Last Thursday, we headed over to Lakewood to see a show by Puscifer.  Some of The Boy’s friends from high school were in town for it.  They had extra tickets and asked if we’d like to come along.  Working on the theory that leaving the house and interacting with people is often more interesting than staying home in my pajamas and interacting with the cats, I went.  It was…bracing.  I actually liked much of the music, but some of the more, um, theatrical aspects of the show didn’t appeal quite as much.  I decided to take a little break in the middle and wandered out to the lobby.

Now it just so happened that it was the sort of show where they pat you down and search your purse before they let you in the door.  That meant it was also the sort of show where there were rather a lot of members of the local constabulary hanging out in the lobby.  I wasn’t planning on doing anything nefarious so I didn’t pay them much attention.  I found a comfy chair and pulled out my knitting.  After a few minutes, one of them strolled over and stood behind me.  I nodded and said good evening.  A moment later, two others sauntered over and joined him.  They all seemed quite interested in what I was doing.  I firmly believe my life is simpler when I’m polite to the police, and I generally do what they ask.  I grew up somewhere with rather different ideas about police behavior and was always encouraged to err on the side of caution.  The habit has stuck, so I was about to ask if it was ok that I was knitting.  There were signs all over the place explaining that no weapons of any kind were allowed in the venue, and I thought perhaps they were concerned about the knitting needles.

Just as I was about to open my mouth (two more gentlemen were converging upon us at this point and I was starting to feel a bit surrounded), one of them asked what I was doing.  Before I could answer, one of the other observers explained that I was knitting.  A bit surprised, I agreed that this was indeed exactly what I was doing, and I further allowed as how I was knitting a sock.  It turns out they didn’t have any security concerns, they were just terribly interested in what I was doing.  We discussed the virtues of knitted socks, the speed of knitting, the cost of yarn, and the mechanics of cables.  They seemed genuinely intrigued.  It was one of the more surreal moments of the evening (which is impressive, given the rest of the show).  I almost felt I should have handed out cards for the local yarn store and invited them to drop by.