Keeping Calm with Crochet

I used to just carry crochet equipment when I traveled, but now that I writing the Yarn Retreat series, too and it involves knitting, I have started carrying needles and a knitting project along as well.

Although last night I stuck to crochet on the plane. I am more comfortable with crochet and it is therefore far more relaxing than worrying about what to do if I drop a stitch. I was grateful for the meditative quality of crochet. Between the flight delay, a ground stop by the FAA, and then knowing we were flying into weather, I needed all the calm I could get.

I spent at least an hour crocheting. I was working on the scarf pattern for the next Crochet Mystery, For Better or Worsted, and the rhythmic gesture and repetition was totally relaxing.

My plane arrived an hour and a half late and because of all the weather in Chicago, lots of other flights had been delayed and all the planes came in at once. There were three afternoon flights from L.A. that were supposed to arrive a couple of hours apart and they all landed in Chicago at almost the same time.

It was almost 11 p.m. as I was walking through the airport. O’hare is usually quiet by then, but last night it was mobbed with people.

Our flight was directed to a baggage claim area and it was even listed on the video screen for the carousel. However the bags going by again and again where from a bunch of flights all over the place, but not L.A.. I had a particular concern about my bag. Either the airline person didn’t give me a baggage sticker or I dropped it, but either way I had nothing to show I’d checked a bag. So, if it didn’t turn up....

I watched that baggage go around for probably a half an hour. By then, the video screen no longer listed the L.A. flight. In fact it didn’t list any flights even though all those bags were still circulating.

Forget asking at the baggage counter. The line went on forever. I met up with another person on my flight who heard a rumor our bags were on another carousel. When I checked it, I saw by the baggage tags that the suitcases were from our flight. I watched them come out with my fingers crossed. I was thrilled when I saw the little red crochet thing I hung on my bag to make it stand out. No more worries about the baggage sticker I didn’t have.

All those flights landing together had left a glut of people trying to get where they were going. There was a mob waiting in the shuttle line. The cab line went almost the whole length of the terminal.

I use a car service and it took forever for the car with my name on it to arrive. Luckily, I was waiting in a covered area. Unluckily, the water from the road above was pouring through the cracks.

I thought I was home free when I got in the backseat and we headed out of the airport. As soon as we left the covered area, the pouring rain hit the windshield. The kind of rain that even the fastest speed of the windshield wipers couldn’t keep up with. There wasn’t a lot of traffic, but it was slow going. Hard to see and huge puddles.

But that crochet had left its effect and none of the above bothered me. Even the thunder that shook the building when I finally got home didn’t keep me from sleeping. And the best part, no bad side effects.