knitting in the wild

I was knitting at Barnes and Noble today - just a few rows on a dishcloth while waiting for it to be time to leave. I had some knitting-related encounters, which never happens to me. First, a woman approached me and asked if I were knitting “American style?” I said I wasn’t sure ;) but whatever style it was it was not continental. I knit with the yarn held in my right hand, going across my index finger, and I either barely move the finger to loop the yarn over the tip of the needle, or I barely move the tip of the needle to pick up the yarn, depending on I don’t know what, really ☺. She watched, intrigued, and actually tried to break it down along the lines of “OK, so, you want the ball of yarn on the table and then the yarn should go up along your hand, in between your fourth and fifth fingers, and then over the back of the finger and then sometimes you have it wrapped around twice but sometimes not, how do you know when to unwrap it?” Um, I don’t! But, she was very appreciative of “the help” (help?) and said she hoped she hadn’t messed up my counting. She also commented that I made it look “so easy,” which was funny, because I was knitting a dishcloth after all, hardly rocket science here.

So anyway, then, another lady approached me - an older woman (in the course of our discussion she mentioned having a 35 yr old son). She gave me a business card type card with her email address on it, and the name of a knitting group, along with the times it meets! She’s from the “Knit-Knights,” which meets in a local library. The card is decorated with a picture of a medieval-style castle ☺. Of course they meet during prime family time - 6:30-8:30 pm - so I asked if she knew of any groups which meet during the day. She asked me “did you make this bag?” and pointed at my big, lined Booga bag. I said yes, and she then said “OK, I think you’re advanced enough,” and told me when the day group meets - which is 10-12 on Mondays, which I might actually be able to make! But, it’s at a library about 15 minutes further away which is a little disappointing. Oh well. Maybe I can go and see how it is!