and another thing

I’m copying this post from my regular journal because it’s really a knitting post disguised as a journal entry. Or something. I wasn’t going to bother but my OCD categorization issues got to me and I found it was actually more trouble NOT to do it than to do it. So.

So, yesterday I was finishing up this sweater:



(full sweater details here on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/webhill/fresh-picked-color-3-4-sleeve-cardigan )

and this old man comes and sits down across from me (I was in one of the scattered chair areas in a Barnes and Noble, knitting and listening to episodes of the Private Practice official podcast on my iPhone) and he is just staring at me, I can feel it, so I look up at him, and he has this kind of sad look on his face and he’s watching me knit. Then he says “just don’t make the sleeves too long,” and he kind of half-chokes, half-laughs, half-sobs (I realize that is three halves. Line up to the left to file your lawsuit) and then says “that’s what I always said to my wife.” I smiled and said something non-commital, probably “oh,” and kept knitting along, and he was quiet for a minute and then said “she used to knit all the time, and I always said to her ‘don’t make the sleeves too long,’” and it became clear he needed to chat so I paused the podcast, looked at him, and said “I guess one time she did that, huh?” and he went into this whole thing about how she never actually did, but that was only because he reminded her when it was time to stop. Then he asked me if I did tatting, too, which I am honestly not even sure what tatting is, but I think it has to do with lace? So I said I didn’t think so. And then he told me again not to make the sleeves too long. I felt really bad for this guy, it was clear he’d lost his wife and he missed her and there I was sitting knitting and reminding him, he probably wasn’t expecting it. I don’t know, he was pretty old, too - the whole experience just started getting me all emotionally worked up. But I did finish the sweater, and I showed it to him on my way out, and he calmly commented “I hope the sleeves aren’t too long” as I walked away. I just smiled at him.