued from the hospital [[spoiler:rebel against the team and capture Numbuhs 2-4 and remove theirs and Numbuh 5's teeth ]](its a long story), Numbuh 5 and Numbuh 1 run around the treehouse while she turns on numerous vibrating appliances, including milkshake mixers, prompting him to "Is this really the time for milkshakes?"

* People whose work is secret may face this. Charles Fraser Smith, who worked for the British Ministry of Supply in WW2 procuring secret items, once had an invoice from one of his suppliers, marked simply "razor blades," rejected as too expensive, more or less in the terms "There's a war on, this is no time for fancy razor blades." The blades were magnetized, and when floated on a leaf functioned as a compass. After taking an official from the obstructing department in to his confidence, a complete audit showed that the supplier had in fact not taken the full allowed percentage of profit. Smith tore up the invoice on the spot and insisted it be re-submitted with the full margin of profit.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode "Operation: D.I.A.P.E.R."...

-->'''Marge:''' Maggie, not now! *''Maggie keeps pointing''* We'll play later. *''{{Facepalm}}''*\\

* In an episode of ''JohnnyTest'', Johnny -- confronted by some giant moon-men -- hastily made paper planes and threw them to poke the giants in the eyes, but not before Johnny's talking dog scolded him for making paper planes.

->-- '''Short Round''', ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom''

AliceAndBob are in trouble. Bob begins doing some apparently mundane and/or whimsical task [[SkewedPriorities not appropriate for this situation]], and Alice scolds him: "No time for [activity] now!" Bob then reveals that he was, in fact, solving the problem. For a situation where a student believes his teacher is having him do crazy things only for it to be an unorthodox method of training, see WaxOnWaxOff.

AliceAndBob are in trouble. Bob begins doing some apparently mundane and/or whimsical task [[SkewedPriorities not appropriate for this situation]], and Alice scolds him: "No time for [activity] now!" Bob then reveals that he was, in fact, solving the problem.

* PlayedForDrama in [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/sixswans/index.html "The Six Swans"]]--it is indeed literally a time for knitting, since that is the only way the heroine can break her brothers free of their BalefulPolymorph, but because one of the provisos of the CurseEscapeClause is that she cannot speak until her work is done, she can't explain why her activity is the solution to the problem...which leads to her almost being burned as a witch for her strange behavior.

* Appears literally in an [[Creator/HansChristianAndersen Andersen's]] fairytale. Seven brothers have been turned into swans; they inform their sister that they can only be restored to human form if she knits them shirts with thread made from nettles, and [[CuteMute doesn't speak a word to anyone]] till she's done. Her odd behavior results in her nearly being burned at the stake, since people thought she was a witch; she continues knitting till just before they light the flames, then tosses the shirts over the swans' heads, [[BigDamnHeroes and her brothers save her]]. The shirt of the youngest brother, however, wasn't quite finished - she still needed to finish the sleeve, but had no time left to do so. For the rest of his life, he had a wing where that arm should've been. Some versions say that the shirt didn't have sleeves at all, so people thought he was an angel when he turned back.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': In the DVD character commentary of "The Chronicles of Meap", Doofenshmirtz is shocked that Candace would play baseball in a life-or-death situation. Monogram, quite rightly, predicts that she's saving the day.

** In the episode "Flood Warning" ([[CaptainObvious In which there is an impending flood]]), Nigel begins working his "cabalito" even when Marianne informs him of what's happening, including the lives of their children being in danger. However, Nigel revealed that he had known about it, and a "cabalito" was actually a [[spoiler: boat]].
* This happens to DaveTheBarbarian quite a lot. For instance, in one episode, he's been holding auditions for a local play. Then the narrator is captured by Chuckles, forced to do his bidding, until he gets laryngitis. At this point, the action stops entirely (no narrator means no story), so Dave suggests to go back to auditions! Fang snaps at him for this, but he really meant auditions for a new narrator.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Bad Jubies", Finn, BMO and LSP are busy building a shelter for a huge storm, but Jake is seemingly just sitting there, listening to birds sing. LSP in particular is angry at Jake not helping them out, but when the storm hits and the others are inside the shelter despairing, Jake reveals that he was memorizing bird calls to calm their nerves while cooped up inside. [[spoiler:Jake's singing also stops the storm, which turned out to be sentient, and is so enthralled by the bird calls that it cease its rampage.]]

* People whose work is secret may face this. Charles Fraser Smith, who worked for the British Ministry of Supply in WW2 procuring secret items, once had an invoice from one of his suppliers, marked simply "razor blades", rejected as too expensive, more or less in the terms "There's a war on, this is no time for fancy razor blades." The blades were magnetized, and when floated on a leaf functioned as a compass. After taking an official from the obstructing department in to his confidence, a full audit showed that the supplier had in fact not taken the full allowed percentage of profit. Smith tore up the invoice on the spot and insisted it be re-submitted with the full margin of profit.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', "Swarm of the Century": Pinkie Pie spends most of the episode gathering musical instruments while Twilight and the rest of her friends are trying to get rid of the parasprites. Just after Twilight's last desperate attempt to get the parasprites to stop eating all the food [[NiceJobBreakingItHero backfires spectacularly]] and she gives up in despair, Pinkie saves the day by leading the parasprites away from town with a one-pony band.

* During the Halloween 2k7 storyline on ''GaiaOnline'', Liam demonstrates the correct method of dealing with hostile vampires... [[TheCasanova lame come-ons]].

%%* [[AlvinAndTheChipmunks An Alvin and the Chipmunks Halloween Special]] has Simon listing off things they need to save Alvin, BuffySpeak style. Theodore goes to the snack table to ''get the items Simon was asking for''.
* In ''AtomicBetty'' episode "Galactic Guardians No More", Betty announces that it is time to start baking while they're under fire from numerous enemy ships in their own ship -- which had been previously decommissioned as a military vessel and turned into a traveling pie shop. Of course, Sparky and X-5 question her timing. This is part of her plan to save the day, of course -- she uses the dough as improvised ammunition for the ship's torpedo launcher, then lures the enemies close to the sun to bake the dough into a debilitating mass.

* In an episode of ''NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'', the eponymous character has trouble concentrating on a project he has to complete in 3 days, and has a bet going on with Moze on whether or not he'll actually finish it. She catches him goofing off time and time again with such activites as constructing popsicle-stick ninjas, practicing origami and selling sushi from a stall. It turns out [[spoiler:the subject he chose for the project was on Japanese culture]], and (surprise, surprise), he wins the bet.

-->'''* BOOM* '''

* In the ''{{Tintin}}'' book ''Prisoners of the Sun'', Tintin and his companions are captured by the Incas and were thrown into prison. Haddock was looking for a way to escape while Tintin was just sitting down reading a newspaper. Haddock called him out but it turns out he was reading about a coming eclipse that he used to fool the Incas letting Tintin and co. go.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', "Swarm of the Century": Pinkie Pie spends most of the episode gathering musical instruments while Twilight and the rest of her friends are trying to get rid of the parasprites. Just after Twilight's last desperate attempt to get the parasprites to stop eating all the food [[NiceJobBreakingItHero backfires spectacularly]] and she gives up in despair, Pinkie saves the day by leading the parasprites away from town with a one-pony band. Deconstructed slightly because Pinky was the one member of the Mane Six that knew how to deal with the parasprites effectively and her running around looking for instruments without explaining why comes across to the rest of the girls (until the end) like Pinky's typical CloudCuckoolander behavior.

%%* ''Persona3FTW'': The Main Character has some... [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Persona_3_FTW/index.php?p=544638 odd]] priorities.

* When [[TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]] first encounters the eldest queens of Faerie, Mother Winter is quietly knitting a small gray square despite the fact that the rest of their kind are marching to war. This turns out to be a powerful form of AntiMagic that, once unraveled, will take any spell it touches with it, [[spoiler: including the one that turned Lily to stone]].
* In ''TheFifthElephant'', Sybil discovers [[spoiler: a secret door]] while measuring some rooms for carpets. She later explains her discovery to Vimes:
--->'''Sam:''' I don't want to sound impatient, dear, but is this a carpet moment?
--->'''Sybil:''' Just stop thinking like a husband and start listening like a copper, will you?

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In ''{{Film/Muppets Most Wanted}}'' Dominic finds his boss Constantine knitting and comments that he knows something has gone wrong since Constantine only knits when he's stressed.

[[folder:Jokes]]
* A politician, a priest and two boy scouts are in a plane. Suddenly, it runs out of fuel and begins dropping to the ground. The politician immediately grabs one of the only two parachutes from the wall, and makes ready to jump out:

--> '''Priest:''' Wait! Shouldn't we be giving those parachutes to the children?!
--> '''Politician:''' Oh, screw the children!
--> '''Priest:''' *{{Beat}}* [[PedophilePriest Do you think we still have time for that?]]
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', "Swarm of the Century": Pinkie Pie spends most of the episode gathering musical instruments while Twilight and the rest of her friends are trying to get rid of the parasprites. Just after Twilight's last desperate attempt to get the parasprites to stop eating all the food [[NiceJobBreakingItHero backfires spectacularly]] and she gives up in despair, Pinkie saves the day by leading the parasprites away from town with a one-pony band.

--->'''McCoy''' (stops halfway out the door and turns with a 'say what?' look on his face.)

--> '''Priest:''' *{{Beat}}* [[PaedophilePriest Do you think we still have time for that?]]