Delayed

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Woke up this morning to a pretty snow and since it didn’t look like much to me, I left for La Guardia Airport anyway.  Juno was more suspect – but humoured my good natured Canadian belief that this was not much snow and wouldn’t be a problem.  Turns out the scale is a little different here, and it is, indeed, a problem. What should absolutely have been less than 90 minutes to the airport (complete with mandatory traffic) stretched way out past two hours and then some – and I arrived thinking I’d probably missed the cutoff for my flight.  When my sister-in-law texted that the flight was delayed I was thrilled and delighted, which in retrospect, may have sent the wrong message into the universe, since there’s been another delay since then.

I’m fine though.  Unlike the couple sitting opposite me at the gate, I’m entirely calm because a delay is really just more sock knitting time. (This couple keeps pacing, sighing and saying things like "This is unbelievable" in a tone that implies that they clearly think that Air Canada and The city of New York should have done some way better planning and simply not permitted it to snow while they were planning on flying.)  I would normally be annoyed by all this…  but I have cashmere, and it gives me all sorts of tolerance for things that are less soft.  Meet my Artyarns Cashmere Sock sock. 

This is a genius little yarn, and soft like nobody’s business. Two strands of single cashmere lie alongside a two ply of wool and nylon, and it gives it the most charming texture.

I don’t know if you can see what I mean in that last shot.  A dark airport with a little camera doesn’t give the best detail shots.  I rigged a simple slip stitch pattern to try and keep it from pooling (which hasn’t worked, really, but I still like it) and I love, love knitting it. There’s starting to be a beautiful halo coming up on the yarn just from handling it, and that’s only going to be more pronounced as I go along. 

It’s just lovely, and even with sitting here wondering when I’m going home, I’m really just thinking of how nice a time I’m having. I think if I had some of this yarn for everyone in the airport – even if they just held it and patted it like a wee pet – we’d all get through this delay a lot better.

If this flight doesn’t go (it’s in the air from Toronto – but they aren’t sure they can land- they may turn around and go back without stopping) then I am going to likely be here until late tomorrow – which I can still sort of figure out….

As long as I don’t run out of cashmere.

180 thoughts on “Delayed”

  2. Oooohh! Cashmere! Aaaahhhh! delays allow one to become one with the sock: especially a cashmere sock.

  3. Isn’t cashmere grand? And keeping you calm unlike “the pacers”. Maybe you should offer them a turn at your sock? Just for the expression on their faces?

  4. It’s a gift to be able to find the silver lining. Too bad your airport neighbors are not knitters. Safe journey…

  5. Oh yes, cashmere is lovely. I find myself unwinding and being more peaceful when knitting it as well. Hope your flight gets you home safe and sound.

  6. Lovely yarn, lovely pattern and lovely needles. Looks like nirvana to me. I’m sure it’s just a trick of the camera, but gosh that sock looks big around.

  8. I’d love to wear cashmere socks RIGHT NOW! (It’s one of those days…)
    I hope you’ll get home safely and in a somewhat timely fashion.

  9. Pretty sock and safe journey home.
    I’m sure there’s a few knitters close to the airport who would be willing to do a mercy mission and deliver more sock yarn if you run out! Alas I cannot volunteer as I am in the UK but if it were (Birmingham Airport) you were stuck in you’d be in luck. ;0)

  10. I’ve always thought airports should have yarn stores. And that they (and the massage center) could adjust their hours when there are lots of delays.
    There’s nothing so demoralizing as being in an airport overnight with no knitting and everything closed… but an open yarn store would help a lot!

  12. Yes, I have some of that lovely sock yarn too! Got it at FabulousYarn and also Jimmy Beans. But I can’t quite figure out who to make the socks for – who is worth the $72 it costs? And just to make sure I got 3 skeins of 2 different varigated ones (really had to search to find the sage/peach mix) – so I now have over $200 invested in sock yarn. I’m thinking these luscious socks will be for … ME!

  13. If you can’t make it to Purl Soho, and you are stuck at the airport until tomorrow, I’d bet, just bet, they could come to you! Good luck!

  15. Whenever I travel, I have my knitting (along with at least one extra project ~ just in case!). My daughter has her books and video games. Delays don’t faze either one of us. WE just settle deeper into the waiting room chair and entertain ourselves. My husband, on the other hand, does a lot of pacing, sighing and looking at his watch.
    Being a knitter is good for one’s well-being!
    Get home safe, Stephanie. That storm’s headed north and will be hitting here soon. I plan to hunker down and curl up with my Ringo & Elwood mittens this evening.

  16. Beautiful. And good job focusing on what you CAN control (how you spend your time waiting) rather than what you canNOT control (the fact of waiting!). 🙂

  17. Knitters are prone to patience in situations like these, after all, it’s more time to work on a WIP! Cashmere socks sound delightful, BTW.

  19. Thank christ for knitting, eh? It keeps us from being the crazy people pacing and sighing….or at least minimizes it. I often wonder if the ones freaking out at things like this ever ponder that perhaps the Universe has a reason for keeping them out of the sky?
    Anyhow, perhaps give knitting lessons with string and pens, you know, if you run out of cashmere.
    Safe journeys

  20. Yes, cashmere definitely has the ability to take the edge off the worst of circumstances. Hopefully the snow lets up enough for the plane to land. There is something about having your heart set on getting home that makes the possibility of delay seem about as inviting as a trip to the dentist.

  21. If knitting can help soothe the delayed flight stuck in the airport anxiety, it is surely some powerful stuff. Hope you get home safe.

  23. I’m originally from Northern Ontario have been living in Philadelphia now for 10 years. I _still_ can not wrap my head around getting a “snow day” for 3″ of white stuff on the ground. The scale is indeed very different here.

  24. Some days knitting is the only thing that keeps me from killing people.
    I used to be a bit embarrassed about that, but after some time watching the behavior of impatient people, the world really is a safer place because I knit.

  25. I find that a wee drink or 3 while knitting and waiting in the airport makes the wait all the more pleasant but then, while I love airports and all the coming and going, I hate actually flying. Therefore the drinking allows me to actually step onto the plane when it finally arrives. Safe trip home whenever it happens.

  26. The sock is lovely, and I hope you don’t have to spend the night in the airport.
    Should I buy a whole bag of 70% merino 30% angora sport weight? It’s 30% off.

  27. Happy knitting! And happy somewhere-in-the-vicinity-of-your-blogiversary! I know it was/will be sometime in the past/next few days.

  28. Gosh, cashmere. I have a single skein of cashmere from one of last year’s yarn clubs. I haven’t made anything with it. I just pull it out from time to time and hold it.
    If you run out of cashmere, you can just hold your socks and think soothing thoughts.

  29. Wait, when you say that it “lies alongside”, do you mean that two of the plies are not actually plied? That’s what it looks like. I think that will mean the socks wear out faster, but they’d probably wear out faster than other socks, anyway, just from being worn ALL THE TIME. Because who could really reach for other socks, with those in the drawer? Happy knitting, and safe travels!

  30. Isn’t it the most scrumptious stuff? I made a little neck scarf from mine so I could have it next to my face!

  31. That’s why all airports should have knitting kiosks stocked with yarn and needles to keep everyone calm. An instructor should also be available to teach or deal with knitting emergencies.JMHO

  33. I’m making a pair of socks for my SO out of the purple color of the same yarn. It’s luscious. I used a stitch pattern really meant for a crisp, one-color yarn (Wendy Johnson’s Diamond Gansey socks) and I’m so glad I did – the pattern comes through the haze. It’s aran with fog.

  35. This doesn’t have much to do with the beautiful cashmere or your airport predicament, but it might give you a giggle. I’m not sure why, but when I first read “wee pet” I read it as “wet pee”. I couldn’t figure out why we would have everybody pat a wet pee! Wee pet makes more sense.

  36. I would agree but I’m always amazed when I take a non-knitter into a yarn store and take them directly to the cashmere and they don’t seem to think that petting it is wonderful. I don’t get it. We used to have a yarn store here near my favorite pizza place and if I had to wait for a table or friends, I would go in and look around and then head back to the luxury yarn for a little quality petting time.
    On the upside, if it pools too much you can always reknit it…. if you need something to do.

  39. Something soft for everyone to stroke; it would surely help. I can just picture someone there calming down just from the sight of that soft pretty sock coming to be.

  40. You had me at cashmere! Lovely, lovely. And, isn’t it nice to be able to knit – and not get all wonked out of shape because of a delay!

  43. National Weather Service (US) is predicting unhappy snow amounts in that region, I hope you make it home safely. In the meantime, how decadent – cashmere socks!

  44. Knitting is just about the only thing that makes the traveling part of travel bearable.
    I was on a long flight last Sunday when this exchange happened:
    Woman walking by: “That is something you don’t see every day.”
    Me: “It’s just a sock, I see them every day.”
    Woman: “No, a man knitting.”
    My OH: “I see it every day, all the time. Keeps him sane. It makes trips much more enjoyable.”

  45. I live about 40 min from LGA. We have been getting storms in the middle of the week and on the weekends (I’m not sure anyone else has actually noticed this pattern) and New Yorkers are NUTS when it comed to anykind of weather other than sun. The airports in the area are even worse. I also feel that the world (or NY at least) would be a much happier place if everyone knit. Plan on flying out tomorrow…

  47. It really doesn’t surprise me that you left Juno’s with Cashmere in your hand. The two go hand in hand, you know? Keeping my fingers crossed your flight gets there before you run out of yarn!

  48. Enjoy the yarn. Yes we Americans really seem to be wimps/idiots when it comes to snow. It snows every year and we still don’t seem to understand how to deal with it. I too can be quite happy waiting if I have something to play with.

  49. Even before I was a knitter, I packed entertainment: books – reading and sudoku puzzles, Nintendo DS, whatever I knew would keep me occupied. My philosophy has always been (and not just for flying)that I’d rather be delayed and get there safely than be on a risky flight. Always good to keep in mind when thinking about fretting. I think everyone should experience a cross-country train trip at least once. In continental US that means three days from coast to coast of enforced downtime: stare out the window, read, talk to your traveling companions. There’s a huge difference in perspective on a trip like that, remembering that that was the only way to get from point A to point B for decades, and still is, for people in small rural communities.

  50. The yarn is lovely and anything knitted out of it would be beautiful. I like your needles too.

  52. Yes… the insanity of airports closing coffee shops and the like at what? nine PM? is still beyond me.
    But yes, yarn makes everything better. I enjoy delays, being stuck in traffic when I’m not driving, etc. And to that couple… Sorry the airline isn’t willing to risk the lives of a couple hundred people by trying to land the plane so you can get on. You’ll just have to be patient. 🙂

  53. Isn’t it wonderful what a little knitting can do for your sanity while waiting? I walked into the minor emergency center to be seen for fever on sunday. Told there was a 3 hour wait. I thought “got my knitting, give me a chair. I’m good.” And cashmere on top of that!! mmmmmm

  55. The same storm is heading my way and I find myself hoping for yet another snow day. I get them off and unlike the kids I don;t have to make them up. I just get to stay home, knit and watch movies.
    Besides, the winter weather makes all this wooly goodness more desirable 🙂

  56. I was delayed at LGA over a little bit of rain last March, I was the calmest person there since I was happly knitting away.

  57. Yes, knitting good yarn makes everything better. I’m getting through a week of gov’t training with yak yarn. Unfortunately my ball ran out today at 1. Fortunately with the local weather predictions, gov’t sent us home to get more yarn at 2. (Well, the “get more yarn” part may not have been in the official announcement, but that’s my interpretation and I’m sticking to it.)

  58. I live 1 mile away from LGA, and if it appears you are stuck till tomorrow, I’ll be glad to have you stay over, so you don’t have to sleep in the airport.
    And I have lots of yarn, including cashmere.

  59. Looks yummy! I’d be afraid it would wear too quickly as socks, so I’d probably do something else with it. I hope you have a good flight when you finally take off.

  60. Best wishes! My husband needs to be at the Manchester, NH airport tomorrow am at 6 am…. and there is snow forecasted. But in this, our first winter as true New Hampshire people, we feel good…. in the last week, 3 families have safely flown home (to Detroit, Ohio, and Chicago) in between storms that would have closed down lesser airports (i.e., Newark!) We are pleased with our new location, where they deal with snow, rather than hoping it will go away!

  61. Best wishes! My husband needs to be at the Manchester, NH airport tomorrow am at 6 am…. and there is snow forecasted. But in this, our first winter as true New Hampshire people, we feel good…. in the last week, 3 families have safely flown home (to Detroit, Ohio, and Chicago) in between storms that would have closed down lesser airports (i.e., Newark!) We are pleased with our new location, where they deal with snow, rather than hoping it will go away!

  62. I agree about having knitting kiosks in major airports (I even have a name picked out). For the little kids I’d have the knitting mushrooms and they could make miles of i-cords!

  63. Maybe you should have snagged more yarn from the Vogue market, just saying New England has been bombarded with snow since 1/1/11 and there is nowhere left to put the stuff

  64. One day last month the weather was so bad that my bus ride home from work (normally one hour) lasted over two hours, partly caused by the new driver missing her turnoff in the low visibility and getting confused and lost. Normally I am not a patient person when trapped, but I sat there calm as butter and knitted on my cashmere/silk shawl. Weirdly enough, the guy sitting next to me was knitting on a shawl for his wife. I ended up getting several inches on my shawl and a new friend out of this obnoxious situation.

  65. I think this is a perfectly awesome reason for my constantly traveling husband to learn how to knit! It will relax him….or maybe I’ll just have him buy me some cashmere sock yarn on each trip he makes to keep in his carry on for instances just as yours. Thanks for the suggestion : )

  66. “even if they just held it and patted it like a wee pet”
    That made me laugh. Thank you.

  67. Last week I was in a car accident (no one was hurt, but my car was totaled) and spent three hours in a really crappy pizza joint waiting for the police, then the tow truck, and then the friends who were going to give us a ride home whenever they finished eating the dinner we were supposed to be enjoying with them! My husband got more and more tense and grumpy, but I had brought a new skein of Plymouth Yarn’s Baby Alpaca Grande and some size-fifteen circulars, so I was as calm as it’s possible to be immediately after a car accident.

  70. I pretty much don’t care where I am if I have some knitting with me. Granted, I don’t want to have to sit in an airport any longer than necessary, but I can knit myself into oblivion quite readily. I am not a “zen” person by nature, so I have to have self calming techniques and knitting does the trick!!
    Safe travels.

  71. Cashmere makes everything better. I cast on for two projects with cashmere in them this week, in fact, just to help me get through the first week of the semester. My colleagues seem very envious, and I’m starting to wonder if there isn’t some way to get a grant to distribute cashmere all over campus – for petting purposes, as you say – to see if that makes for a happier first week back? There’s got to be a way…

  72. … and I’m noticing some pretty nifty Signature Needles upon which said cashmere is sitting – the combination is hard to say no to!

  74. The sock is lovely. Everyone in the airport should have some of that yarn to pet. Option B is pumping Prozac through the ventilation system and setting out Valium salt licks at every gate.

  75. At this exact moment, the weather channel says that LGA has a 305 minute delay, but they don’t anticipate having to shut the airport down all together.
    You might get lucky.
    Lovely yarn.

  76. Haha – today I’m wearing my socks made of Artyarn Cashmere Sock! As my sister would say, they feel like kittens 🙂

  77. That’s why I tell my co-workers “I don’t knit because I’m patient, I knit so I’ll HAVE patience.” That’s a beauty yarn, and I’m now very jealous.

  78. That yarn does look yummy, and your picture captures it’s neat construction remarkably well.
    There is little that makes me feel smugger than being all chill and calm in the face of airport hassles while everyone around me melts down… because I have my knitting and none of the melty people do.

  79. There are few things that can turn an inconvenience into pleasure like knitting. So many times I’ve said “Oh I’m fine, I’ve got this _____ to work on”. Those socks are beautiful already, can’t wait to see them when they’re finished!

  80. Knitting my first pair of socks on Signature needles – where have these BEEN all my life?!
    Loving every minute of it, even if my yarn isn’t cashmere.

  81. Lovely yarn and just think you got to enjoy your coffee this time unlike that incident where you kept having to throw it away. 🙂 Hope you get off the ground soon.

  82. Safe travels! It was a pleasure to be able to meet you in person at the Barnes & Noble event last Thursday. You are the awesomest!!!

  83. Airport convenience stores should sell yarn. Also needles, absolutely. For emergencies like that.

  84. Perhaps cashmere is the new Prozac, just what the doctor ordered for this winter. Good luck getting home.

  85. Lovely cashmere + pretty needles that just happen to match= fun times during a plane delay for sure. How jealous the muggles must be. Safe travels home.

  86. Beautiful socks and yarn! And I’m always a wee bit happy for airport delays, odd as that sounds, because of the ‘extra’ knitting time (hey, can’t be forced to do laundry or housework, or anything else that I ‘should’ be doing when I’m stranded in an airport).
    I do often wonder what the heck I ever did before I learned to knit. How in the world did I cope with airline delays? Good thing my brain has blocked such times from my memory.
    Safe travels, and happy knitting!

  87. cashmere socks… oh my! and don’t you get just the biggest kick out of people who think a snow storm is NO REASON to delay THIER flight? I mean really… its the miracle of flight… they should be thrilled to death about it, even if it’s delayed. They could be on a greyhound bus, or covered wagon for petes sake!!!

  88. How about travel knitting kits for different levels of knitters, designed by You. Like your sock club, but with a much bigger audience. Think of how you could make flying fun again. Safe travels with your “wee pet.”
    Eve from Carlisle, MA

  90. I give up: What is pooling?
    P.S. The sock looks great, and being safe and warm with your knitting can take the negatives out of the situation.
    Good luck making it home!!

  92. Okay, this is why I travel not only with yarn but with a book (or two). Who are these unprepared people!!!
    At least they’re getting their exercise pacing around.
    We Montanans have no patience with people who don’t understand weather listens to no one, and it’s no use fretting about it. Our saying around here is, “Don’t like our weather? Hang around a few minutes.”

  94. if you get stranded, you can come to my house. I’m in westchester – not far. just email me and let me know you need a place to stay and i’ll get you the info on where i live!

  95. if you get stranded, you can come to my house. I’m in westchester – not far. just email me and let me know you need a place to stay and i’ll get you the info on where i live!

  96. A benefactoress gave me a sweaters worth of the Artyarns cashmere sock (because the color looked better on me than her after she got it home.) What heaven. I have knit up “Scarf with French Trellis Border from Weldon’s 1890 and Bramble Leaf Center” by Jane Sowerby in Victorian Lace Today. Every stitch was a pleasure and i also loved the texture of the shiny nylon/wool ply running along the cashmere plies. I have charted out a matching hat using the lace pattern from the scarf.
    I live in NYC and hope you have been able to get out because it will only be worse here tonight and tomorrow morning. A little snow goes a long way to paralyzing New York, but this winter we are getting good practice at snow clearing. Good luck—I hope your carry on yarn supply holds out.

  97. Ditto on the offer of a place to stay. I’m up in the Bronx, not far from La Guardia. I have sock yarn. Extra sock yarn, even. Also a spare bedroom (almost TOTALLY unheard of in NYC). It even has a bed in it.
    I’m sorry you’re stranded, but glad you’re calm.

  98. CCCCAAAASSSHHHMMMEERREE!! Only those in the knitting universe can understand the excitement of a delay in an airport with oodles of cashmere! It’s beautiful!

  99. I love the people who get worked up over things like weather, second only to those who complain incessantly about “extra technical checks”. That usually means they’ve found something wrong and are a) trying to fix it or b) getting a new plane for you. Of course, if you’d rather go on the plane with the dodgy bit of equipment…

  100. It started snowing in DC about an hour or so ago, and I almost took the bus home (leaving my car in the parking garage) just so that I’d have some time to work on my self imposed sock club (I finished the first sock, but I’m having some serious second sock syndrome).

  101. You have tried running two balls of yarn to stop the pooling right? Yes, I agree with Sandy, a few years ago, okay more like 34, I live in NYC. Being from Maine, I loved it when it snowed…but it did indeed paralyze the whole city.
    Thank the lords for cashmere and knitting needles.

  103. I love the yarn – such a beautiful, bright colorway.
    Even before I got back into knitting, I’ve always had a book or two for waiting at the doctor’s, the airport, etc. Now I have both, so I can rotate if necessary. After all, you may have to wait while the plane is delayed or needs repair.

  104. Surely there’s a yarn store that delivers? It is New York, after all! (And think of what it would do to their business if you blogged about them, O Famous Knitter!)

  105. I think everyone in the Airport could use a little cashmere. I certainly have had holdovers pre-knitting that I could have used it!

  106. Yeah, I just spent two days in the Vancouver airport trying to get to a small town in BC, but luckily the first night Air Canada put me up in a hotel across the street from a Michaels, so I was fully stocked with dishcloth cotton. Ultimately I turned around and came back to TO, and will try again in April, when skies are generally clearer.
    Good luck getting home!

  107. Related, but different –
    On Saturday night we were booked in at the Airport Hilton at Melbourne Airport. We’d been out for a function and returned at about 1am to discover that due to a sub-station blow, the entire airport precinct including the international airport and the hotel were all blacked out! We had to walk up the fire stairs to get to our room, and brush our teeth etc by Braille. Which was okay because at that time of night all we wanted to do was sleep 🙂
    I’m not sure what, if any, repercussions it had on flights – certainly our domestic flight the next day was undelayed. The related point I wish to make is that when we arrived in the hotel foyer, there was another couple there, the male component of which was huffing and carrying on as if the hotel staff had done it *on purpose*. As if!!!
    And our hot buffet breakfast the next morning (my chief concern!) was also operating as per normal, so that was good!

  108. Your socks look so soft, makes me think of bunnies! As far as delays in traffic, etc…our former governor here in PA thinks we’re all wimps when it comes to a little bit of snow. Of course, as governor, he never had to shovel it.
    Be safe, be warm.
    Ruth

  109. I realized recently that when faced with anything horrific in my life, I pull out cashmere yarn. It is magic!
    And your post should be used to help open up yarn stores in airports. Obviously you aren’t stressing and freaking out on the airline employees and are keeping calm and carrying on with the cashmere.
    Actually, let’s all get Keep Calm, Carry Cashmere mugs made up, shall we?

  111. Hope you are on your way by now. I might have run into you as my son was due in from California tonight, but they cancelled his flight twice and now he is stuck in warm sunny California until Friday…poor thing. I’m just glad I don’t have to go out and get him tonight…another knitting opportunity. Just me and the dog.

  112. The sock yarn is very yummy! Good thing you have it with you. Knitting has made me a much better traveler. The friends who’ve traveled with me think so too.
    The whole snow thing around the country is blowing my mind. I’m in Buffalo, NY and we’ve seen close to nothing today.

  115. Thanks for a great class on Sunday afternoon. I was worried; you looked so tired!! I have been telling everyone about the sugar/oil scrub. Amazing. Also, I only bought from Solitude. Her yarn was awesome.
    Thank you again.

  116. I also view delays as more knitting time and I feel sorry for those who don’t have the comfort of yarn and needles!

  117. I am such a little stinker; I would be all gleeful out loud,”Hooray! I get more knitting with cashmere time!””PURRRR, cashmere…I just love the feel of it in my hands. I could sit here all day and pet it.” Safe travels home.

  118. Had to go look at the yarn, of course…oh my, but it’s gorgeous! And machine washable, too??? Genius. Good thing I’ve already got an unholy large box of wool headed my way, or I’d probably be on the hunt right now.
    Wishing you a safe trip home, and plenty of yarn to get you there.

  120. Yarn shops ought to be mandatory at airports – they do, after all, have almost everything else :o)

  121. Safe travelling Stephanie. I can’t quite figure out what’s going on with your sock. It appears you are knitting with three yarns held together? Is that right? Also, I don’t understand the stranding on the outside. I thought that normally takes place on the inside. (Not that I’ve ever done any strand work, just watched other people). Hope you have another post to show us more clearly what you are doing. Thanks.

  122. Hope you got out when the weather slowed down this afternoon. If worse comes to worst, I can borrow my Mom’s 4-wheel-drive and bring you some alpaca from my stash. Not sharing the cashmere–sorry.

  125. @marilyn – 4:34
    Pooling is when the colors in variegated yarn clump together to form “pools” of pink, or purple, etc. Some people love it, some hate it, some patterns are meant to prevent it or enhance it. Steph’s sock has a big wodge of pink and purple – that is what she means.
    Mmmmm, cashmere. I was quite happy today, sitting for an hour while my van got an alignment job, because I have merino/alpaca/silk in a wondrous green, which is gradually becoming a shawl. (Mine all mine!!) 😉
    Safe travels, Steph! <3

  126. I could totally have used some cashmere in court today. A little peaceful would have improved my day a lot. And most judges kind of frown on wine in the courtroom.

  127. I can totally see you passing out little tufts of cashmere to all the stressed out travelers at the gate area. The looks of relief and happiness on all the faces as they pet and sqeeze their wee little cashmere “pets.” Perhaps we should send some cashmere yarn to Afghanistan and Iraq?
    By the way, charity knitting sometimes gives me the same warm glow.

  128. You sit there all calmly waiting for your much delayed flight, and the Muggles huff and pace and CANNOT BELIEVE that you have the patience to KNIT!!!
    And WE’RE supposed to be a bit nutty?

  129. Cashmere to knit with, easily accessible resources to coffee, tea, and possibly a cookie or two… what’s not to like?
    Knitting is like a legal non prescription tranquilizer, as long as you have plenty of yarn.

  130. Good luck in getting a SAFE fight home in a reasonable amount of time. That’s gorgeous yarn and I love your slipped stitch pattern. Fun to knit and interesting-looking too.

  131. Love the yarn! The colors remind me of spring which we here in New England are really looking forward to! It’s been the snowiest winter that I can remember.
    I agree that more people in airports should have access to yarn, preferably knowing how to knit or crochet with it. Learning how to knit has almost eliminated my complaints about delays, whether in a doctor’s office, a traffic jam or waiting to give a ride to a teen daughter who will be ready in ‘just a minute’.

  132. I’m telling you, I have no idea how people who don’t knit stand waiting. My daughter’s boyfriend told her that I look like I’m knitting to keep from going crazy, and he’s pretty close to the truth. 🙂

  133. Brilliant! Learn to knit kiosks in airports! Though the learning stage isn’t typically as relaxing, no matter how nice your yarn is. Maybe a therapy pet kiosk – delayed flight? $5 to sit in the cat room! $10 for a romp in the dog park! With frisbees!
    Anyone have the startup capital?

  134. Very yummy yarn, but a question, do they actually let you on the plane with those pointy green harpoons…I know that BA will let you knit on the flight as long as you don’t use metal needles.

  136. well, hope you are home, or at least somewhere warm and safe and with good friends…and cashmere and beers.

  137. Love the yarn. Would track it down only just had to spend money I don’t have on something else. Glad you’re home and warm. I just read about all the travel delays (even Barack Obama couldn’t fly home) and I think just the fact that you did get home shows you’ve got great traveling mojo.

  138. Oooh Cashmere!!! I love cashmere! I love spinning it, dyeing it, and knitting with it. It’s just so soft and yummy.
    As someone who grew up in lake effect snow country just 30 miles from the US/Canadian border, I know what you mean about snow optimism. When you usually get over a foot of snow at a time, a few inches barely register LOL! I guess it’s all what you’re used to. If I lived someplace where the summer temperature was usually over 100 degrees, I think I would melt. At least you have your knitting. I’ve gotten so that I always take my knitting and a drop spindle with me almost everywhere, especially to doctors appointments. That way, I never mind waiting and I feel like accomplishing something even while I’m sitting in the waiting room. Plus, it can be really hard to get prime knitting or spinning time at home (where I usually feel like I should be doing something else.) Happy knitting. I hope that you’re making those lovely socks for yourself.

  139. I hope you’re home safe and sound. Makes me smile to see all of those kind offers of a bed and yarn. We knitters are truly nice folks!
    Maybe you could teach that couple across from you how to cast on. Probem is, that if one were to learn on cashmere, you’d never want to knit anything else!

  140. Sorry I missed you while you were here in NYC. Snow here has been unbelievable. It took me 2 hours yesterday to get from West to East side to visit a patient at Cornell medical Center. Could the Canadian Govt. give Mayor Bloomberg some pointers on how to deal with snow? Please!!!
    Socks look Yummy!
    Stay warm.
    Michele

  142. It’s 7:07 am here and the news announced that flights were canceled. Hopefully this message finds you safe and cozy rather than stuck in the airport lounge.

  143. I think you have hit on something — airlines should hand out wee packets of cashmere during stressful times in airports. I can see it now — hundreds of people quietly petting. aahhh.

  144. BAHAHAH! I love MicheleinMaine’s comment. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?! With the economy and the DoD cutting back funding, my traveling (and consequently my in-flight knitting) has suffered. sigh….I envy your airport delay.

  146. Laura asked about the needles. I believe those are the Signature needles. You’ll never hold a better balanced beautiful needle in all your life. And the extra pointy lace needles are a dream.
    I want cashmere socks. Not really keen on that colorway but the yarn is beautiful, even from here.

  147. Here in Montana it’s almost balmy, but I have an excuse for sitting and knitting to while away the time-I’m dropping the dogs off at the groomer and simply HAVE to go to a coffee shop and knit while I wait.
    I never travel without my bamboo needles and some kind of sock yarn-in a ziplock tucked into my purse. Yep, everybody should know how to knit, the world would be a calmer place.

  148. I can see the softness…I bet ya non knitters around you are slightly jealous of how smart you are to be happily clicking away the time.

  149. Ah yes, the lovely dumping of more snow here in the NY area. LaGuardia is the smallest of the 3 NY airports so you may have that sock finished before you board! It looks lovely!

  150. Yes, I spend a lot of time stroking my yarn like it’s a “wee pet” and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. 🙂

  151. I’m feeling rather guilty after posting the other day about how lucky you were to have avoided the last big storm in NYC. I heard the City was getting 15″? That’s too much anywhere, nevermind around an airport.
    Please tell us you’re going to use the cashmere socks for lounging purposes only, with scuffs over them for walking around. I have visions of holes in the heels the first time you wear them. There’s a pattern called “lingerie” for lacy socks, and the designer isn’t even using anything like cashmere.
    Safe flight out.

  152. You’re patience is inspiring.I’m at my desk within weeks of being laid off at an age where you won’t find more work easily. Work projects are bearing down, but there is a sock in my bag for meditation at lunch. It’s alpaca,not cashmere but it will suffice for a little peace.

  153. From the sounds of it, you’re lucky to have gotten out of NYC when you did. How’re the socks going? I’m jealous – I’m committed to a sweater (and the sweater may cause me to be committed). I want the Birks weather back!

  154. Gosh, I bet you’re still at LaGuardia and it’s Hell with a capital H. If only there was such a thing as a yarn dispenser!

  155. I live in upstate NY (Syracuse, to be exact). On NPR this morning, they were talking about another snowpocalypse/snowmaggedon/killer snow that was shutting down the Northeast again.
    I looked out my car window and thought. “Meh.”

  156. Oh, yeah, don’t run out of cashmere um humm. The person who figures out opening a yarn store in an airport is going to become a millionaire. Just remember you saw it here first guys.
    My tiny two gate local International airport (cuz an Air Canada flight lands here) had a Buffalo Gold display. I was stunned. I wanted to buy it immediately, but alas, you couldn’t buy yarn at the airport, only look at it. Sigh.
    Hope you get home soon.

  157. Singles cashmere in socks? This will wear away faster than down blowing in a nor-easter. I think what you are knitting are “Pet Socks”. Pet me, love me, cuddle me, but please, don’t wear me!

  158. Well if you need a place to stay, let me know. 😉 Mayor Bloomberg apparently encouraged everyone to “take a snow day” today, and it would appear his admonition applies to AirCanada pilots as well?
    In any case, I hope you make it home safely, whenever that happens to be!

  159. I think you’ve given me a great idea for my morning commute – a little cashmere knitting project while I sit in traffic. As long as I’m not driving at the same time, right?

  161. Light bulb moment! Why aren’t there small yarn shops in airports – yarn, needles, do-dads for the discerning traveller

  162. OMG. Cashmere sock yarn?! It’s soooooo…..gah! *dies*
    I checked out the artyarns webpage, and they say that the nylon content will prevent felting. Do you really think it will??
    I hope you get home safe and sound!

  163. Hmm, I’m guessing you didn’t get out quickly… Hope you are home now!
    I once had to get to JFK from NYC. I allowed three hours after they told me it took two hours on the bus. It took four. Just as well it was pre-911 cos about 30 of us arrived with TWENTY minutes to spare before our flight to London left. And they got us on it. And our luggage!
    (Very glad that the train is now an option – only takes about an hour)

  166. I know what you mean about people thinking it’s the airlines or city’s fault for inclement weather.
    We knitters (like you and the cashmere socks) view it as more time to work on our projects….this is why I love knitting…it is super relaxing.
    Great blog! I just found it and will be reading more. 🙂

  167. Over Christmas I got stuck in Phoenix for four hours because of a broken plane. While everyone else was freaking out and yelling at the people at the counter I knit one of your cowls (Used Cascade Eco Wool doubled.) Despite the chaos I sat and knit and knit even while they had to fly in a new plane to replace the broken one and that took more time… My friend got the cowl as a late Chaunakkah present (I live in Texas, no cowls for me) I kept my sanity, and eventually they found us a new plane that would take us safely to Los Angeles… so hopefully the spirit of your cowl will send you some good travel vibes because it sure did save me…

  168. Safe home!
    Are you drinking beer while wearing your beer mittens?
    Silly Me! Of course not… you are knitting cashmere, and ya can’t knit with mittens on!!!

  169. I too woke up Wednesday morning thinking snow in New York wasn’t so big of a deal. However I called home to Northern VA and found that they thought it was going to be a rather big deal. I changed my train to an earlier one and got off the metro at 5:00 instead of 8:30. It was a 4 1/2 hour train ride from NYC to the closest metro stop and a 6 hour ride from the metro to my house (usually takes 20-30 mins). Unfortunately all the knitting was packed so I just had to grin & bare it. Thankfully we got home safely, just tired.
    P.S. Heard your lecture about your brain on knitting and loved it. I’ve got MS and I’m grateful that I can prescribe knitting as a necessary part of my day. When I can justify it, it doesn’t seem like I’m avoiding doing something else to knit instead (even when I am!)

  170. Wow! They let you take knitting needles on planes? I figured they would confiscate those. I’ll have to take my knitting next time I fly. I figured it wasn’t allowed.

  171. I thought of you this morning when I heard that the airports in New York were closed. I hope you made it out before then!

  172. I once got back to Glasgow Airport after a delayed flight, to a delay in getting luggage off the plane. Around the baggage carousel, I listened to a woman announcing (I quote) ‘This is the worst thing EVER! What are we going to do NOW?’ (This is after maybe 10-15 minutes without bags.) Erm.. survive? (I nearly said that to her, so maybe I found the delay worse than I thought too)

  173. Hi, I hope you finally got in the air. How by golly did you make the pretty sideways stitch? I am a fairly new knitter and for the life of me can’t see how you did that!????

  175. You epitomize what I love about knitters. With needles, a good pattern and fabulous yarn we’re good to go AND very low maintenance. Good news for you is that, should you be stranded longer and run out of yarn, there is lots more cashmere in NY and plenty of resourceful knitters to get it to you!
    Traveling Mercies, Stephanie.

  176. Hey, hope you got home okay! I must admit, that yarn with its multiple strands would make me nuts, no matter how soft.
    Question about your needles. I love Signature needles and I’m excited to see you using their DPNs, but I can never tell from your pics how long your needles are. Are they 6″ (15.25 cm)? Longer? Shorter? I have a set that are 8″ (20.5ish cm) and they are a little awkward for most socks, but lovely for hats.
    Anyone else out there use SNA DPN’s? What length do you use?

  178. I have learned to travel with enough knitting to knit the entire trip plus about 24 hours. This came in handy when I visited my sister-in-law and her whole world fell apart that week. She didn’t really have time to see me and I knit. While it wasn’t the trip I envisioned, I could have had a breakdown as well. I knit most of a 70″ round shawl that week. Now it needs the right home because when I look at it, I just remember that bad week.

  179. For me it would be all about running out of cashmere and food. Then all hell might break loose.

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