Knitting may start out as a hobby, but if often quickly becomes a compulsion. We want to knit ALL THE THINGS, ALL THE TIME. We pity the people sitting in the waiting room or on the bus who don’t have knitting in their hands. How bored they must be! We roll our eyes at the person who thinks that we can’t knit and listen to them at the same time. Instead of complaining about the long line at the bank, we rejoice at the opportunity to “get in a few rows”. I can’t speak for every knitter, but I never EVER leave the house without knitting because you never know when you’ll need it. A quick pop around the corner to the post office turns into a 15 minute wait because some little old lady is trying to ship something overseas. A car trip to run errands turns into a 20 minute knitting break when a train blocks all traffic. If you’ve ever been somewhere and thought “I wish I had my knitting!” you know to be prepared in the future. There is always some quick little project on my needles that I can shove in a pocket or in a bag and take with me as I run out of the door. I keep an emergency stash of yarn and needles at my desk at work, just in case. I’d do the same in my car, except my trunk is full of charity knitting yarn and donated needles, so I’m good there. I used to feel weird about knitting in public, but boredom soon took away any inhibitions I might have had. I’ve knit in bars, at parties, on the bus, at conferences and lectures, in line at the grocery store, in line at the bank, Target, the craft store-pretty much in any kind of line, really. I knit in between dances, I knit during the fireworks on the 4th of July. If I’m sitting or standing still, I’m either knitting or wishing I was knitting. If I’m not knitting, I’m probably fidgeting or getting into mischief. It’s best you let me knit.
It might seem obsessive, and it probably is, but it’s how things get made. Knitters are busy people. We have jobs and raise families and volunteer and do many, many other things besides knit. The next time you receive a hand-knit gift, think about all the hours it took to make it and remember that it was probably knit while watching TV, in line at the bank, in the passenger seat of the car, at any spare moment that person found to make your gift. Before you’ve even put on that new hat or scarf, it’s already had an adventure of its own while it was being made!
