Variety is the spice of life

The very lovely Mary, who owns Waldorf Pottery, has been helping me with my gardening lately. I love plants, especially flowers, and I am working on creating several large gardens for my yard. While I know that I should focus on one area at a time and create and implement well-thought-out garden bed, I am impatient...I need flowers NOW. It sounds kind of ADD, but while I'm planning and waiting, I am totally obsessed with gorgeous pots of colorful flowers. I know that this blast of color will help me get through the slow and steady work it takes to create a large garden bed. Mary is so sweet, and she understands where I’m coming from. She listens to my litany and calmly points me to a beautiful camellia that will grow slowly into a wonderful flowering evergreen shrub, and she eases my immediate flower craving with a spectacular overflowing planter for my deck.


My knitting style tends toward the same kind of ADD. If I’m working on a large project like a sweater (which I nearly always am) I need something small, colorful, and really interesting to work on as well. So, I usually have a scarf or a hat in Noro or some fabulously colorful hand-painted yarn. I’m totally okay with this approach because everything always gets finished, and all in all, it’s a much better experience for me. Most knitters share the slight tendency toward ADD, but only the highly enlightened ones actually embrace it. Most experienced knitters know that having two or three or even four projects going at once mean that you’re rarely bored, and each is a pleasure when you choose to work on it.

This need for variety is one of the reasons we offer so many small project get-togethers like Sandy’s Booga Bag group Friday mornings, The Thursday Afternoon Scarf Club, and the First Friday projects. It’s really satisfying to make great progress on a fun and fast little scarf or hat while you work steadily on something larger and more involved. It’s like a weekend getaway – you come back refreshed and reinvigorated, ready to work on your large project with renewed interest. So when you are attracted to something new and colorful, give in to the temptation, and don't feel guilty - know that it's a temporary diversion that feeds your soul and refreshes your knitting experience.

We're doing the Booga bag Friday mornings. Feel free to join us. We've planned a fun new project for September's First Friday, and don't forget the Dream Club coming up with a fabulous new one-skein project coming each month. There is always lots going on, new things arriving, and fun and laughter around the table. Come join us - you are always welcome here.