Rapidly Transiting a Non-Rapid-Transit City

HAH - I finally found a way to pretend I still live in Europe. I took public transportation to work this morning. Now, if you live in New York City or Munich or any other big city on this planet with a great commuter train and bus system, you might say "nothing exciting about that". BUT - if you live in the North Georgia boonies and you work in Buckhead (Atlanta) and you find decent public transportation, it's a big thing. So let me tell you how it went - it even has a knitting aspect!

I drove to Discover Mills, a big shopping mall north of Atlanta (which took 15-20 minutes), and hopped on the bus. It does not make any intermediate stops and was in the city - at Lindbergh Plaza - in about 35 minutes. It would have taken me at least 50 minutes to drive there during morning rush hour (and I leave home around 6:15 am). Then I took MARTA (the local subway system) for one station. And then I walked to the office - 20-25 minutes.

So, I saved on gas, put less wear and tear on the car, got a bunch of knitting done, listened to my CD book, and I exercised, too. I was so energetic this morning at the office - I felt like a Jack Russell terrier, bouncing off the walls. Wheeeeeeeeeeee! ;-)

I — LIKE — IT!!! It reminds me very much of Europe. Public transportation over there is just fabulous - sorry you guys, but over here it sucks, especially in the Atlanta area. Well, not so much anymore, I guess.

One of my knitting friends told me that one year she knitted 11 (!) afghans when she lived in Boston and she took public transportation to work. Well, I am not an afghan person but I am looking forward to the extra knitting time. I had to try really hard not to wave at the cars driving or, rather, crawling in the lane next to the bus. Snicker...

So, while I sat on the bus I continued knitting on the Drop Stitch Shawl. Believe me, it is already a bunch bigger than this:


I have a total of ten balls – I am on ball no. 4, almost ready to start no. 5 and after the fifth ball I will decrease instead of increase to shape the triangle.

AND – I plied for the first time last night. I went to Pixie’s house for another spinning lesson. I plied the white Coopworth – and now I have 23 yards of my first 2-ply hand spun yarn. I am pretty proud...


This is not the real color of the yarn – somehow how not using the flash made the yarn look yellow. Blecch – nobody peed on it, I promise!


If you click on the picture for a larger view, you can see a dog hair sticking out – sigh... Not really anything without dog hair, is there?

Now I have to find a cute little pattern for a clutch or cell phone case. Needless to say, I have to knit something with that yarn.

Oh – before I forget, creative hubby named my spinning wheel. He is so good! Her name is Esmerelda – Essie for short. I guess I'll call her Es-me-REL-da when she's not cooperating the way I want her to. ;-) When I was spinning on Sunday, hubby teased me that I need a wart and a witch's hat to complete the picture. So, of course, he came up with a witch name for the wheel. ;-) (He claims a witch name for the wheel came to his mind because what it does is magical. Uh-huh.)

I am going to show off my first spinning attempts tonight at a SNB meeting. So far only Pixie and hubby have seen my efforts. Hubby’s comment: "Looks like real yarn." And he should know – I have a lot of yarn all over the house...