Holiday Tip #4: Fibre blindness is the key to survival for all the non-knitters in the house.
This week brings another tip from my husband and is more about how to survive the holiday knitting season if you are a non-knitter living with a holiday knitter. “Don’t see anything fibre related. Just ignore. Don’t touch it, move it, ask about it, and never, ever, complain that it is taking up too much space.” Sage advice.
My knitting takes up a lot of space at the best of times. As I have mentioned many times, and as reading a few of my blog entries will clearly show, I am not a monogamous knitter. But in the run-up to the holidays, it’s everywhere. I have a project in the bedroom. Sometimes one in the bathroom though not too often. I have to be really struggling with deadlines to knit in the tub. There’s a project in my gym bag, as I am determined to learn how to run and knit at the same time. (No, not really. I take public transit to work and go to the gym after work. It’s easier to stuff my knitting in a small project bag and then into my gym bag. Running with stiletto Signatures is probably worse than running with scissors.) And then there’s the living room. I look around the space now and cringe just a little. I like my space being a shade more organized than this. Currently, I have to routinely move things off the sofa so my husband and I can sit together on it. And bless my husband’s soul, he doesn’t complain. And if he does move anything he asks first and then makes sure I know where he put it.
I can think of few things that would be more frustrating than going to pick something up and not have it where I put it. What you need to make the non-knitters in your life understand is that even in the perceived chaos there is order. On my end table beside my sofa there is yarn for 6 different projects and one book open to the page I am using and a few pairs of needles both in and out of the yarn that’s there. I know what every single thing on the table is for. My Hubby is smart enough to know that the two skeins of Kiogu are for one project and that all the Rowan is also for one project though he has no idea what any of those projects are or if there are other things that belong to them scattered around. He might recognize the needles I would use for sock knitting, but he might not. The whole thing is a giant balancing act and moving the wrong thing would result in a yarnalanche that would be both messy and irritating. So the only thing he does is change and fill up my coffee cup on an as needed basis. This makes both our lives better.
I assure you, train everything in your house that moves to have respect for your fibre. It’s easier on you and safer in the long run for them.
whendidibecomeaknitter 