Changing Seasons

The falling snow

It's snowing here again today. Which most people seem to think that, as a knitter, I should really like. I think that a lot of non-fibre people have this romantic notion about the onset of winter causing knitters to merrily frolic through all their knitted goods pulling stuff out and bundling themselves and their loved ones up in a bunch of handmade goodness. Maybe there are knitters who do that. I can, however, assure you that I am not one of them.

I hate winter. I hate it with a passion. I hate the crummy road conditions. I hate the leaving work in the afternoon in the pitch black. And really when it comes right down to it, I don't like snow. Until my knitting can find a way to shovel the snow and make the sun stay longer, I will continue to hate winter. (Just for the record I think that fall is a much better time for knitters. My heavier knitted goods serve me well in the fall.)

More Snow

The changing seasons do affect my knitting. There is something about the short cold days that changes what I want to knit. For me, I want to stay indoors and hide from the outside. (I know lots of people that ski and snowboard and actually like winter. Me? My ideal winter day involves a hot beverage, a lot of wool, and other knitters sitting around in my favourite LYS lamenting about the nicer weather that we all miss.) I want to knit something big and heavy that going to get me through the winter months. I am more likely to cast on a sweater in the winter and be willing to give it a fairly solid commitment. I want a project that has to sit in my lap while I knit it because an afghan keeping you warm while you knit is a welcome gift in the middle of winter. (Anyone who has ever experienced temperatures in the -20 C range can back me up on that.) I am also more likely to knit something for myself. Though I think that has more to do with being finished the Christmas knitting than anything else. Winter is when I want to sink my teeth into something big and time consuming that will help me get through the nasty cold.

This year, I am well supplied with enough yarn in my stash for at least three sweaters. Plus, I still have a cute summer cardi on the needles 'cause it just didn't get finished in time to wear it this past summer. Maybe I will save that one for closer to the end of winter. It can be my little knitted light at the end of the tunnel and something to remind me that warmer days and smaller projects really are just around the corner. And in the middle of February, when it's freezing and dark I will look at that little cardi and try to believe that at some point winter really does end.