Heather's Living, Breathing Knits
When I was in my early twenties, I did my first jury service. I
was empaneled for two weeks. During that time, the woman
sitting next to me constructed a beautiful sweater. I decided
right then and there to learn to knit, so that I would always
be able to fill idle hours.
I bought Maggie Righetti's Knitting in Plain English and taught myself to knit.
After knitting a few things from patterns, I found out about top-down raglans and
started knitting garments of my own design.
Designing my own knit garments is satisfying. I've made a kajillion mistakes
along the way, and I keep learning new things about knitting all the time.
Along the side of this page, you'll find photos of some of my recent knitting
projects. These photos link to discussions of the projects and of the issues that
were involved in each project.
Twenty years after I learned to knit, I was called to jury service again.
This is my civic duty, and a responsibility
I am happy to undertake. Trial by jury is one of the underpinnings
of a free society, and I want to do my bit to make sure that
everyone gets a fair trial.
However, the jury summons said this:
Knitting needles, scissors, knives or weapons of any
type, including but not limited to guns, stun guns,
mace, or other caustic materials, are not allowed in
any court facility.
I was seriously bummed. What kind of free society can it be if
a person cannot bring her knitting into the courtroom? How can
I knit on serenely through every crisis if I am deprived of my
knitting needles?
This is the sort of abrogation of freedom that makes me wonder
just what sort of mayhem, exactly, one could perpetrate with
a pair of plastic knitting needles on cables. Doesn't the bailiff
have a gun that he could use if I threatened anyone with my
knitting needles?
Now, one of the advertisements on the Denise knitting needles that I
use says that they are permissible on airplanes. So I
to packed up my knitting and sounded out the bailiff on the subject
of plastic knitting needles. Perhaps they would be acceptable.
If not, well, I really couldn't say to what ends I would be driven if
I was deprived of my knitting needles.
I took aside the jurors' sheriff nanny after his presentation,
and asked him about my knitting needles. He gets that
question all the time, and said that likely no one would
hassle me about plastic circulars. He also suggested I
be discreet, so I wrapped them up in the almost-finished
sweater and put them through the metal detector.
I knitted all the way through the morning session and then
came back to knit my way through the afternoon session.
I did not bring scissors or nail files or anything else that
might trip the metal detector.
I just love a happy ending
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