The sport of knitting

Being the mother of 3 kids and a nurse part time means I am constantly fighting with myself about what I should be doing at any moment. Do I clean up the living room? Which leads to the kitchen and then the bathroom and then to cleaning out cupboards, ect... Do I play a game with my kids or take them to the library? Or do I take a moment to knit a few rows on my latest projects? Striking a balance between "me" time, kid time, and work is tough. My husband still struggles with the idea that most days I would rather knit than anything else (yeah its that much of an obsession). I tell him often that what fishing is for him is knitting for me. Somehow that doesn't seem to help him understand how I feel about it. Having recently gotten back from seeing Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee talk in St. Paul, MN, I am fired up about the "sport" of knitting. Because if you ask me, knitting is a sport just like fishing or hunting. In Northern Minnesota fishing is almost a required skill for guys. Not that there aren't women who fish too and enjoy it, but I think probably 90% of men up here fish. So my point is, that men need to start looking at knitting like it's fishing.

For example, guys spend a large amount of time looking at and buying lures, fishing poles and rods. The price of these items is most often not a consideration to them. On the other side I know myself and my friend Jess spend a majority of our time looking at and thinking about patterns, yarn and needles. Many times I have justified the cost of such things for the sake of my sport.

Fishermen will take whole weekends away from family to go fish that new lake they heard about with "big walleyes". I recently got off work early, spent the night away from my family, and traded a shift to work on a Friday so I could go see The Yarn Harlot speak. What's different about that?

Fishermen can spend HOURS in a sporting goods store, HOURS. I would live at the yarn store if I thought I could afford it.

Lastly, men spend a lot of time in pursuit of the ever elusive "Big One". Knitters will always have some new yarn or technique or needles to try.

So when my husband tries to tell me I am wasting my time knitting, I simply reply, " No more than you do when you go fishing , Dear."