Winter woollies

The winter solstice is nearly here! At last! 

I adore the winter weather. I was built for the cold 😉, I have many layers and plenty of, ahem, ‘padding’ to keep me well heated and happily breathing cold air. (Those same features are a problem in summer but let’s ignore that from this deeply cold wintery week!). This is when my body type flourishes, revels in the freshness and the woollen jumpers and long socks and crisp skies.

My skin may love the cold but my mind has a completely opposite perspective on this winter thing. You see, the days are far too short. While my body is blissfully tucking into hearty soups and hot chocolates and chocolate (this is how we maintain the layers…) my mind is rocking in the corner. We’re not happy it’s screaming silently. Give me sunlight! More! More! My first response in my post-summer, still-warm skin is to sink into the temptations of the season. I go to bed earlier and get out of it later. I binge watch TV shows of varying quality. I drink more wine and less water. I heap extra books onto the pile waiting to be read by my bed and download lots of podcasts. I sit still for hours at a time.

It’s like Groundhog Day every year. By the time my thoughts catch up to the temperature outside I’m wallowing. Have you felt this? It’s a sensation of sinking flabbily into the couch and assuming the shape of the cushions. I catch myself later and later each year, if you see me and feel the urge to take a seat on my lap things have gone to far and you’ll need to call an upholsterer, pronto!

The first bad habit I’m focusing on is screen time. Somehow writing more has resulted in doomscrolling more. (Don’t tell the kidults, I have a moral high ground to maintain.) This year I decided that this was the habit that needed to be addressed first. It needed to be replaced and I went looking for something that would keep me engaged in those moments I’d begun picking up my phone.

So I’m knitting again. It’s been a while. I grew up immersed in wool and patterns and cables and casting on and off. It wasn’t very cool back then. I remember wearing the very first jumper I’d made on my own on Grade 6 school camp. It was black, had raglan sleeves, a complicated-looking but simple lacy knit. I was so proud. And so terribly dorky.

I lay down my knitting needles just as it picked up in popularity. I’ve never managed to time my interests with fashion and trends. I spent nearly as many years doing patchwork and learning to quilt but those needles, too, have been resting for quite some time. It wasn’t until I was thinking abut how to replace my ever-increasing screen time habit (I’m doing word games, honestly!!!) with a healthier pastime that my thoughts caught on a lingering wisp of yarn. When Ms D mentioned a new yarn and pulled her handmade beanie further down over her ears it was as if lightning had struck. Of course! I need to start knitting again!

If you’re looking for me after work hours there’s a (small) chance I’m cooking a healthy meal and a (very unlikely) possibility I’m exercising on the bike. Glance up a little higher to the couch and that’s the best chance you’ll have to find me. I’m still bingewatching TV and YouTube and I’m definitely popping a block of chocolate in my mouth, maybe with a glass of wine at hand. What I won’t be doing is staring unblinking at my phone. My hands are too busy making. I’m going to have another go at a beanie. In this weather you can never have too many warm hats. They help your brain stay warm enough to keep up.