HA HA HA HA Splinters! I'm going to remember that one!
Some people just suck. Glad you stood your ground.

grr, i hate self-righteous idiots with a teeny tiny bit of power.

I'm glad you got your knitting, though.

Great story. :-)

Same thing happened to me! Same conversation. Well, except for the splinters. heh heh - love that part. I ultimately got to take my knitting into the jury room too.

Glad you got your knitting back! Isn't it amazing that even now, our security people aren't on the same page? I had jury duty shortly after 9.11 - they let me bring in knitting AND scissors, because they were chatting amongst themselves and let my bag go through the xray machine without looking at it. Once in the jury waiting room I sat for 6 hours knitting, to the great horror of the 3 women behind me, who whispered (loudly and repeatedly) about how I shouldn't have been allowed to have "weapons" and that they must watch me carefully for any "homicidal tendencies". I didn't have them before I sat down, ladies, but once you got on my LAST NERVE...

You have no idea how much empathy I felt at the prospect of you sitting there all day with no knitting! It was a huge relief when I read on that you were able to get it back.
Um, do you think I have a problem?
I have flipped "Bitchy Security Gaurd" off all the way from NJ.

Ok my eyes about popped out when you said that you flipped off the guard. I laughed out loud when I read that it was only under your coat. Hilarious story, but I am sure complete agrevating to you.

Maybe the BSG just wanted to see you cry. What an eijit!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ~snort~

Yeah, I'd have flipped her off, too.

Good for you! We knitters will take over the world, one by one...

Having no knitting and waiting for four hours would drive me absolutely bonkers. I wasn't a knitter during my last jury duty service so I wrote out my Christmas cards. Not as fun as knitting! :)

hahaha you go girl!!

hahahaha!! lurv you!

Too funny! I had to go to the courthouse a couple of weeks ago and could not bring in my knitting - well, actually, the guard told me to take it off the needles and just give those to him. Sure bub. So I took it out to the car and came back in - he didn't bother looking in my purse, and I had a pocket knife in it that I had forgotten about. Go figure.

I think you showed admirable restraint.

I would have spent the time knitting BSG a glove with just that one finger. You're a saint - and a good citizen for doing your duty!

I nearly spit my breakfast at my monitor. Good for you.

Yippee, I am glad you prevailed!

I admire your restraint - I don't think I'd have kept the bird in the coat :-)

Naaah....Na...Naaah...Na...Na!! I'd love it if you'd said...Thanxs Bitch! I'm sure you thought it!
I'm SO glad you won a battle for ALL Knitters in the world!

I do that patented move where I push up my glasses with my middle finger instead of in the coat pocket. It might be a little more satisfying. :p

You are too funny. And cripes, if they let you bring knitting into the courthouse in Roxbury, where I had jury duty, they should anywhere!

I couldn't take my knitting to jury duty, so I brought a book to read. You know how hard it is to read in a group of noisy, bored people?? Wish I could have had my knitting that week. Lucky you.

A co-worker of mine is in the selection pool this week, and where I live you report in every day for a week to be available for selection. She had a water bottle confiscated at the door on Tuesday, which doesn't bode well for my plans for a relaxed knitting marathon if called for jury duty myself. I wonder how they feel about spindles?

Whew! I'm glad that had a happy ending. "She wasn't a criminal when she arrived at the courthouse, but after being deprived of her knitting for 8 hours..."

We are all so brave inside our coat pockets, aren't we? :)

What a terrible experience (but great story!). Chris' "criminal" comment is too funny.

I have a big jury duty at the District court coming up and all the packets and instructions they send me say "No Knitting or Crocheting allowed". So I'm planning on bringing a book. They also sent a letter to my employer telling him to expect me to be absent for 2 months and to find a temp worker to fill in for me if necessary. I sure hope they're wrong about that. No way in hell am I going 2 months without pay.

Hah! Glad, SO glad you got to take your knitting in!

whahahaha
You've made my morning.

So great when the people prevail over the system! Yay Carole!

You flipped somebody off? Somehow you doing that never crossed my mind...Good for you!!! It's just the jackasses at the airport security places - just cause they got some stupid little tin badge attached to their jacket - they think they can be rude and nasty to us "common" folk! Awww...they are Gods only in their own eyes!!!

Glad you got to take your knitting - they wouldn't let us take it in FL...we were lucky we could take a book.

Priceless. Just priceless. I'm glad you were able to get your knitting back though.

Ha ha ha - good for you. I had Jury Duty last year and ending up serving for a week. I can't imagine what I would have done without my knitting. I did deliberately bring something on circulars, but the security guard only took it out the bag every morning, gave it a curious look, and usually seemed to decide I wasn't going to strangle anyone with it.

Thanks for the good laugh....I know it must have been so frustrating but the retelling of it is very humourous.

At least you didn't tell her it might be your civic duty to shove those wooden needles where the sun doesn't shine...might drive home the point, so to speak!

Good for you. I only wish I had known how o knit when I got called many years ago. I actually wound up on the jury too. Talk about boredom! Sitting in a room with a bunch of people who'd rather be anywhere else. Ugh!

I brought my knitting last time I had jury duty, and it's the only way I didn't hurt someone. I just can't imagine sitting in one of those uncomfortable chairs for 4 hours with nothing to do. Most of the people there brought at most a newspaper. What were they thinking? I'd poke my eyes out after an hour of that.

In your pocket! I love it! (I'm going to have to remember that one.)

I can SO see you flipping off that guard under your coat...heehee!

I'm so glad you conquered the bitchy security guard. No knitting during jury duty!? That's unconstitutional. My husband and I do all of our road flipping off below the windows after one crazy maniac chased us after a flip off incident. (He totally deserved the flip off, BTW.) Best to keep it in your pocket.

I went in for a collections (!) case for the office...I was not only not allowed to bring my sock, I was told they could not be responsible for it's safety (excuse me, they have guns, right?) and they'd have to trash it (MY STR? You wanna bet?). I left the building and took it back to my car.

Thankfully, I was in the collections case for very limited time, but I was still ticked off.

Good for you!
(((hugs)))

Just kills me. Did she insist on taking your pens and pencils as well? Potential weapons, you know!

I think every one of us has a BSG story. While most security people I've run into are just trying to get through the day like the rest of us, a few let petty power go to their heads.

I had jury duty last summer; I played the Taz card to get myself transferred from Cambridge to Concord, where I had no trouble getting through and along with three other people knitted peacefully until we were all told to go home. Actually we had to sit through a little pep talk from one of the judges explaining why they hadn't just wasted our time, *then* we could go home.

Good for you for standing up to petty tyranny and striking a blow for knitters everywhere! :-) :-) :-)

That's my Carole!

I did the phone-in thing last fall, but, thankfully, did not have to report in. The paperwork they sent me said I could bring plastic needles, not metal. I'm so glad I didn't have to call and ask about wood.

All I can do is shake my head...okay, and roll my eyes too. Glad you flipped her off!

It's really a good thing that you asked the nice lady, because I'm sure that the BSG would *never* have asked anyone if you could have your knitting. Stupid BSG.

Did I tell you how, when I was flying to NY for Rhinebeck, the security guard lady almost didn't let me bring along my niddy noddy? Let me bring my big a** scissors (which I had totally forgotten to take out of my spinning bag) but was not going to let me take my niddy noddy. Then, when I finally took it apart and (this is no joke) she told me that it was okay to take.

shakes head.

Good grief, SOMEONE was on a power trip that day, huh?

I had the same issue at jury duty! Except I knew ahead of time. (I brought plastic sewing needles.) When I wrote to say that this was ridiculous, they said they were sure I'd understand that "in our post-9-11 world" they had more restrictions. I replied that there were still no reports of anyone crashing a jury room into another building, armed with knitting needles or not.

This was about the same time that several people were shot in court because a bailiff was carrying a gun while escorting a prisoner (big no-no). Maybe if a bystander had been armed with knitting needles, fewer lives would have been lost.

how funny! good for you getting around that BSG. security these days is ridiculous (more of a panacea than anything) and i'm sure they still miss the people who actually have weapons.

You GO girl!!

LOL, oh Carole you so rock! Damn government employees anyway!

oh my god, I have jury duty in April, is this what I have to put up with?

I worried about jury duty just before Xmas (I was called, but not picked). I had a weird similar episode on a small plane about 9 months ago. I was in the first seat of one of those little propeller ones and the flight attendant, who was possibly as tall as Margene, but um... beefier... and female asked if I got those needles through security. I told her yes. She looks at me and says in her best Bahston accent "It's okay. I'm pretty sure I can take you down if I need it." I was more than "pretty sure" she could too, so I smiled nicely and said there'd be no need. And I even put them away when she asked me to for the descent. Even though I feel sure I didn't look a bit threatening.

oh, phew! My heart was in my throat waiting for the "verdict." Really.

no, really!

I always wonder what damage they think we can do with the little tips on circular needles that someone else couldn't do with any ol' ink pen? I had a passenger on a plane screech at at the top of her lungs to me when I pulled a sock-in-progress out, wondering how I got that through security.

Maybe BSG was envious because she couldn't knit? Some people! Glad you got your knitting back AND flipped her off (even if was in you coat pocket).
I brought a sock in progress with me for an appointment at the Social Security office and almost didn't make thru the security gate there. I guess I didn't look crazed and I was using circs.

Oh, I love this story and am going to treasure it and recall it fondly every time I get weird looks or remarks while out knitting in public!

Oh Carole! That is the best story! I'm so glad you triumphed over the B-security guard! Yeah for Carole the knitter!!!!!!!!!!!

Good for you!

I had my knitting confiscated at court a few weeks ago - but then, I was at a hearing for child support and I very well could have used the needles as a weapon by the time I was done dealing with my ex all day. ;o)

Ugh. Sometimes I think security people let their 'power' go to their head. A few months ago for work, I was supposed to meet someone at a local federal building. Of course, no one thought to tell the marshal at the door (or me) that the person who I was supposed to be meeting was changed and the jerk just laughed and said - "Oh he never gets here before 9". And did his best to make me feel like an incompetent idiot. The custodian - who actually knew what was going on - was better mannered!

That is just way too funny! I'm glad you got your knitting. I would whimper and panic without my knitting for 4 hours.

OK, maybe this is stretching the point, but your story reminded me a little of the "conspiracy" against breastfeeders. I'll admit that it's been a while (My last baby is going to high school next year.) , but I remember being shocked by how many people thought you should have to hide in the bathrrom stall to breastfeed your baby. Hey world, it's a GOOD thing, quit with the harrassment. Knitters sometimes get the same treatment. Either your quaint and old-fashioned for doing it ro an annoyance.

Europeans knit everywhere. I haven't been stopped at the airport for a while, but I always get uptight about it. I did have to put my knitting in my checked luggage a fe years ago. I asked if they wanted me to get rid of my ball point pens too...they just sighed.

I'm so glad you got to take it in with you. I just got called for duty, and I asked the woman on the phone if I could bring my knitting. She said yes, so I hope she's there that day. I don't know how to be patient without my knitting.

I guess it pays to be a persistently squeaky wheel. Good for you. Love the flipping of the bird from the depths of your coat pocket! Did you simultaneously give the f-u smile to go along with it?

WTF! We in Vermont can not under any circumstances bring our knitting in court. We can bring crochet but no knitting. I tried the whole airplane reasoning too. I might just try to kill someone with a knitting needle. It will probably be the guard!

That's the kind of situation where you wish your needles really could be used as a weapon...

Of course.

Excellent work.

I would have flipped her off too.

Don't they know that we don't kill BECAUSE we knit??

> What am I going to do? Give someone a splinter?

HAHAHAHAHAHA
This is a wonderful line. I'm going to borrow it, if you don't mind. I'm glad there was a happy ending, since I too would go stark raving bonkers stuck in a room all day without the knitting.

Brilliant story, love it!

rock on my friend.
knitters rule.

I had a similar incident happen with a crochet project. I was making some crocheted lace and the male guard wanted to take the hook because he couldn't figure out what it was for. I was lucky there was a female guard there as well and she says, "It's just a crochet hook for making that lace that is in the bag." She silently mouthed "you dummy"!!! Then she asked about the project and took my Weiss Snips to be returned when I left.

This is so funny because I have to serve tomorrow and was wondering if I could bring my knitting or not. I'm going to try it but don't want to bring anything too nice now, in case it gets confiscated and they can't find it when I leave.

HAHAHA!

Wooooo! Score one for knitters everywhere! :)

Heh.... great story! Glad you won!

oh thats nothing. where I live there was a big brouhaha with a woman wearing an underwire bra through the scanners. The security boys made her remove it( no changing room so I guess she had to do it under her clothes) then they ran it through the scanner and one of the guards was tacky enough to say "its a girl" as it passed through.