I'm checked into a hotel again tonight. Still feeling a bit ragged from too much sun. I wandered into the hotel lounge around 5:00 to have a beer or two. Of course I took my knitting with me as hotel lounges tend to be a bit slow and boring.
The bartender was an older lady who took interest in my knitting and who happens to knit herself. She complimented my work and we chatted about such things for a little while until the locals began filtering in from their fields. The locals here in this little Iowa town are mostly farmers.
Most of the guys who wandered in for a drink were older guys and were all farmers. I sat drinking my beer and quietly knitting. One gentleman of around 70 I'd guess commented on what I was doing and the bartender told him that I do very good knitting work. He checked out the scarf I'm working on and said that he was quite impressed with it. He then began telling about how he knit all of his own socks as a kid but hadn't picked up the needles in years. He seemed genuinely nostalgic about it.
A few of the farmers there came over to inspect my work and to make their own comments about it. Every single one of them seemed quite comfortable with the fact that this big ugly tattooed truck driver was sitting in their bar knitting a scarf. I actually had a pretty good time talking with them although we had very little in common as my world revolves around traveling the country and their's revolves around bringing in the crops.
I really liked them as they're down to earth people without the slightest hint of pretense and all had a great sense of humor. It seemed that each one had some sort of knitting related story, either personal or a family member, that they were more than happy to share.
It's amazing to me how something as simple as a couple of sticks and some string can create a common ground upon which to base some friendly and interesting conversation. I suspect that had I not been working on my knitting I would have spent my brief time there just sipping my beer and watching the idiot box instead of engaging in some lively human interaction.