A Quick Gripe About Turkish Airways

I got my knitting needles taken away on a trip from NYC to Istanbul. I boarded, sat in my seat, buckled up, and got out my sock. After completing a round and a half, the male attendant came up and said, "I'm sorry, we'll need to take those away."

I was like, "Whatever do you mean? I used them the entire way from Cairo to Istanbul, then Istanbul to NY, on YOUR airline, and was not asked to give them to anyone. I knit in peace."

He said, "I'm sorry, you can't have them on the plane."
(Of course, I'm thinking, they've already been on a plane, they made it through security, and why are they now a problem?)

(There was more pleading on my part, more refusal on his, and a sympathetic look from the female attendant, but I could see that they knew I was really a ninja wielding deadly needles and waiting to complete my assassination assignment.)

I said, "Will I get them back?"

"Yes."

Ok, I could live with that, after hearing stories of needles being ripped from projects during security checks (for my non-knitting friends, this means hours of hard work unravels). So I said, "Let me finish this round." He walked away, and I swear he forgot about me and I was really tempted to keep knitting, but figured why push it...so when he came by again, I gave him my nicely knotted sock bag.

Needless to say, I was BORED on the flight. The movies were the same as my flight home, which means I already watched all the ones that I found interesting. So, I read a bit, began to get drowsy, watched a few not-so-good movies, and cursed the attendant under my breath and thought of ways to off him with my circular yarn cutter.

I've lived overseas for the last seven years, flown well over 250,000 miles in that time, and NEVER had I not been allowed to knit on a plane! Only once was I asked to put away some needles during takeoff, and they were 10mm metal ones, so that came as no surprise. But little sock needles? And they had NO problem with my knitting on the flights home. Bah to you, Turkish Airlines!