I hereby declare October "the month that got away from me." It's difficult getting back into the groove of fall. The signs are all there - school buses on the streets, evil squirrels doing their best to eat our pumpkin on the stoop, leaves beginning to turn color and fall and knitwear being grabbed and wrapped around my neck in the chilly mornings, then discarded quickly in the afternoon because it's back to being 80 degrees. I love autumn - such a beautiful season, but it often seems to sneak up and get away from me.
Between designing and knitting like a mad person to meet my October deadlines, my knitting friends and I lament that this is the season to get started on gift knitting. Perhaps "lament" is not the proper word, after all, giving a hand knit gift to someone is a wonderful feeling. Finding the perfect pattern for someone and going to your LYS to match it up with the ideal yarn is special. When I gift knit I try hard to imagine that person as something knitted. New-Agey and maybe a little weird, certainly, but I do try to conjure up what they might be... Are they cabled? Lacy? Fair Isle or even trusty garter stitch? What colors do they wear, what fibers do they love, how can I make this project unique for them? What we knitters often lament about the gift knitting season is that usually means there is no time to knit anything for ourselves.
I find that women struggle with this notion of "put everyone else before me" especially. Maybe it's the caretaker thing a lot of us have, who knows? We could dedicate years worth of blog posts and not come up with an answer. When I was teaching at Squam last month I asked a lot of people (almost all women) why they came. The answer I got most? Something along the lines of, "I do this once a year for ME. I take away the distractions and my routine, know that my kids and significant other will be fine for a few days, ignore thoughts of laundry, deadlines, emails and carpools, turn off the mobile and listen, learn and focus on me." And why not? Our creative souls need to be fed just as much as our bodies do.
Keeping that thought of focusing on ourselves, I'm happy to introduce Curry Buffet. A hat with a few different cables, a riff on a traditional ribbed brim and a star-shaped center top, this hat was designed with the intention of being what some people refer to as "selfish knitting." A relatively quick knit on US 7s, I again reached for the luscious Shalimar Yarns Paulie Worsted (a delicious blend of cashmere, camel, superwash merino and silk) in the aptly named "curry" color way. Designed specifically to be able to be set down and picked up and know right where you left off, this is a hat meant to be snuck in-between gift knitting for your friends and family, for you.
Have a few minutes before picking up the kids? Knit a few rounds. Waiting in line at the supermarket? Knit a few more. Waiting for the dentist? Knit. I grab at any time I can to knit something for myself, even if it's just for a couple minutes. It's a rare treat (ok, and I have a knitted hat addiction) that I try to take advantage of. I encourage you, dear readers, to carve out a bit of time between all the holiday knitting you plan on committing yourself to and make something for you. After all, giving a gift to yourself is a pretty special thing, no?
Download Curry Buffet here.