I love that HP got you into knitting! (I know so many people who knit - and love it - that I'm often tempted to try it myself.)

You make train rides sound heavenly.

I like to hand write my stories, too. I do use lined paper (legal pads) unless I'm recycling things I've printed off and am using the back of those sheets. I never considered using graph paper, but it sounds like a neat idea. (I love to collect notebooks, too!)