Knitting through Europe

This is my third year knitting through Europe, where I'm a bit of an oddity.

We take a lot of public transportation, which means that I always carry around my knitting bag and latest project. We recently spent a weekend in London and it was the first time in three years that I didn't have people staring at me as I knit and that's because I was finally in a place that knits just like I do -- English style.

Several years ago, an elderly woman on a bus in Lisbon watched me intently, grin on her face, shaking her head. Luckily my Portuguese was good enough from my years in Brazil that I understood her as she explained that she was dumbfounded by my knitting style. She complimented me on my nice even stitches, but wasn't sure about all the movement of my hands. This was the first time I really thought to be aware of the difference.

Most recently I was knitting a hat on four double-pointed needles and a German woman on a train literally ripped the knitting from my hands and showed me the faster and much more efficient Continental style (or German style as it is known). Totally with a smile on her face she showed me, in mach speed, her style of knitting. I thanked her, gave it a few feeble attempts and went back to my old way of doing it. I really am trying to learn as I think it will be faster in the long run, but I'm still clumsy at it.

Needless to say, I have become used to the staring. I have become used to the offers of help. But I think regardless of where you are and how you knit, when you knit in public, you always have people who will watch because it's relaxing. On a two-hour bus trip with a group of sixth graders last year, the most hyper kid in the class sat quietly for an hour and watched me knit. When I put it away to do something else, he said, "That's really cool!"