The mystery
Monday October 21st 2013, 11:06 pm
Filed under: Knit,Life

I was sitting waiting for a prescription to be filled, my instructions a piece of typed paper on my knee that I checked from time to time, my cloudweight of lace in my hands. An elderly woman (Chinese?) was silently entertaining herself in her nearby seat by watching me knit. I rather wished I had spare yarn and needles there to offer to share with her.

I looked up from time to time and smiled and nodded hello; she smiled back. I held the glance for just a moment the next time, trying to give her permission to speak up if she wanted to.

She simply smiled back. I went on with what I was doing.

And then I went fishing through my purse, crossed out  the ( and the ) and the word twice and scribbled in what it should have read there, tweaking the pattern.

And suddenly noticed the woman was startled, staring, perhaps even a bit distressed.

Was it that I wrote on the page? That I was making it up as I was going along? (I partly was.) I wasn’t sticking to the script! I *wrote* over the instructions!

At that point I really would have loved to have had a conversation, to have found out where she was coming from, what stories were behind those eyes, what they had seen, but for whatever reason, be it language differences or simply the ongoing quiet, the words didn’t break through. Goodness, honey, I didn’t mean to bother… I mean… Too funny. Huh.

I smiled I hoped encouragingly and knitted on, and she settled back into watching me do so. We went back to as we were.

Then the pharmacist called my name, I tucked it all away, and that was that.


5 Comments so far
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I love how knitting in public can be such an ice breaker.

Comment by Jody 10.22.13 @ 5:31 am

I am always curious when I see someone knitting, I smile and ask what they are knitting , the yarn they are using and notice what type of needles. Leads to some interesting talks, I have also noticed that there is an ease in the conversation when someone is talking about their favorite yarns and LYS.

Comment by Kris 10.22.13 @ 6:55 am

Well, you tried your ice breaker, and it only went so far. Good try.

Comment by Donald Meyer 10.22.13 @ 9:13 am

The tie that binds… sorta’?

Comment by Channon 10.22.13 @ 5:34 pm

You radical! Not following instructions? Making it up as you go along? (No wonder we love you!)

Comment by twinsetellen 10.22.13 @ 7:59 pm



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