It's OK to stop

At the time of writing this, it was hot (too hot). The kind of unseasonably warm, unpleasantly sticky heat that my little corner of semi-rural Essex seems to specialise in. Too far from the coast for any hope of a breeze and surrounded by hot, dusty fields that just soak up the heat and then reflect it back to you with a vengeance when you are trying to walk and get some air.

It was the kind of weather I’m not designed for. I’m fair-skinned and easily prone to heat stroke at the best of times. The heat intolerance associated with peri-menopause has not improved things and it hasn’t done much for my short temper either.

All of this is a very long winded way of saying that it was too hot to knit. Indeed it was too hot to even think about knitting.

In some weird kind of algorithmic sixth sense Facebook somehow picked up on this and started showing me content relating to knitting in hot weather. After being shown a few articles in a similar vein and out of sheer scrolling-induced apathy I clicked on one. I can’t remember the title but it was something suitably vacuous along the lines of ‘how to keep cool and knit on’.

And oh my, if I wasn’t cross before I read it I certainly was after I worked my way through it’s perky prose.

“Head to the beach” was one suggestion. Er….no. It’s hot, devoid of shade and full of other people also escaping to the coast. The only time I like the beach is when I’m walking along it in jeans and boots in November and I have it all to myself.

“Sit in front of your air con unit”. Er…no. This is the UK, we don’t do that here.

“Use talc to keep your hands dry”

Enough already! The obvious solution to this which didn’t seem to feature is of course to just not knit. Put it down and step slowly away. It’s not some kind of endurance event that must be undertaken at all costs. It’s just a hobby - and it’s supposed to be an enjoyable one.

Obviously if you knit to order or you are on a tight deadline for a professional commitment that’s one thing. But in the normal knitterly run of things there are very few knitting projects that are truly urgent. Even something like a birthday can normally be resolved with a simple IOU - those who like and value our handknits know that genius can’t be rushed and are usually happy to wait. They appreciate that work goes into them - after all, it’s why we knit for them.

But all of this relentless push to be productive did make me think a little. Why do these articles seem to think we must knit on regardless of unseasonable conditions. Anything which requires that amount of preparation or adaptation is surely not always desirable.

Far better to just…not knit. I know - revolutionary right?

No guilt, no shame, no ‘Oh I really must finish this’.

Just put it aside and pick up a book instead. It’s far cooler and you can keep a cold drink in one hand while you do it.