Subway knitter comes up with a fairly handy idea

Colleen Meagher knits on the way to work, riding the Orange Line from Jamaica Plain to Government Center. As she makes doubleknit snowflake hats and wavy cable scarves, she goes unnoticed, save for the occasional strange look.

But now she's getting quite a bit of buzz as the creator of a new must-have item for the functionally fashionable T rider: the Amazing CharlieCard Mitten.

It's a warm wool mitten with a buttoned pocket knit on top to hold a CharlieCard snugly. The wearer can just tap the back of the mitten on the automated fare card reader and get on board.

She finished the debut pair on Jan. 15, bragged about it on her blog (subwayknitter.com) the next day, and has been met with envious cyberpraise ever since.

"It works better than even I thought," said Meagher, 31, who is organizing a drawing to win a pair of the mittens, in return for donations to Rosie's Place, a shelter for homeless women.

MAC DANIEL