When I really sit to think about it, which I shouldn’t at all because it makes me seem obsessed, I spend a heck of alot of time in my yard. From spring clean-up through fall clean-up , I average more hours a week than I care to admit. So then, what happens in November when there is no garden?  Bill would love it if a job mysteriously appeared making me a useful asset to the household blah blah blah. The house would love it if I would spend some time organizing and cleaning:  not happening. The children would probably appreciate some fun field trips, or creative and delicious suppers. Keep wishing kids, mama will never be much of a cook, and I’m not great at planning the outings either.

What actually happens is I subsitute in another obsession hobby to suck up the time vacuum left behind by the garden; knitting.  Since November I have made 6 pairs of woolly socks, 2 warm hats to send to my nephew and his wife in Colorado, a vest and mittens for me, a baby sweater, and presently have another pair of socks and a sweater on my needles. Then add to that the huge stash of yarn and stack of patterns hidden here and there to keep normal people from commenting on my over zealousness. Must I mention the books, pattern websites,blog reading  and magazine subscriptions? I think I will keep those to myself TYVM.

 It is actually easier to hide all the gardening stuff. Once the plants arrive ( the trickiest time to keep them hidden because of the pots and boxes) I just have to get them in the ground super quick and no one is the wiser. No living being ( except maybe my friend Christina who knows  the garden and  my personality as well as I do) could possibly cast doubt on my insistence that

“no, that’s not new,that plant has always been there. It must not have been in bloom when you were here before”

and

 What do you mean that new tree in the way of the mower Bill? It has been there for years, it must have had a growth spurt.”

Then a lot of them die anyway , and now with the bunnies ravaging everything as well, it is hard to tell that I have gone a little overboard in the plant purchasing.

Not so much with the yarn and stuff. I cram it in a lot places, but  to no avail. Plus I get VERY frustrated  and loud and compulsive borderline frenzied when projects don’t go well, which is surprisingly often given that I have been a knitter waaayyy longer than I have been a gardener(.  I think the frustration  is due to the fact that there is no “thing ” like weather, or soil, or rabbits to blame ,just me and my crappy attention span).

I truly believe if I had a less weird interest, like reality TV shows, or skiing, I would be more inclined to share it with the world. Everyone can “water cooler talk” about The Bachelor or snow conditions . Who wants to hear me go on and on about soft squishy yarn and delightfully warm woolly socks? I know, no one.  But there it is anyway, my garden surrogate , my sanity for winter, by substitute obsession.  WANT TO SEE SOME PICTURES?????????

thanks to my sock models: Erin and Faith!