St. Patrick's Day

Apparently St. Patrick's Day is a big deal in Cleveland. Here you can get an idea of how many people drifted into the mall after the parade. I got out of my second movie and encountered this mass of people, many of whom had been celebrating strenuously. This was not a good time to seek somewhere to eat, but it was a must since a running time error in the festival program meant that my first two films were separated by ten minutes, not thirty-five. I was starving and in search of something substantial.

One of the other places in the mall had a 90-minute wait for a seat, so I ended up at Panera Bread. The line to order wasn't too bad, but to give you some idea of the number of people flowing through, they had an employee checking receipts before allowing customers to use the restrooms. Since I decided to bail on the 4:15 session again, I had plenty of time to do some writing until the laptop battery died.

While I was finishing my festival update, another attendee stopped by my table to ask what I had seen. (I'm identifiable as a festivalgoer because I wear the pass in a lanyard.) I rattled off what I had taken in so far. She then asked if I was a knitter because my bag was open and a skein was in plain view. I said that I was--there would be no denying it even if I wanted to--so I ended up talking about knitting for a little bit.

After writing all that I could, I returned to the theaters to wait in line for my next film. The current one hadn't let out yet, so I plopped onto the floor and resumed working on the slipper. One of the festival workers asked me about what I was doing and thought it was neat that I was knitting and mentioned that it was hip right now. Someone else saw me--well, a lot of someones saw me when the theater emptied--but a woman gave me a card with information about a weekly Stitch 'n Bitch meeting in Lakewood. I explained that I don't live here. I might have to seek something like that out at home, though.

I've knitted almost seven inches, so it's possible that I might get one slipper done this weekend. Not bad considering how busy I've been.