Try not to frog the intarsia “Joy”
Hey, Friends, it’s time for a December Knitting Game!
Think Drinking Game, but instead of sipping your favorite beverage, you get to buy a mini skein of yarn each time.
Go to your favorite store that sells home decor. Be sure to have your phone ready so you can hit that “Add to Cart” button for all of the minis you’re about to earn.
Walk through the whole store. Every time you find something with the word “Joy” plastered on it, smash that “Add to Cart” button!
I bet you have enough minis to knit a sweater now. And it can have an intarsia “Joy” knit into the front!
Is it just me, or have you noticed the mass of messaging that attempts to convince us that we should be really happy—Joyful—this season? If we aren’t Joyful at all times, have we therefore failed some societal standard?
My goal, certainly, is to be happy—though not only at this time of year. Don’t most of us strive to be happy year-round?
Joy Frogged
Unfortunately, I sometimes fall short of that goal. While my external circumstances may occasionally steal joy (like telling my kid for the bazillionth time to put on his shoes), it’s generally my internal monologue that tries to drag me into the wallow. I start ruminating on the nasty thing someone said to me, or a failure on my part, or an unhappy memory. Then that insidious train of thought roars out of the station full throttle.
How do you deal with negativity in your life? Are you one of those blessed people who can shake it off and move on? (If so, what’s your secret?)
As it is, I irritate myself. I too often allow my thoughts to dwell on the negative.
No More
Jane Bennet says in Pride and Prejudice, “I'm resolved to think of him no more. There, enough. I shall be myself again, as if I had never set eyes on him.”
While our dear Jane doesn’t necessarily stick to her goal, I appreciate her sentiment.
As we move toward the end of this year and the renewal that inevitably follows, resolutions get bandied about. I will start early by choosing to aim my musings away from the morose and toward lovely, positive, and creative thoughts.
The Creative Wellspring
I love losing myself in the rabbit hole of a new design. When my brain gets going, the rest of my body goes into autopilot. I could be doing anything—cooking dinner, washing my hair, walking the dog—and if my brain is winging on the winds of design, I will have absolutely no recollection of what I just did. It’s a little bizarre.
I would much prefer to spend my Thinking Time on fun and exciting creations (even if they live merely in my mind, never making it to paper or yarn) than to waste my precious minutes on this planet ruminating over the ways a “friend” gaslit me or how I said something stupid to an acquaintance five years ago.
Anyone else with me? (Or should I start worrying that I’m alone in this and just blathered on and on to people who are much more well-adjusted than me….?)
Joy is a State of Mind
If you occasionally trip over the same land minds as me (see what I did there?), I invite you to join me in conducting our trains of thought toward beautiful things, like knitting and yarn and kittens (or puppies—your choice). Let’s spend this year’s final month pondering all of the Season’s Reasons, focusing on the positives in our lives, and planning a pile of New Year Cast Ons! (Or preparing a WIP Snowball to conquer those WIPs!—again, your choice.)
I hope you will experience Joy this season.
And if you struggle with it, just go play our December Knitting Game, and let the yarn provide the Joy. 💖🧶
Knitting New
Looking for knitting patterns and inspiration to carry you out of 2023 and into 2024? Check out Mountain Song Designs on Ravelry, Etsy, and around the internet.
How to make a WIP Snowball:
