Scotch at Gymboree

Yesterday was a great knitting day. A few weeks ago I noticed Petrina, a Ravelry member (first row in the photo, holding the Vera Bradley bag), had created a thread seeing if anyone would be interested in having a subway knitting event. The idea was to have a bunch of knitters meet up and take over a subway car. With mostly positive responses from fellow Ravelers, Petrina took it upon herself to plan the whole event (a piece a cake I'm sure for an event planner).

We met at the 57th & 7th Stop of the Q train (the first/last stop of the train in Manhattan). I arrived in a hurry, worried that my ride downtown on the 1 and then walking to the station would make me late. I walked down the platform, not spotting any knitters at first, and thought perhaps no one else had arrived yet. And then I came across a bench surrounded by women knitting. As I thought may be the case, I had the pleasure of being the only male present. In fact, as I arrived holding my Denise circulars in hand to identify myself as a knitter, I was greeted by Suzy exclaiming, "A knitting dude!" I may have blushed.

Petrina introduced herself to me, and I attempted to greet some of the other knitters. We waited until 2PM and then boarded the next Q train and began our ride out to Coney Island. We took up about half the train car (seated) and I thought nothing of it at first. Anyone who wasn't already knitting began to pull out projects and ask what the person next to them was working on. Or had one of the delicious chocolate chip cookies that were brought along. Everyone seemed to be excited to be taking part of the event, and to have the chance to meet other knitters.

 It wasn't until we pulled into Times Square, and I saw the mass of people waiting to board the train, that I began to think how people would react to a train car filled with people stitching away.
I'd say we mostly went by unnoticed, except for a curious glance that I caught from a rider or two. A few passengers (some knitters, some not) were very excited to see us on the train. They asked questions and we politely answered, and enjoyed the trip out to the beach. One of the quickest I've ever had (though I've only ever been out there once or twice before).

Once we arrived at Coney Island, we headed over to Footprints Cafe for some linner (it's lunch and dinner). Petrina had been kind enough to reserve the entire patio for us. Footprints, a sort of Caribbean-styled restaurant, had a 4-page long list of drinks, a good variety of entrees, and a good wait-staff. Being the least adventurous of my group, I started off with Buffalo wings, followed by grilled chicken and vegetables with a side of rice. Others had codfish and crab cakes, Rasta Pasta and other names I can't remember. But we all had a great time, as we ended up being there for nearly 3 hours. But with great company, good food and knitting at hand, it felt like five minutes.

Thank heavens yesterday was my going out day. I'm not sure if I could have handled being out by Coney Island in this heat and humidity.