Monday, May 10, 2010

Amtrak Knitting Circle

Another weekend. Another train ride on Amtrak.



This time, hubster and I went upstate to Albany, NY for a dinner. Since the train follows the Hudson River, this ride is exceptionally scenic. Here's one sight: (Photo was taken through a tinted window on a moving train. It's really much prettier than this.)



On the left side of the photo, notice the island. That's Pollepel Island. If you click on the photo to make larger--you'll see what looks like a ruined castle. That's Bannerman Castle. It was built around 1900 to store munitions.

On our return trip to NYC, there was a couple sitting in front of us. I was knitting my secret project, listening to an audiobook, enjoying the scenery when I saw the woman raise her hand above her head and in her hand was. . . YARN!

I looked at her reflection in the train's window and saw



Do you see what I see? A knitting bag, hands and dpns!

I scrunched over to the side so I could get a better look and the woman was knitting a sock!

I called out to her and held up my knitting. I asked and, yes, she's a member of Ravelry and so suddenly two strangers on a train became knitting buddies! Through the opening between our seats and window we had a fun conversation about yarn, needles, alpacas, NYC and upstate yarn stores, the 2009 NYC Yarn Crawl, Stitches East, Rhinebeck.

She held up her sock so I could take a photo --the yarn is Heritage. Very nice!



The train ride can be bumpy at times and I was quite impressed that the knitter didn't drop a needle or a stitch!

Amtrak being Amtrak, our trip was delayed by an hour. I can't say I welcomed this extra hour of knitting since I really wanted to get home. But knitting helped ease my anxiety about the delay. And, though I didn't ask, I'm sure the other knitter felt the same way. This is something that knitters just know.

9 comments:

Iron Needles said...

What fun is that! I think it would be so much fun to have a Raveler Spotting!

Yesterukes said...

The reflection photo looks like a ghost knitter! :-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing your trip! It was fun to ride along with you. I love meeting fellow Ravelers too.

Anonymous said...

Love it! (And also love the knitting-audio book combination ... pure bliss.)

Anonymous said...

How fun! What was that old song, "it's a small world after all. . .it's a small, small world!"
KnittingKittens

toledonative said...

Cool story but you had me at the Utz chips! I love Utz! Such a regional thing. They're hard to come by here in northern Ohio.

I love when I see somebody else knitting in public - it's rare enough to be a special occasion indeed!

Bubblesknits said...

How awesome! I love meeting knitters in the wild. :)

stringplay said...

LOVE this story, especially the way you spotted your fellow knitter. Delightful.

minipurl said...

Isn't it so cool the way knitting "knits" us all together? What a great train ride. Love the views from the window as well. Thanks :)