KNIT PICKER

THERE ONCE WAS A GIRL NAMED IRENE,
WHO LIVED ON DISTILLED KEROSENE.
BUT SHE STARTED ABSORBIN'
A NEW HYDROCARBON,
AND SINCE THEN HAS NEVER BENZENE!

What’s so funny about this? When I read this limerick, I couldn’t resist it, mostly because my wife’s name is Irene and she’s a big time knitter. Once I decided to use the limerick, I had to find an appropriate visual. I wanted an old style gas/petrol station with a female in the picture. I came across a lot of pics with more pin-up type posing by the women. Then I saw this lovely change maker. That was this woman’s entire job - sit around the gas pumps all day, inhaling the fumes, frying her brain and making change when customers paid with bills instead of coins. In those days, of course, gas was about 30 cents a gallon, so there was a lot of change to be made. But the clincher was when I saw that she was knitting! My wife is a knitter too and if she had this job it’s probably exactly how she’d spend her time. But let’s look at the limeri