STOPPED FOR / BY TRAFFIC

     There are two main railroad lines that run through Olathe. Whenever I am running errands, I can be delayed by a lonnnnngggggg train on either line. Not to mention intersections where I might be forced to wait for the light to change.

    It never fails. If I take some knitting with me, or something to read, I will breeze through, encountering no obstacles. If I get in the car empty-handed, I will be stopped by trains of 100-plus cars, or the five-mile-an-hour crossover train, or a traffic light that has been set to never-change. Thumb-twiddling produces nothing.

    And, oh, almost finished a pair of grey wristlets -- have only a half-inch to go on the second one. Put aside for a few days until I can get to the yarn store to buy another skein. Started another pair of wristlets of green worsted dug out of my stash. Worsted. If you heard that word and knew nothing about knitting, you'd think it was the worst thing possible.

YOU NEED A RED HAT?

     I've got plenty.

    One of my writing colleagues in this semester's KCWG (Kansas City Writers Group) said he couldn't do something because he didn't have a red (beanie) hat like one of the other writers. To tell the truth, I didn't hear what it was he couldn't do.

    But our co-director, Mary-Lane, knowing that I am also a knitter, asked me to knit a red hat for my colleague.

    That's all I needed. I took off. Not having the pattern for the beanie I knit several red hats which I now have available to offer. (I have never actually met this colleague, so it's going to take some logistics to get together in person.)

    People who know me well know that knitting helps me get my writing done. (They also know that sometimes I get more knitting than writing finished. I'm still working on my essay of Catching Frogs by Flashlight.)