Shibboleth

Normally I like to have at least three points in one of these list posts. And normally I don’t like to use events from last week. But sometimes I need to work with what I have.

1. Last week at the dentist’s office, my dentist greeted me, as usual with dzień dobry, and I replied in kind. He tried to continue the conversation beyond the few words that I know, and I said, nie mówię po polsku. Over the years I have become so practiced with that sentence that it sounds less and less believable.

2. This morning I had to go and talk to the nurses at the neurologist’s office so that I could fill out some paperwork. Since I didn’t have an actual appointment, I brought my knitting with me so I would have something to do in the waiting room. And since I only have one project in progress right now (yes, I’ve been working on this one thing for too long because the cats won’t let me knit in piece), I didn’t really have a choice of what to bring.

   Fortunately, no one asked me what I was making. Knitting in public often brings questions. The short answer is, “a scarf.” The questions get harder when I am knitting with other knitters. They notice that I don’t have a pattern. I explain that, yes, I am just making it up as I go along. I see the arrangement of color and shape in my mind, and I am just knitting what it looks like. A lot of other knitters are uncomfortable if you are knitting without a pattern.