Debi van Zyl

My little orange knitting scissors died last week. Literally felt apart and broke in my hand. I had to start chewing through my yarn. No joke.

Mind you, they were made of the most pliable metal you can imagine. It was a surprise that they even cut through the yarn in the first place. It's no wonder.... they sold them at in the airport; a plastic spoon could have done more damage than these little scissors.

They were great, though, so I'm sad they are dead. They went undetected, ignored for years. I recently had a flight attendant ask me how I got through security. My reply is standard: most airport shops sell tiny sewing kits in the shops after you get through security, so it MUST be ok for me to carry them. Right?

And again, even with the knitting needles, I tell you.... everyone, the little ones are fine. I've never ever had a problem taking needles on the plane, but I keep them small... (nothing over size 3) and they're double pointed. But I knit small things, so it makes sense for me. Every time my heart stops when I'm at the airport screener: barefeet, no belt, life under scrutiny, wondering if my needles are going to make it... and everytime: success.

Anyway, back to the scissors. Obviously scissors are important to me. My sister gave me the most beautiful pair for Christmas, the lovely hand-made quality is stunning. Plus they are from one of my favorite stores, Tortoise, so it was a perfect present. The little white pair are my replacement airplane scissors, just recently purchased at LAX this past Wednesday. You can see the poor state of affairs my first airplane scissors are in. Dead. And lastly, my new land-scissors... when I'm not in the air, these great clippers (a little present from R) are perfect. Though, I do admit, they took me a very long time to figure out how to use correctly.

Phew.... that was a long one. Who knew I would write so much about scissors?