Seriously?

Posted on August 18, 2006 by knittingpatterns4you | 3 Comments

So I'm leaving work two days ago and I get on the crosstown bus, which of course is packed, nowhere to sit. I take up my usual position of leaning against a seat facing the windows, whip out my knitting, and merrily go about making a basketweave swatch in some gorgeous new navy yarn I just got.

Two stops go by, I've got a few rows knit, and the woman who's sitting in front of me starts talking to me and looking at my knitting. I automatically smile, because any time someone starts talking to me on public transportation while looking at my knitting, it's usually to say something cute like "my grandma used to do that!" or "you're really fast, what're you making?"

But NOOOO. She wasn't saying anything cute. She was saying, "If the bus sways you'd going to fall over and poke my eye out!" To which I replied that I do this every day both ways, and if I stumble I would fall backwards. . . she insists, I offer to turn around and face the other way. When I turn, I immediately lose my balance and fall sideways, which makes sense b/c I'm not used to facing into the bus, I always face out of the bus when I'm knitting.

The whole time I'm trying to accommodate her, and falling over because of her, she hasn't shut up about how ridiculous she thinks my knitting near her is, and she's being quite nasty about it. I angrily shove my knitting back in my purse and tell her she's ruined by commute, and maybe she could switch places with me so I can sit and she can stand, that way she won't feel she's "in danger" and I can do what I do twice a day every day of the year for the last 2 years.

So she said "Now I find you rude" and refused to let me sit OR knit.

Thankfully a few seconds later came another stop and the bus emptied out so I moved to the complete opposite end of the bus so I wouldn't even have to LOOK at her.

In hindsight, I shouldn't have argued with her. When she first told me to stop knitting near her I should have said, "Then change your seat."

I was so angry it took me 2 hours to calm down.

If I ever see her on the M79 again I'm gonna poke her in the arm with my needle on purpose.

Posted in knitting


3 Responses

Devorah
Devorah

August 19, 2006

Sounds like that woman was channeling my dear-departed MIL — though she would not have complained about knitting, just about anything else. Take a deep breath and remember — the M79 passes [removed]! (My favorite place to soothe rattled nerves.)

profbookwurmknits
profbookwurmknits

August 20, 2006

how horrid
what rude and odd behaviour
she must have a mental illness

peninah
peninah

August 22, 2006

i’ve gotten a few of that (but surprisingly when i was crocheting not knitting with 0’s), but i generally go out of my way to avoid the buses. even if it means going all the way back to grand central and crossing that way. sigh i’m sorry…

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