"I am not going to Home Depot in my swimsuit to buy a toilet seat."

These words actually passed my lips on Wednesday — and once it was put that way, my husband did see sense.  It is just that we have been scooting from place to place so much this summer.  Between our kitchen remodel project (which has spilled over into some other rooms of the house, naturally) and family summer-fun activities and just plain old life, well, we are on the move a lot.

So, I have been doing a lot of car knitting (while George drives).  It is certainly a good use of time, but it is also something of a challenge.  And just like the car, my knitting gets better mileage on the freeway than in the city.  A road trip is really quality knitting time!  Errands around town?  Not so much.  

By the time we are in the car and moving (having come to a mutual understanding of where we are going and why and in what order) and by the time the air flow is adjusted and the Pandora station is set and I am about to pull out my knitting, we are rolling into the parking lot of our first destination.  Of course, I stubbornly pull out my knitting anyhow and fight nausea as we circle the lot while I try to catch up the stitches that have slipped off the needle.  Once the car is parked and the stitches are secured, I stuff the knitting back in my bag, zip it closed, and find a place to stash it so no one looking in the window will think it is a purse and break into the car.

Back in the car.  Retrieve the bag from its hiding place, pull out the knitting, catch up the stitches that have fallen off the needle, knit 7 or 8 stitches, run into a tangle, untangle the yarn, catch up the stitches that slid off the needle while I was untangling the yarn as we came to an abrupt stop at that signal which has the shortest green light in town.  Decide it would be counterproductive to waste time glaring at the driver while we are stopped for a few moments.  Decide to peek at my pattern directions to see if I am where I am supposed to be..

(Note to self: become computer-savvy enough to invent automated voice-thing that reads pattern aloud and tells you when you have gone off-course like the car GPS does!)

Balance pattern pages on my knee while I pick up knitting.  Drop knitting to snatch pattern pages that have lurched off down the side of the seat when the car leaped forward.  Capture pages. Retrieve knitting from the floor of the car.  Brush fir needles and weird fuzzy clump off knitting.  Catch up the stitches which have slid off the needle.  By which time we are parked at our next destination and it is time to cram my knitting bag back into the glove compartment.

I am the only person on Earth who is glad when there is a line-up at the Starbucks drive-thru — because it gives me a chance to knit peacefully (and maybe even maneuver my cable needle without dropping it down some front seat crevasse).  And I will gladly — perhaps recklessly — sit in the car under the roasting sun while George runs into the post office or pet supply store.   

Occasionally, I do not bring my knitting in the car.  And then I just sit back and fuss with the air flow and fiddle with the Pandora stations and suggest better routes and point out possible hazards and whine about the line-up at the Starbucks drive-thru…so, really, even if I do not accomplish a whole lot of knitting in the car, it is probably better that I have it along 😉  If nothing else, knitting makes me a better passenger!