I’ve got (knitting) plans

Years ago, when my knit group girlfriends and I discovered we all had Presidents Day off of work, we conspired to spend the day getting brunch and then yarn shopping. I’m not quite sure when, exactly, this happened, but I know it was many years ago as we’ve been going on our weekends away for about 7 or 8 years now and this has been happening longer than that. Time, really, is just a blur at this point. It’s just tradition. Sometimes we switch it up with MLK Day, but most years there’s this wonderful February Monday where we fill up on delicious food and then go touch all the pretty, squishy wool we can.

Some years I buy nothing because nothing jumps out at me. Other years, I just buy a skein of sock yarn because I fall in love with it. And some years, like this year, I happen across a few things I just have to have. Can’t possibly bear to walk out of the store without.

And, for once, I actually have plans for all of it. No yarn was purchased without a plan in mind. Well, I mean, as much as one can. That pretty purple/pink? A Crumb cardigan to layer with the cute skirts I’m making for spring/summer. The yellow/black/white? Some sort of easy shawl/scarf to wear to the Columbus Crew games this year (and I’m VERY excited about it, too, because if you haven’t followed the drama with the Crew – we basically almost had our team ripped away from us and now we have local ownership and the whole vibe of everything has done a complete 180 and I’M VERY EXCITED ABOUT IT ALL). That grey with the rainbow streak? Socks to replenish my sock drawer, because I threw out about 4 pairs earlier this winter when I discovered holes in a bunch of old, well-worn and well-loved pairs.

And that Tilting planet sock yarn? A Mount Pleasant tee to layer over my olive green Hinterland dress I’m very nearly done with. I’m very excited about that knit, in particular, because I had these daydreams of a layering piece to go over this dress but couldn’t settle on a color. Mustard-y yellow looks wonderful with the green but it’s not my color. Red felt too Christmasy for something I intended to wear in the summer. And a neutral grey/brown just felt too… boring, especially after the Rosemont Cardigan I’m just about to finish up in the same colorway. So, natural white/cream with splashes of olive green and pinky-peach and maybe a bit of a blue hue just sounded perfect, and I’m excited to report that I immediately held the yarn up against the almost-completed dress and it’s just PERFECT.

I am, obviously, being way over-ambitious with my time. I still struggle to wrap my brain around how little time and energy I have to knit these days, still believing that I have hours upon hours that I can sit and while away my weekends knitting as I binge my favorite shows.

But I have plans. I just need to start taking my knitting everywhere with me again. Knitting a few minutes before work. Knitting a few minutes at lunch. Knitting while I wait for dinner to cook, or while I wait for Declan to fall asleep after his book instead of burying myself in my phone, or a few rows here and there before bed. Knitting, knitting, everywhere I go. Totally doable.