Yarn is a Four Letter Word

   A last week I felt crabby and out of sorts. It was a busy week, but I've had busy weeks before where I wasn't crabby. Nothing was going badly. In fact I was having a good time with the intern I was teaching. Things were going well at work. The cats were well and happy and C was working hard at his new quality control job.
  I couldn't figure out why I was so crabby. I was getting enough sleep. I had been able to get out and run on all the days I usually run. What could possibly be the matter? Then I looked at my knitting bag. There was a half finished washcloth in it. I had not had time to work on it for several days. The washcloth was hanging forlornly from a wooden needle. Then it hit me.
  I was suffering from yarn withdrawal. I had made it a point to knit a little bit every day so that I wouldn't forget. I had decided to work on making washcloths. They are easy to make and are useful. Everyone can use an extra washcloth or two.
  I was spending at least five to ten minutes every day feasting my eyes on the soothing colours of the soft, cotton yarn. I was working away with my smooth, light brown, bamboo needles. My need to be doing something constructive was being satisfied by watching the ball of yarn slowly become a useable object.
  It sounds silly, but I was pretty sure I was on the right track. Knitting was the one thing I had not had time to do for the last few days. I had other tasks that I had to do that were taking more time than I expected. It had to be the knitting, there wasn't anything else.
  I couldn't say that I hadn't been warned. My knitting teacher did say that knitting could become addictive. I had already wandered through the knitting section buying more balls of yarn than I really needed and several pairs of knitting needles. The only thing I'm knitting at the moment is washcloths and I already have five different sets of needles and six balls of yard. I have a small box for all my knitting gadgets. I bought a book called "Knitting for Dummies" and read it dreaming of the caps, socks and scarves I could make. I was starting to surf the net looking for knitting websites. I have a favourite file called "Knitting stuff".
  Needlework is like that. The same thing happened when I took up needle point. There's something about the colours and textures of yarn and floss that are very soothing. Watching a painted piece of canvas come to life with colored thread is exciting and fun. Many times I have told myself that I was just going to do one little part and then I would put it down and do something else. Then I would say, I'm just going to do this other part and then I'll put it away. The next thing I know 30 minutes have gone by and I'm still stitching. Why I thought it was going to be different with knitting I don't know.
  I guess I should consider myself lucky. At least I'm not addicted to video games. A knitting addicting is fairly inexpensive and at least useful.
  I sat down on my chair and picked my half finished washcloth out of the bag. I put the ball of yarn on my left and put my needles into position. I started to knit a row. Scamp came and sat on my lap. Colby sat on the chaise beside me. I could feel myself start to relax. The crabbiness melted away like ice on a driveway. This was much better. Much, much better.......