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.

Kindle Kover

As I mentioned before, knitting has been on a sort of a hiatus for the past couple of months. Between work and figuring out what it is that I would be doing after this year, there hasn’t been much time to do anything that takes real attention. I’ve resorted mostly to watching videos on my iPod Touch. I’m working on remedying that. I don’t want knitting to go down the same road that my reading has.

And this past Thanksgiving break may have just given me the recharge that I needed. Wanting a project to work on while I was visiting friends in Albany, I picked up a skein of Vanna’s Choice while shopping around and decided to make a cover for my beloved Kindle. And though to many knitters it would seem like something very simple, for me it was quite a step as I didn’t follow a pattern nor have I done anything other than a swatch in the round.

I started our by creating a swatch (yes Ms Stoller, I paid attention) and then calculated how many stitches it would take to cover both sides of my Kindle (thanks for reminding me that there are two sides to be covered Eileen). And then I started knitting in a rib stitch in the round. And two days later (possibly my quickest project ever) we have the piece below.

Kindle Kover:
























I thought of it sort of like the larger version of the iPod socks I've seen before. I'm rather pleased with how it came out. Now for the next knitting project.

Post Seminar

Finally! I've made it through my training sessions and can breathe for a few days. And knit. Sitting in all the sessions the past couple days, I had to repeatedly fight the urge to pull out the tote bag that I keep in my regular bag and start knitting away. (I'm starting to feel guilty about the BBBB not being done yet, but what is a boy to do?) And though the facilitators were very forward thinking and supplied Play Doh, pipe cleaners and other toys to keep our hands busy, I thought that my knitting may seem rude to some.

I have a friend who used to knit during class when we were going for our undergrad. No one ever said anything to her, but when she requested a recommendation she learned that professors did notice. The professor explained that watching my friend knit in class made her want to grab an object and hit her over the head. That is, until my friend would raise her hand and respond to a question, giving a brilliant answer. All was forgiven, but I fear that I would not have the chance to show people that I was in fact paying attention.

I'm slowly amassing a list of projects to undertake. A pair of gloves for my sister, a camera lens case for my friend, socks for DJ. I'm rather pleased to have the list growing steadily. I get the feeling that though this upcoming year and the commitment I've made will be great, I may need the occasional k2p2 to help me keep my patience.