The Fiber Obsession

I can always tell that my life is getting crazy when I start obsessing over fiber.

When I was sick in the fifth grade, I drowned my sneezes in a bird puppet project. When I moved back in with my parents a year after college graduation because I had no job, I immersed myself in sewing an elaborate black satin hooded cape. When I was getting married, I knitted socks. Then we entered into our first mortgage and I discovered the world of hand spinning.

Now we're building a log home on fully wooded property off the sewer/water grid while I'm simultaneously managing an insane 3-year project at work with massive rolling deadlines. The house is going up 18 miles north of home; work is 24 miles south of home. My current obsession? Smaller (read: non-sweater) cotton knitting and crochet projects.

The fact that everyone around me seems to be having babies or is otherwise in need of some sort of cotton handknit is just an excuse to buy more skeins of cotton yarn and to knit, knit, knit. I justify watching television or movies by knitting through them -- that's productive time, right? I can't sleep, so I get up and knit, hoping the repetition will cure my insomnia. Never mind the fact that what kept me up was working through a new dish cloth pattern in my head. And you know that unbearable summer heat and humidity we've been having recently in the Midwest? It's just a reason to knit water bottle slings. These days, I can turn almost anything into an excuse to knit, short of driving and working -- and I was sorely tempted to bring my knitting bag to our recent company sales conference!

I think I obsess over fiber at such times for two reasons: I have complete control over these projects (no PMO project plans required here!), and they take my mind off what's bugging me. My current obsession even has the added bonus of seeing projects completed in a matter of days, as compared to the years involved in the other major projects coming to a head at this time in my life. Besides, over the long haul, it's probably healthier for me to dwell on which dish cloth pattern to try next than to worry myself silly over whether we asked for enough money in our construction loan application. The latter just isn't good for the blood pressure.

Remember Morgaine in The Mists of Avalon and how she would fall into a trance with the up and down motion of her drop spindle? That's what fiber does for me. It's a zen thing.

So the next time you see me in the aisle of the hobby store, step aside 'cause Jan's a-headin' for the cotton!