A Day without Knitting?! Perish the Thought!

The other day as I was packing for work, I found myself almost done with a knitting project (with only several rows to go) and realizing that it would only take me a short time to finish.

As I do a lot of my knitting on my daily train commute, this would mean I would finish my project on the train even before I got to work. I'd have *nothing* else to work on for the rest of the day.

Obviously, this was a horror I couldn't imagine going through, so to save myself the hassle, I quickly finished up the last few rows, then cast on another small project that I had thought about starting.

Knitting has saved my already frail sanity on many occasions (when my train was delayed by OVER TWO hours) or when I find myself waiting in line that should have been "fast". Even for short errands, I find myself grabbing one of my knitting project bag (REI ditty bags in assorted colors) and stuffing it into my satchet before heading out the door.

One time, I accidently left the house without my knitting and had to wait...boringly.....bereft of reading material (magazine or book) and felt myself slowly go mad....I vowed *never* to do that again.

I find it amusing that short amount of time that I've been knitting (less than a year), it has become a part of my daily routine. Yet I had been crocheting for the better part of 20 years and it never grabbed my attention like knitting. I surmise it's because extended bouts of crocheting actually cause my hands to ache just a tad, whereas knitting does not.

DH laughs at me sometimes. I brought a knitting project to the movie theatre and I sat knitting during it. He says I've turned into one of those grandmothers that can knit through anything....Now, he barely blinks an eye and just chuckles. He did this the other day when we were at the Dicken's Fair and I pulled a small knitting project out of my muff.

As I've mentioned previously, knitting is a very active form of Zen; something that keeps my hands busy and lets my mind go into a meditative state (that is until I make a mistake or foobar a pattern....but I digress).

It's something I won't leave the house without, much like my wallet, cel phone, or house keys.

I find this particular comic strip rather apt: