This last weekend, 3 1812 replica sailing ships were in the Duluth harbor. We ordered our tickets, made arrangements to take off from the in-laws (lodging was scarcer than the extinct Do-do bird) and I cast on for a pair of socks in Cookie A's Monkey pattern.
When driving by the DECC, I saw a line. A very long line. Sad to say, it was long. Maybe, I thought optimistically, it would only take an hour or two. I continued knitting. Here are my toes and part of the pattern while I sat in the shadow of the Irvin ship. Hubby was standing in line.
Two hours later, yes, that's two hours, here's a photo of my socks after we turned the corner. Tat this point I didn't really want to leave having invested so much time in line. Couldn't be much longer, could it? Yes, it could.
4 hours, 20 minutes later, here we are about to board the Madeline. Sunburnt and a little grumpy, we toured this ship and the Niagra. The third ship was another 3 hour wait!
Yes, they were cool ships to see and it was a chance of a lifetime. However, if I had really stopped to think it through and not be so optimistic, I would have given up and just took photos of the outside of the ship and did something else. Like go to a yarn shop.
My socks got a bit of work done on them. When we pulled in the driveway at home, heels were turned and I was midway through another pattern repeat.
I did meet some knitters in line, some expressing interest in the magic loop method. Others knew right away that I was making socks, though someone asked if I was making a scarf (?). I kept thinking about putting up a sign "free knitting lessons" and seeing if anyone would bite. Because frankly, what do you do in line for 4 hours 20 minutes if you don't knit?
Comments
Those ships are certainly beautiful, but the wait in a queue does rather spoil things.