Why I Knit

So lately the temperature has plummeted to almost record lows for this time of year, and with all of the homecoming activities and dog walks (and walks with the boyfriend :D lol ) I had skipped up to the attic to locate our bin full of winter gear. Now, as a knitter I of course own a plethora of hand knit hats, and have little if any real "need" for the store-bought variety. However, there has been one exception to this.

Last year for Christmas, one of my sets of grandparents bestowed upon me a hat. It was from my favorite store, made of chunky cables with a hot pink crown and a white bottom. It had huge ear flaps, and braided ties, and the lower half was lined with the softest ever fleece. I loved this hat. I wore it absolutely everywhere I could, and even declined to knit my own ear flap hat, only to have it fall short of this perfection.

Happily searching through the bin, I pulled out scarf after scarf and mittens galore, thinking fondly of their beginnings. The hat, though stayed in the back of my mind. It was only when my fingertips brushed the bottom of the container that I realized, with a gasp of horror...the hat wasn't there! I panicked, and by the time I had thoroughly searched the attic I had strewn bags and coats and pocket linings all about the floor. How could I have lost it?!? The mudroom received the same treatment. The pantry. The basement. In the end, I finally had to resign myself to the fact that my hat was gone. Heartbroken, I attended football games and tailgates, only halfheartedly displaying my homemade cabled cappers perched atop my hair. Then last night, the night of homecoming, this all changed!

Milling through the impossibly thick crowd, my eyes wandered from hat to hat. Funky color work, chunky diamond cables, and peruvian chullos were everywhere. Wait...it was the hat!!! Over in a group of freshman sat the same exact hat, only with a cheeky red crown instead of a pink one. I felt envy at her fuzzy fleeced brand-named warmth. Until I remembered-wearing that hat meant wearing the same exact hat as a girl I had never met, and may have had nothing in common with. My red topper, bobbled and cabled, spoke volumes more because I had made it. Even if Emmydee goes to the store tomorrow and picks up Charmed Knits and some Patons wool, her hat won't be like mine. Even just looking at our Half Blood Prince hats, anyone could tell two different people made them. This is why I knit. To add some personality and spice that can never be replicated, ever!