Uliuli Wai Shawl from Needlecraft Cottage - Day 4

The upside of downtime...

Knitting has one unfortunate side effect:  addict behavior.

Like most obsessions—and yes, I categorize my knitting as an obsession rather than a hobby—knitting pervades most every aspect of my life. I evaluate potential handbags on how when they can hold a knitting project.  As I’m watching Outlander, I’m staring as much as the beautiful knitwear as the hunky Scots in kilts.  An essential part of any vacation planning is whether or not there is a yarn store nearby to explore.  Knitting ranks up there with oxygen for basics of life in my world.

Hence the addict behavior of withdrawal symptoms.  Let me explain.

For me, long drives translate directly into knitting time.  Planes, too.  Actually, any extended sitting environment anywhere, anytime pretty much equals knitting time in my view.  So when my husband asked if we could deliver his sports car 90 minutes one-way to a particular garage, my internal thought process went something like this:  sure I need to drive my car 90 minutes behind his car, but on the return trip he can drive and I’ll get 90 minutes of knitting time plus the time he’ll spend in the garage arranging for the car service.  So it was easy for me to say yes.  I mean I love my husband and his own sports car hobby so I’d have done it anyway but the knitting time made it extra easy to say yes.  Happy marital symbiosis, right?

Until I forgot to bring my knitting.

The sensation of this realization was ridiculously close to dread.  Physical illness, even.  Two hours (actually, the garage part took far longer than anticipated so it was closer to four hours) of downtime without my knitting? I was genuinely, astonishingly panicked.  It was as if I had lost the ability to cope with sitting still without yarn and needles. And folks, that’s pretty much the diagnosis:  I have lost my ability to sit unoccupied thanks to knitting.

I should care.

I don’t.

What did I do?  I did what any sensible woman would do:  dinna fash, DestiKNITters—I fired up StarzPlay on my smartphone and watched Outlander.  Obsessions come in many forms, aye?