Anyone else notice that their life has changed since they started knitting?

The thing that I’ve noticed most is that my shopping style has changed significantly. I am a shopper. I love clothes, and I love shopping for clothes. A typical before-knitting shopping trip would go something like this: Go to the mall. Stop at Macy’s, Nordstroms, Ann Taylor, Gap, Banana Republic, etc. Adore the cute clothes. Try on said clothes. Maybe buy a few things (or, more than a few!).

Since I began to knit, my shopping trips have been reduced significantly in both frequency and scope. Even more interestingly, the way I shop has changed. I no longer browse idly through the stores. Now, I make a beeline for the sweaters and look at the style, the shaping, the construction, and the yarn.

Case in point: I recently went to the Eddie Bauer outlet store with Todd. He had some things he wanted to get, and I didn’t even bother looking at the women’s clothing. Instead, a sweater on the sale rack in the men’s section caught my eye. The yarn looked soft and comfy and tweedy. I envisioned the sweater becoming a different sweater - a sweater for me! A cabled sweater, perhaps my own design. (hey, a girl can dream!) So, I bought the sweater JUST FOR THE YARN. Is that wrong? For $10, I got enough yarn for a sweater, or maybe two.

Today, I started frogging the sweater. This is only the back of it… I still need to finish the front and sleeves.

Thankfully, I had a couple of new tools to help me out. Check out my brand-spanking new homemade niddy-noddys…

These were super easy to make - just buy a 1 1/8″ dowel and a 1/2″ dowel, cut the dowels to whatever length you want, and drill 1/2″ holes in either end of the thick dowel and slide the smaller dowels through.