You should totally point out their lax security standards. And say things like "It's a good thing I'm just a dee-vorce-say, not a terrorist!" Something about bringing home the bacon and/or wine and how you're a rabid feminist might help too. Like "As an accomplished alcoholic feminist, I should tell you I think THEY ARE ALL GUILTY. Men suck, they are the root of all evil!" etc. You'll be back to the big project in no time.

ohhh for shame! Just be carefull with the law breaking - because they may CONFINSCATE! (how do you spell that?( the knitting needels then you would have to buy more! And that would truly suck.

You go Purl. Guess what! I think I may have finally, on my own, figured out the knit tsitch. I think I was making it way more complicated than it was supposed to be. BUT - I ahve two problems.

1) I knit too loose the knitting falles off of the needles.
2) I knit too tight and can't get the needles in behind the stitches.

This knitting thing has become a great stress inducer instead of a stress reducer.

And - I don't think I like any of the knitting needles I bought.

Good for you for evading The Man! :) Last time I had jury duty, I got my knitting confiscated. I was much more in the mood to blow up the place after that happened than I would have been happily knitting for the 10,000 or so hours I had to wait until I was dismissed. Ugh.

Ugh. I have jury duty in mid-September, so I feel your pain. Whatever will I do if I can't knit? It's just so ridiculous that knitting needles are banned. They are okay on airplanes, but no go in a building with cops and security running around all over? Nonsense! Maybe I'll try knitting with chopsticks or pencils...

You're a rebel and you'll never be any good.

Gosh darn it! Yet another thing to be mad at the terrorists about! Now we can no longer knit anywhere we want to because of carrying potential weapons!

Is it all knitting needles? Or just metal ones? Sometimes they will allow wooden needles...

Glad to see you're fulfilling your civic duty, but curses on the knitting needle ban.

I got a "cease and desist" for reading in the courtroom from the baliff once. I didn't realize that I had to pay attention to the questioning of other potential jurors. What does finding out that some woman's brother-in-law is a cop so she gets to be excused have to do with the case?

But, just think, you probably earned $6.33 for sitting in that room yesterday. Shows you the value the gov't places on jurors. I usually just sign the form to release the $$ back to the state -- though, knock wood, I've been released either over the phone or from the "pool room" all but one time.

What i don't get is that things like knitting needles and crochet hooks are banned from places like that, but PENS and PENCILS...which in most cases have much sharper pointy ends are allowed! Sure, take my crochet hook, I'll just stab you with my pen or my car keys!

Hey, I thought jury duty was a one-day deal here -- if you don't get called your first day, you don't have to come back for a year. What happened?

Our justice system here in Flor-aye-day didn't care about my Denise plastics...it was the little tiny pair of scissors I tried to bring in. The girl in front of me had a concha belt that looked like a medieval torture device and could have taken out a grown man, but my 2" plastic scissors were a terrorist threat. Also couldn't bring a tape measure (for those deviants who wanted to measure off the jurist rooms for, well, deviant reasons...)

I suggest singing D-I-V-O-R-C-E for the judge, much like dolly parton. Then you really will get off the case.

good luck breaking the law. :)

I had to go to traffic court (as the defendant...no, it wasn't a DUI case!) and I brought my knitting to kill time while the lawyers wangled with each other. I had to run my knitting bag through a metal detector/x-ray scanner thingie, but I told the cops working the machine that I had knitting needles in my bag. Then, I smiled (real sweet-like) and said: "Don't worry. I promise not to use them on anything but my knitting." He got a big kick out of that!

you are bad assed.

the last time i was called for jury duty i dyed my hair 3 different colors the night before. they let me go home pretty much immediately.

You know, I've always been afraid to take knitting needles on planes for the same reason... I worry that they would think I was some sort of crazy knitting terrorist and even worse, confiscate my needles. I've even held off on taking a crochet hook on board and puh-lease, a pen makes a better weapon than a crochet hook.

OOH OOH! The only item I can remember from David Letterman's Top 10 Ways to Get Out of Jury Duty is, oh let's say #5:

Answer every question with "Let me ask the little man who lives in my pants."

Still makes me giggle.

So, uh, WHAT? I can KNIT ON A PLANE and they won't let you knit in a COURTHOUSE? Jesus. I would go apeshit crazy if I couldn't knit on Jury Duty. I'm already dreading this Thursday and Friday where I have to be at meetings in person (read: showered and in grown up clothes, including SHOES) and CAN'T KNIT.

I'd heard about the "no knitting needles" thing" before I went to jury duty, so I wrote in to complain and got back some lame "I'm sure you understand that in this post-9/11 blah blah blah..." This was around the time the prisoner killed several people and broke out because he stole the gun from the officer who was leading him. Um, maybe they should work on that little problem first. (Besides, if you'd like to show me how you can hijack a jury room and crash it into another building, I'll be all ears.)

I thought about bringing in chopsticks, but instead I just sewed together a sweater with a sharp, pointy little needle.

Depends on the jurisdiction. I'm told that in Manhattan and in the federal pool knitting is allowed.

Go Purl. Just tell 'em all about your extra high opinion of judges and how many police officers you're pals with.

Ah, jury duty. I've never had the privilege. I've always got a good excuse, but that doesn't stop them from trying. A few weeks ago, I dealt with a summons in my old married name (I know I've cleared that with them before). I also told them that I was living abroad, so I may not be able to make it, unless they're willing to pay for the flight. They fixed that error, apparently, and felt the need to immediately send one out in my current married name. That's your tax dollars at work, there.

I knitted in traffic court the other day...I brought in knitting on my plastic circs and the bag-inspecting dude looked right at them and passed them through. Now the camera that I was going to blog my court time with? THAT I had to take out to the car! I wrote about it, if you want to check out my blog. Strangely enough, the entry is called "Traffic court."
You go, Laurie, and flout the law all you can. I think talking into your bra is a great idea.

omG. I was on jury duty for SIX weeks and I would have LOST my sanity had I not been able to knit.. granted I couldn't knit during the trial but I could have it in the jury room (IE in the flippin' courthouse).

:) Hopefully they will pass you up... I'm all about fulfilling ones civic duty and all but I think I fulfilled it for everyone I know. ;)

Too bad about jury duty... I hope the White Guys With Ties don't give you crap about it. Maybe you can get out of it if you repeatedly shout "If I can't knit, you must commit!"

Good for you! Maybe it's like airport security...wooden and plastic needles don't even show up. Last time I had jury duty I took my laptop. Knitting would have been sooooo much better!

Scandalous, simply scandalous!

Just an fyi - crochet hooks are acceptable in the L.A. court system! So there (nyah nyah). All of you knitting potential jurors are just going to have to learn hillbilly knitting (AKA crochet)

Ahhh, bummer! I have jury duty Monday in Orange County and luckly, the North Justice Center in Fullerton doesn't have their detectors yet, and don't mind :)

BTW, not to ruin your budget, but I got an email from Mary Maxim Crafts (still don't know how I got on their list) offering UpCountry for $4.97 a ball. www.marymaxim.com :)

I JUST stumbled across your blog and OMG!! You are one talented lady with a knack for the obvious . . . thank u for making me smile !! Love the content!

Suzanne

Oooo, Ima tell on you...

Actually, I brought knitting to...get this...traffic school.

Yeah, Faith is right! They allow crochet hooks in the L.A. courthouse. Time to practice that time-honored technique, Purlie!

Recently, one of my crochet friends got out of jury duty by hanging around in the hallway when the "criminal" and his attorney were present. She looked at the "criminal" and said in a loud voice, "Just by looking at him, you know that he's guilty as sin." Needless to say, the attorney asked that she be dismissed.

I don't know what court house you were in but when I did jury duty last year, I checked their official website and it said that plastic knitting needles are fine.
It still appears to be the case:
http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/jury/
Search for the word "knit" on the page.

REBEL!

I have jury duty next week :( I got a list a mile long of stuff I can't bring to court in Detroit- including bingo markers (???) and of course, knitting. Unfortunately, I'm too much of a chicken to sneak it in anyway. You're my hero!

That heavy metal song "breakin' the law" is now in my head thanks to your post. Knit on. You're a rebel!

Tanya

That heavy metal song "breakin' the law" is now in my head thanks to your post. Knit on. You're a rebel!

Tanya

Well I don't know what else they expect you to do all day!

I'm also presently knitting while on jury duty!! I'm actually on a case now, though, so I can only knit on breaks.

I’ve never had the pleasure of serving jury duty. But now that I can crochet I’ll have something to do. Breakin’ the law, you’re such a naughty girl!

I finished my first crochet project! No really! It’s on my blog. I made a hat :)

Don't these people realize that there would be far less crime if they allowed people to knit?!? Good for you for your little protest. Love your blog! :)

I just get such a kick out of your blog. You are too funny! I took socks on bamboo dpn's when I had to go to courtover a building rstoration. My dh kept whispering " I think you are in contempt of court doing that" The judge wasn't even in there yet! LOL. and besides when she did get in...she LOOKED like a knitter to me!

do you want jury duty, or the big project?
sounds win win to me.
they're thinking of letting sharp objects back on planes, i think they should let knitting needles in court after you pass a test, where you show them you can knit, and then start making objets d'art for the balif, judge, guards, etc. and then ask them if you can take pics for their new kitty thingamajigs so they can be on your blog!
oh, and btw, you are able to announce your new marital status as "single"

I got sequestered in Brooklyn court once - when I was pregnant - on a BICYCLE THEFT CASE! A friggin' BICYCLE THEFT! I'm convinced that the officers assigned to our jury really, really, really wanted the overtime so we all had to schlep out to the Staten Island Motel in little vans and stay overnight. I did not take my knitting, but I did annoy everyone by needing to PEE every 10 minutes. Did I mention I was pregnant?

I had jury duty this summer. Thankfully there were no problems with having my bamboo knitting needles. There were several of us knitters in the jury pool, and we were all sharing projects. And there was a really great LYS across the street from the court house! Made jury duty less painful. :)

Knitting needles aren't allowed in Kalamazoo, either. The list actually said "no guns, no knives, no knitting needles of any kind." I still giggle about that.

I knit an entire sweater on jury duty. I waited a day, and then another day, and then another for them to empanel a full jury and then we all waited another couple of days for some reason and then we were dismissed because they settled! At least I had a present for my husband to show for it :) Plastic needles and kiddy plastic craft scissors rock!

- "oh, and btw, you are able to announce your new marital status as "single" "

quoted from an above response...

Reminds me of something i just read

"I've never been married but I tell people I'm divorced so they won't think there's something wrong with me." - Elaine Boosler

HAHAHAHAAHAHAA!!!

good luck with the knitting thing, CAP :)

Purl, you Voodoo master, what did you do, with your Saturn predictions?? I can't even count on two hands amy more the number of women I know who've had unusually crappy, unhappy summers! I need to back and re-read the Hor-O-Scopes to see if there's any hope for us at all...

I was pretty excited about saying "divorcee." I think it was a Blance Dubois moment...

Reading all these Michigan people saying no needles, I'm hoping I don't get called!

Can I bring my joints with me to jury duty????

I went on the London Eye on Tuesday with some knitting needles. I had them in a see-through plastic carrier bag and walked right past the sign saying they were banned, and two security guards. Surely people understand us knitters would never endanger our needles (or other people, of course).

http://thebelljar.blogspirit.com

*Entry for August 31, 2005 Link to aid Hurricaine victims*

Copy, paste it, link it*

Thanx,

Suzanne

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