Hmmmm - could it be the card itself causing problems?

Colleen our now famous Subway Knitter has picked up a following in Chicago as well.

The Chicago blogs while complimenting Colleen on her idea are wondering if the current cold weather in Chicago is causing their Chicago Card to be acting up.

Chicago uses a different fare collecting system than Boston but both use smartcards with a RFID chip inside.

Anyhow I will link to the discussions in Chicago and see where this theory goes.

Can Mittens Solve Chicago Card's Cold Weather Woes?

Win a pair of CharlieCard mittens - and support Rosie's Place

Colleen Meagher, the Subway Knitter, is raffling off a pair of her now-famous CharlieCard mittens, which keep both your hands and your card warm while you pay to ride 'neath the streets of Boston.

To enter the raffle, all you need to do is visit the front page of SubwayKnitter.com and make a PayPal donation to Rosie's Place, a shelter for poor and homeless women. The winner gets a pair of new mittens knit personally by Colleen.

The CharlieCard mitten arrives just in time

Ron Newman who was last seen going through trash bins at Davis Square looking for CharlieTickets with value on them has come across the must have item for freezing T bus riders.

He posts at universalhub.com about the brand new CharlieCard Mitten designed by the Subway Knitter. who tells all how the idea came to be.

Without further ado, and just in time for today's cold snap, I present to you the Amazing Charlie Card Mittens! Those of you not from Boston might need some background. The T has recently completed an upgrade to its fare-collection system. Gone are the days of T passes and tokens. Starting in 2007 we're using a new system of rechargeable stored-value cards. I guess that it's a lot like the Oyster card on the London Underground. The cards are passed close to a card reader mounted on the front of the turnstiles. For those of you who don't know, you need not press the pass directly to the card reader. It just needs to get close to the reader.

"Ah, ha!" you're thinking. Exactly! Why not store the pass on my right hand, so that when I get to the turnstile I need only to wave my hand in front of the reader (located on the right side of the turnstile) to gain entry? Why not, indeed! So, when I finished knitting the mittens, I measured my Charlie Card (about the same size as a credit card) and knit a pocket for it that's slightly bigger. I knit a flap and attached a cute button. Now you might understand why it was so important for me to keep these mittens from getting lost, and why I knit the string to keep this pair in my coat.