Thank you very sincerely for all of your comments on yesterday's post — I am so grateful for your generosity here, honestly. It really touches me. Thank you. I am on jury duty this week — and no knitting needles allowed in the courthouse!!! Oh the irony — hours and hours to sit and wait, and not one stitch of knitting allowed. So wrong!!!

;-)

Back soon!

Comments

[Sally]

That is tragic! It is SO hard to sit and not keep your hands busy. I have many memories of my grandmother (who lived with us) knitting. One in particular was when she came to my elementary school Christmas program practice (she wasn't going to be able to come to the real performance) and she sat in the back of the auditorium knitting up a storm (as she would say)! I know she was madly trying to finish a Christmas present! :)

[Adriana]

Oh no! No knitting needles? That actually hurts!

How about crochet? I always manage to get the hook onto planes with no problems. Try that :-)

[The Hungarican Chick]

What a beautiful, heartfelt post you did yesterday! I love your sentiments about your stoic dad, I can totally relate to that--the tiniest acknowledgement means everything doesn't it?

[susie]

No kidding, it would do my nerves in!

[Denny]

Goodness. I'm an attorney, too, so I thank you for performing this service that is so important to our American justice system.

No knitting needles? The last two times I got called for jury duty, I knitted, knowing I wouldn't serve on the jury, but needed to appear just the same. I actually had something to show for my "most of a day" at the courthouse rather than at the office. I haven't been called for jury duty in a while (I guess I'm due) so perhaps the courthouse rules have changed. And, I don't knit anymore, but I do crochet. Hope I can do that.

Lugging my laptop to do work on jury duty just wasn't any fun at all the last time I tried that.

[amigurumigirl]

You could finger knit. :D Beautiful post yesterday, by the way. (^_^)

[Kara]

No knitting? The travesty!! I had jury duty a few years ago here in San Francisco and it was a wonderful-- I didn't have to go to work and was able to knit the whole time.

I also bring knitting on the plane all the time and have never had a problem. Generally I stick with circular bamboo needles, just in case, but have never had the slightest problem.

Hope jury duty passes quickly!

[brooklyn codger]

Praying you are allowed to use a crochet hook...

[Sally]

I hear you! I just had Jury Duty on Friday!! In Washington County they even tell you ahead of time that no knitting needles are allowed in! I bet a crochet hook is allowed though, especially if it's big enough! Thankfully I had Cal Patch's book, Design-it-Yourself Clothes to keep me company! So I sketched myself a new wardrobe. ;)

[Maude]

I was on jury duty last week (in Seattle), no metal needles, but they did allow double-pointed bamboo ones - go figure.

[bird]

the second hardest part about not being allowed to bring in knitting during jury selection is being forced to relinquish a steaming cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee once you get there! oh well, a good book or Archie Comic will always do!

[Sarah]

I'm with everyone else... a nice large, round, plastic crochet hook never hurt anyone! Maybe it will be like Perry Mason and some poor sap will start sweating... feel agitated, and burst out of there seat and confess to everything!! Wouldn't that be great??

[lisa martin]

they're against knitters !! I hope you can bring a book at least!

[Anna]

Oh no! That's complete torture! How DARE they deny you your crafting! Someone should organize a protest... ;)

[jenny]

Oh Alicia, there oughta be a law against that!
Enjoy your public service

[Kate]

I feel your pain! I had to go to court last week for a parking ticket and they confiscated my knitting bag. All that knitting time...wasted!

Nothing compares to flying back home from our honeymoon, when an AirFrance attendant PULLED MY NEEDLES OUT OF MY KNITTING. Everyone around us -gasped- in horror, and unfortunately I may actually have cried.

In retrospect, she had no idea she was hurting it, and it was not really a very big deal at all. But young me was of course pretty bummed about that.

[Melissa L.]

I think you should show up at the courthouse with one of those big round E-Z Loop loom things and a bag o'yarn. That'll show 'em!

[theknittedlamb]

Oh that is wrong! Maybe you can finger knit a VERYYY LONGGGG i-cord of some sort...

[linda p]

I was on jury duty today and they also said no needles of any kind. I really wanted to chance my crochet hook but figured most people don't know the difference and someone would complain if I got mine let in. (However, next time, I'm bringing 2 sharpened pencils to knit with!) actually, i kind of enjoyed it (but i did not get picked).

[UK lass in US]

What a shame.

I just read your previous post. Unlike you I'm getting to be quite good at fixing mistakes / picking up missed stitches / putting stitches back on the needles etc. I think it's because I get a lot of practice and because I knit so slowly that my mistakes are easy to catch...

[mamie]

ridiculous. i cannot believe that you cannot bring knitting.. that is why i ignore my jury summons

[Manya]

I find your blog comforting and inspiring...thank you!

manya-mykitchenstories.blogspot.com

[Ponytail]

I can understand not being able to knit while listening to a case, but it seems unfair not to be able to knit while you're waiting to be picked. I'm pretty sure you can knit outside the courtroom here in the UK but judging (ho-ho..) from the news yesterday, jurors in Britain need to concentrate as hard as they can while the case is running - there was a big study released, on jurors not being able to follow the judge's instructions.

[Barbara]

My husband is the Chief Circuit Judge (felony trials) of our county and when he allowed knitting, the lawyers complained, saying it was too distracting along with the little clicking noise of the needles during trial. So it had to be stopped during trial, however, anyone may knit in the jury room during deliberation.
And I second the thank you for being a good citizen and serving! Too many people make excuses yet they all want a good jury should their time ever come to go to court.

[PippaPatchwork]

That sounds painful! I can't stand wasting precious knitting time. I even do it at restaurants these days while I'm waiting for the food to come (I mean, nowhere super fancy, but still...) Hope you get back to your knitting soon!