Enabling the addict

I'm an enabler. Yes, I admit it. I realize, even as I do it, it is pure folly to encourage the addict in her habit, but I just can't help myself. My partner is a knit-o-holic. It's bad...very bad. She must have at least 2-3 projects on the needles at a time as one at a time just won't do. She must have "stash" - the knitters term for the miles and piles of extra yarn they keep in every available cubby hole in the house...just in case. And heaven forbid should she have a project in mind that she wants to start and not be able to get the pattern and yarn needed for said project within 20 seconds of having decided upon it!

So, here's where I come in. I drive my love all over town seeking the exact knitting book, pattern and yarn she wants. I wait in the car, playing Bejeweled on my cell phone (geesh, I love that little game), and hope that when she returns she has found what she wants. I then drive her cute, smiling, and utterly blissed out little self home so she can pull out her yarn winder thingie (I'm sure there's a technical name for that contraption, but heck if I know what it is!) and gets her skeins of yarns turned into nice knitting-friendly little balls.

Let's look at how this addiction and my enabling of it has played out over the past few days.

Tuesday:
About 3pm Wendy coyly kisses my neck and says "I think I'll go over to the Knitting Bee. Wanna drive me?". This is followed by further nuzzling and purring noises. "Of course!", I respond with enthusiasm. And off we go.

We arrive and Wendy hops out to go fondle the goods and make her purchase(s) and I fire up Bejeweled. My game is barely underway (only about 5 minutes have passed) when I'm startled by the car door opening and Wendy climbing back in. One look at her and I snap shut my cell phone and ask "didn't you find what you wanted?". She looked as if both our cats had died and the world was on the verge of destruction (really, I'm not kidding). "I'll just go over to the Naked Sheep tomorrow. I know she'll have what I want there. It's probably too late to go there now since the traffic will be so bad trying to get across town.", she says with a very heavy sigh.

My first thought was "cool...now we can go get an early dinner"...but somehow I knew that wasn't the best choice of response. I gently said, "I'm happy to take you over there. As long as we're together, traffic will be fine. How else are we going to spend the late afternoon?". She put up a perfunctory refusal but eventually I wore her down (notice how I take responsibility for this!) and off we went - across town, thru rush hour traffic - to her beloved Naked Sheep Knit Shop.

We arrived, she went in and I went back to my Bejeweled game and after a decently respectable passing of time, she emerged. This was a different Wendy! She was all smiles and clutching her purchases, which she informed me were *exactly* what she'd been looking for. And, glory of glories, she got herself a new canvas Naked Sheep tote bag (it was on sale after all). She proudly showed me what she had bought, stroking the yarn and holding up the new tote for me to oooo and ahhh over (which I did). Then, with a blissful sigh, she says "I sooooo needed that fix!". She was perfectly content on the drive home and commented on how it was so wonderful that I indulged her habit.

I just smiled...after all....I'm an enabler.

Wednesday:
It's after 6pm. We've eaten dinner and are sitting in our office blog surfing and checking email when she squeals with delight. She just found a new knitter-blogger site that has this "darlin' little baby sweater" pattern that she's just got to make! A quick check of the Powell's website and the book containing the pattern is located at the Powell's location on Hawthorne. "Wanna go for a ride?", she purrs at me. Even though I know I'm about to be driving the get-away vehicle for the 2nd time in as many days, I take the bait, "Sure...where do you wanna go?". The plan was to go to Powell's and get the book and then swing into the Yarn Garden (which just happens to also be on Hawthorne) to hunt the yarn she'll need. Off we go! Book is procured, and Yarn Garden is searched. Unfortunately the exact yarn she wanted wasn't there but the book she bought had several additional cool patterns in it, so she was able to say "well...I'll just order the exact yarn I want online...that way I'll be sure to get just the perfect thing".

I just smiled (and drove us home)...after all....I'm an enabler.

For those of you who don't live with a knitter, you don't know what you're missing. But, let me warn you - should the one you love take up the art of knitting, I can pretty much guarantee that you'll be an enabler too.

- Karen
[26w,3d]