My trip to Chicago was short, productive, and anything but dull. You'll all be pleased to know that I successfully finished that class. It was a close call, though. I was almost late, and late means "YOU CANNOT PASS." Getting halfway across the country via air was as stupid as usual. The plane was late and my knitting caused a small uproar.
Thursday was my first practical lesson on why Chicagoans are awesome. This is not to offend non-Chicagoans, but to pay homage to all of us who are snowed upon and know how to handle it with grace. Thursday it snowed in Maryland for the first time this winter. It does snow here every winter, but not often. There was a bit more than three inches, and the result was mass hysteria. Did you know that they shut down schools for three inches of snow? Oh, and they don't seem to have plows here. Well, I have to admit an exaggeration. I saw a total of six plows on my hour and a half drive to the Baltimore airport. If it had been in any northern city of this type (Like Chicago), there would have been thousands of plow/salt trucks out removing every single flake as it fell so as not to hold up business. Chicago politicians' careers are literally made and broken on their ability to rid the streets and boulevards of snow. On that excessively long drive, many cars had to to turn around in the middle of the road because other cars that could not get up hills. I never saw so many people wide-eyed with terror since the swim portion of my last triathlon. I did make it to the airport in time for my flight, and it was late. We actually pulled away from the gate on time, but say out on the tarmac for over an hour and a half waiting for I-know-not-what. But we did get the excitement of being
de-iced twice.
When I fly I am always amazed at the sensation my knitting can cause. On every flight, I get some sort of interesting attention. Most often, it's just women who saw their grandmas knitting, never learned, and are at once curious and amazed to see a young woman going at it in public. Other times, it's worried passengers wondering how the heck I got all those pointy sticks on the plane. (The
TSA's guidelines allow knitting on planes, check out this
link for details and recommendations.) A few are airline attendants who see
KIP'ers all the time and are taking bets on what I'm making. This time, however, was unique. I had my bag seized at the security check and emptied. I was asked what all "this" was about, and explained that it was my knitting. The fortunate resolution was that the guard frowned for a moment and let me go on. Silly
muggles.
My yarn and I returned to my little family here in Maryland last night in time for
Shabbat dinner of fish and
fattah. They were very happy to see me and the Manly Socks.
E and Duncan were happy to see me.
Scott TC gave me his own type of welcome home.
The Manly Socks did get finished on the plane whilst we all waited for
de-icing. The
Crapotee, however was not so lucky. It's close, so close, to being done torturing me.
Currently, I'm working on the first row of blocks. Entrelac is like magic, really. When you read a pattern, it doesn't seem like it'll work. You just have to take it on faith that it will and move forward.
