Monday, June 20, 2011

Finding Time to Knit

I'm a busy person.
But if you know me, you knew that already.
I have 4 awesome kids whom I homeschool, a fantastic husband that I can never spend enough time with, a home to clean and care for, meals to cook- and designing and knitting to do.
I get asked a lot how I find time to knit. Or I hear people say, "I just don't have the time/patience to knit".
Well, let me tell you about it!
First of all, as someone once said; (I wish I could give credit to the person that said this, but I really can't remember who it was- probably the YarnHarlot, but I'm not sure) "I don't knit because I'm patient, I'm patient because I knit."
Wow, that is so totally true for me.
Or the more popular one: "I knit so I don't kill people".
I don't think I'm that bad, but knitting is a patience maker and a solace for me.
My husband says I'm an over-achiever.
I suppose I am.
(He also says I'm a hippie, but I'm not going to address that right now.)
I hate it when my hands aren't busy.
I love playing games with people, and talking to people and hanging out....
But I'm just not patient enough for it!
I'm not accomplishing anything tangible when I'm playing games, talking, hanging out. But- if I'm knitting while I do those things....
Well, then I can touch something that I am accomplishing as well as enjoying family and friends.
With kids, I've learned to multi-task in some surprising ways.
When do I find time to knit??
I have had the worst time answering that question.
I usually just say "You make time for what you love". And I think that is true.
But there is more to it than that.
My brother-in-law loves taking pictures.
Some of his pictures can be very revealing. At least to me.
I finally found out how I find time to knit thanks to a couple of his photos.

Forgive the cheesy facial expression, I was laughing and talking as well as playing a board game while holding my gorgeous little niece,,,and, yes, knitting.
I think that day revealed to my family just how much I love knitting and really will work to make time to knit.
I knit in all the usual places- watching movies, hanging out with friends, waiting in the Dr's office...all that good stuff.
I also knit while playing board games, teaching my children, following the baby around the park, reading my books....anywhere and anytime I possibly can without being offensive.

But I must admit, this is one I haven't tried yet:

Roo will be potty-training soon too. Hopefully he can learn from his cousin's example.....

So where do you make time to knit???

5 comments:

sara said...

Wow. Good question. During the school year I try to knit for at least 10 minutes before I go to work. When I get home, I am knitting in front of the T.V. I have knit nite once a week (but it's been a while since I've gone.)

sara said...

PS: Needless to say, during the summer I knit a lot more.

Birdwell said...

Grin, I don't have a problem finding time to knit...like you I knit when my hands aren't busy. I am in your same boat...I homeschool all year round and my hubby works a lot.

Now MY question is how do YOU find time to design. I had to take off my design hat last year because of a family emergency and I have been finding it hard to incorporating back into my life. Right now the knitting bunnies aren't quite screaming loud enough for me to squeeze it back into the daily run of things.

Unknown said...

Wow, you are awesome! You are a multitasker to the extreme... and you do everything so well! I look to you for inspiration! :)

Anonymous said...

You really are a busy woman! I love the bathroom photo! lol I haven't done that but I too have knit in the usual places. Doctors offices, watching TV and I am not shy about knitting in public. My husband works from home and if I'm home too and he gets an afternoon break we walk down the street to any number of coffee shops and enjoy a coffee and I always break out my knitting.