I never thought.....

When I was younger, I played trumpet in band, straight through high school. I was a Girl Scout in the 7th and 8th grades, so I learned to sew and I tried latch hook. Latch hook's easy enough, but it's a serious snore. I wrote stories now and then. But I didn't have a whole lot of hobbies, which could account, I suppose, for the inordinate amount of time that was spent inside my own head.

Fast forward to my mid-30s ::sigh::, ok, late-30s, and 2 friends whom I'm wanting to hang out with and get to know better, decide to form a knitting group and teach people who want to learn. I start with the basics, buy a book or two for reference, and hang with these folks 2 to 4 times a month, knitting and enjoying the caffeine and baked goods at Panera. I baby-step my way into increases, decreases, socks, and lace. I accumulate a stash with way too much acrylic in it, collect a nice amount of needles, and whine about my UFOs, all the while starting new and different projects with a vengance.

What am I getting at? Well, night before last, I cleared away and/or organized a large part of the detritus that is the result of our bedroom closet rack destroying itself; the end result being that I found my bedroom coffee table, wing chair, and stash. Last night I sat in said chair and tucked in. I moved some stuff around, reorganized the stash, rolled yarn into balls, and laid out fresh yarn for several projects. I started a hat, turned the rice stitch wrap strip that I'd started into a gaiter, frogged the Cozy and rolled the Wool Ease into a ball, found the chenilley Red Heart that Dana destashed to me and decided to make mittens from that (and maybe legwarmers), and found the sock yarn ruthee gave me ages ago that I'd ended up ripping out on the first try. It doesn't seem like much, but it took several hours, and between the careful stitching together of the two ends of the gaiter and starting the hat on my size 10 dpns, that "all's right with the world" feeling settled into my chest once again. Is it sounding too new agey to say that knitting somehow speaks to my soul? I'm tired and a little headachy this morning as I sit in my office avoiding weekend work, but I'm feeling so much better inside my head. So much better! I never thought that a hobby could have this effect on me, because I didn't have anything like that growing up, not even trumpet. I tried, but I don't have natural musical talent, so it required study and work. Knitting certainly requires that too, but there's just something about it that's different. When Lil Sis shakes her head at my weird, old-fart hobby, it doesn't bother me at all, because I know I've discovered something precious.

Thank you so much, ruthee and Terra!