Knitting Makes The World Go 'Round (but my dad holds it together with coat hangers)

This weekend a health issue cropped up - but because it was 6:30 on Saturday evening, my doctor had me go to the emergency room to get checked out.  While I was waiting for the results of my lab work and ultrasound, I pulled out my "train knitting" from my purse to pass the time (which, being an ER on a Saturday night, was considerable).  At one point, an older lady from the housekeeping staff came by to empty the trash and noticed that I was knitting.  In very broken English, she asked me what I was knitting and then told me about how, years ago, she used to knit for her children - hats, socks, sweaters, you name it.  Her entire face lit up when she started talking about her knitting days - it was literally like a switch had been flipped- and she left my little cubby area smiling to herself.  For me, lying there by myself waiting to find out if I had a blood clot -well, let's just say it was nice to have a friendly conversation.  And I love how knitting in public (there's nothing really PRIVATE about an ER...) allows you to stumble upon kindred spirits, people who know exactly the sort of joy that comes from creating something both artistic and serviceable with just ones own hands, a couple of sticks, and some string.  (It also gets you  really strange looks from some non-kindred spirit people, but that's for another day.)

I turned out to be perfectly fine, so the next day found me on my way to the movies with my niece and nephew.  We got to the end of the driveway when my car started making a horrible sound.  Luckily, my dad was still in town and at the house, and after 15 minutes of fiddling he had turned a metal coat hanger into a muffler clamp and we were on our way.  I swear, he's like MacGyver...except he looks a lot more like Alan Alda than Richard Dean Anderson.