Sock It To Me

It was a grey morning and I was listening to music and waiting for the Max train.

I tend not to listen to music while riding transit.  Generally I’d much rather talk with or listen to other riders, but I was feeling a bit grumpy this particular morning and was hoping some Franz Ferdinan would help.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw him.

It was hard not to notice his socks.  Not just because of the bright orange and yellow stripes but because his socks were in such contrast to the dark cut-off Dickies and grey flannel he wore and his shaved head and tattooed limbs.

We both boarded the same train.

I turned off my music, took off my headphones and tapped him on the shoulder.  “I just have to tell you that I really like your socks”, I said to him.

His face lit up.

He told me that he had knit the socks he was wearing.

In fact, he shared, he was on his way to Sock Summit  at the Oregon Convention Center that morning to buy yarn and check out a few of the knitting workshops.

I asked more about his knitting and learned that he had taught himself to knit watching a Youtube video.

He recommended a beginning kitting book for me and I told him what stop to take to get to the convention center.

I hopped off the train no longer feeling grumpy!