Knitting Needles - Perfect Protection in a Not-So-Perfect World

Yesterday, during a lull at the polls, Marash Girl pulled out her knitting needles and continued her knitting of an infinity scarf, a scarf she had promised to make for Meghan's birthday, the birthday now long past!  But the scarf is not the subject of this blog (as it was completed by the time that the polls closed) . . . 

"Look at those knitting needles!  They look dangerous," said a voter checking in at the polls.  Marash Girl laughed, as she remembered that knitting needles do look dangerous and could (if your grandmother had thought to use them that way) become a weapon to be reckoned with!  All of that dredged up a memory from long ago when Marash Girl used to ride the subway from Washington Heights to the Lower East Side where she was an intern Guidance Counselor at Seward Park High School.  So here's what happened.

As most of you can imagine, the subways and buses at rush hour are packed, and often offer the nefarious the opportunity to snuggle up close to an unwary rider. That was, in fact, the case, when one morning during rush hour on the subway in New York City, Marash Girl reached down and found an unrelated hand reaching up under her skirts.  Grabbing that hand, she held it high into the air, and shouted, "What is your hand doing under my skirt?"
"That's not my hand,"  answered the not so gentle man who was attached to the hand.

It was after that experience that Marash Girl unwittingly and unrelated to the incident (or was it?), decided to carry her knitting in her pocketbook; as the pocketbook was not large, and the needles were long, the knitting needles made their way up and out of her bag.  That very first time that she carried knitting needles onto the subway, Marash Girl noticed that folks made plenty of room for her as she stood on the crowded train.

When she related this tale to the voter who had commented on the needles and by then had  checked out of the polls,  the voter commented, "I'll have to spread the word.  Knitting needles -- the perfect protection in a not-so-perfect world!"