Tube travel protocol..

The first time I took my knitting out on the train, I instantly felt like I was being stared at. And let's be honest, I probably was being stared at. I'm 29, (I was 28 at the time), dressed smartly in shirt, black trouser suit, and I'm knitting. During rush hour. This was against protocol. That said, the moment I actually started knitting, I sunk into my own little world, and I felt comfortable. I've taken my knitting almost everywhere with me ever since.

See, there are unspoken rules about travelling on the tube in London.

Avoid eye contact at all times. - somehow, with what feels like hundreds of people in every carriage, we all seem to find some spot to stare at that isn't occupied by another persons face. Don't zone out too much, otherwise your gaze may shift, and you'll find someone staring back at you, frowning.

Don't dawdle
When you're getting on a train, you'd better hurry the hell up, or you'll end up trampled under the stampede of 100 people after than one seat that they're sure is rightly theirs.

Don't stand in the 'wrong' place.
Don't stand where the middle of the doors are opening, even though this isn't signposted anywhere, so you have to guess by looking at the pattern of the regular travellers.
Don't stop at the bottom of the escalator/stairs.
And whatever you do, do not stand on the left-hand side of the escalator.

Don't talk to anyone.
Any finally we get to the rule, that was broken because I was knitting.
Don't talk to anyone - and if you do, it had better be so damn quiet that people only look up for a second, tut just once, and look back down at their paper.

I was always an avid reader on my commute though, so in a way of being able to do both, I signed up to audible, and started listening to my books. Haven't had any problems with this combination as yet, apart from when a narrater lists of numbers, and I'm trying to count stitches. That results in a mess.

But, there was a happening. I had left my earphones at home, but started my knitting on my way home. A woman sees me from across the carriage, and wrestles her way across, to stand diagonally across from where I'm sitting. In the loudest voice possible (probably felt louder as us Londoners never speak to each other, and avoid eye contact, and tut at those who do decide to talk, at all) started going on about how amazing it was that I was knitting.
I panicked.
What was she doing?
This completely goes against tube protocol.
How do I respond?
It got worse before I could say anything, she started trying to engage other travellers in looking at me knitting. Like I was some sort of tourist attraction.  "Look! don't you think what she's doing is amazing? Well? Don't you?"
I muttered 'thanks' quietly.. and she got off at the next stop. But I could feel that all eyes were on me. I was the one that had instigated the breach of tube travel protocol.I had caused a scene. I felt like I'd sneezed in public during the black plague.

Since then, I've been extra careful to had my earphones with me.
And I want to clarify - if someone wants to talk to me about my knitting, then please do - I'm excited to meet fellow knitters. But shouting, on a busy tube, and trying to get strangers to look at me seriously freaks me out, and is not the best way to go about conversing with someone like me.