Currently I feel as though time is a very precious commodity. The East Anglia Yarn Festival is looming on the horizon (it is on the 21 and 22 March) and Mandy and I are very focussed on preparations for it – planning kits, drawing out the layout of the stand, making sure we have enough stock. It is fun, because I love working with Mandy on these things, but also time consuming and a little bit scary. At the same time, wearing a different hat, I am on the committee that is organising the Fakenham Food Market on 14 March. That is also requiring an awful lot of focus at the moment – dealing with road closures and stall holders and the Town Council and health and safety issues and it is even closer than the Festival. My landlord is helping me out with repairs to my roof but that has suddenly been accelerated to the end of March, so I have had to meet with roofers and I am aware that the works are going to cause some disruption, not least because we will have to have scaffolding up outside the shop for a while. On the home front, we are having to have our sewage system replaced and we have just been informed that we will have our facilities (water and sewage) cut off for 12 days when the work commences! That is also going to be extremely disruptive and I have filed it in the place in my head marked ‘To be Thought About Later’.
At times like these, my knitting is my refuge. I look forward every evening to the one or (if I am lucky) two hours that I get just to sit and progress whatever is on my needles. While I am focussed the pattern and the rhythmic click of the needles, the cares and worries of the day literally vanish. I can happily spend the whole time ‘tinking’ (undoing) several rows of knitting because of a mistake or a dropped stitch and rather than finding it stressful, I find it soothing. It drives everything else out of my head. I am sure, too, that it provides the space I need between the busyness of my day and bedtime, and it may well even help me with getting a reasonable nights sleep. On a side note, however, I have noticed that not a night goes by when I do not dream about yarn in some context or other. It may be that I am becoming a little bit obsessed with my hobby/business.
It seems that I am not alone in using knitting to distract me from the everyday. My social media feed was full of amazing athletes during the Winter Olympics taking time out to knit. It was brilliant to see people from different countries, who may well have been competing against each other during the day, gathering together to knit and chat. I know that some of the people who come to our regular social groups are taking time out for themselves, perhaps from parenting, or grandparenting, or, in once case, from the frenetic attentions of a new puppy. The two hours spent in the shop give them a chance to chat with people who share their passion, or to impart their knowledge. We meet regularly on the first two Tuesdays of the month and Saturdays. You can find out more here.
Also in the category of ‘To Think About Later’ in my head is our June Retreat at The Cliftonville Hotel in Cromer. If you are looking for time out combined with knitting, or crochet or embroidery, this is the is the perfect opportunity. From Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, you will be able to do nothing at all other than eat, sleep, chat and knit. No responsibilities. No cooking. No housework. No need to think about anything other than the project in front of you. The Retreat will include a workshop by Jem from Under the Olive Tree, who will be showing us how to design shawls. And if you want time out from socialising, you have lovely Cromer on the doorstep, with the possibility of walking on the beach, perhaps swimming, eating fish and chips or rock, or just watching the sun set. We have just three places left on the Retreat and will be closing bookings at the end of March. You can book here if you are interested.
I know that taking time for oneself is really important. We cannot always be running and busy. I wish that I could say that I was going to be able to take some time out this weekend, but in fact on Sunday I am driving up to Leeds to have a look at some summer yarns. While it will be lovely to immerse myself in beautiful yarns, and to catch up with other yarn shop owners, what I am most looking forward to, I have to confess, is an evening on my own in the hotel with my knitting and some terrible TV. Time out. What will you be doing?