Holiday knitting Tip #5: Other knitting friends will be the key to your sanity
Let’s be honest about our non-knitting friends and family members. They are wonderful people who have many good qualities. You probably love spending time with them, and there is nothing wrong with expanding your horizons into the non-knitting world. But let’s also be honest, the only people who really understand just how devastating it is to run out of yarn 8 rows before the end of a shawl, or to realize that your gauge is so far off on the sweater that you’ve spent the last 4 weeks knitting that it would fit either a giant or an elf but certainly not the person you intended to give it to, are in fact other knitters. They share your pain and can rejoice in your victories. They can be a shoulder to cry on and lend the moral support you need if you have to frog something. If you’re really lucky they can give you sage advice at just the right moment and help you pull a project back from the brink of disaster. And they can bring you booze.
Christmas knitting and booze do seem to go hand in hand. And your friends can happily imbibe with you while hopefully enforcing the rule that friends don’t let friends drink and knit lace. I have on at least a couple of occasions been the knitter who demands that another friend switches projects because three martinis are actually going to make the problem worse instead of better. (And yes, I guarantee it will make the situation much much worse. Having to frog something is bad enough. Having to frog something with a brutal head-splitting hangover would make any of the scenes from the Exorcist seem like a happy day in the park.)
The closer you get to the looming holiday deadline the more important it is to spend time with your knitting friends and possibly a lovely glass of your favourite wine. Just try to find friends that can keep you on track and remember if you start thinking “I may have had too much to drink” you probably have. Switch to water and easier knitting. Both your needles and your head will thank you in the morning.
Now, I think there’s a glass of Pinot Noir with my name on it. But no lace knitting.
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