It’s already day 4 of the Third Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog week.  Time certainly does fly when you are having fun!  Today’s topic is ‘A Knitter for all Seasons’ and the code you should search for to find other bloggers’ posts on this topic is 3KCBWDAY4 (just Google the code).

Am I a knitter for all seasons?

I’ve never really thought about how the seasons affect my knitting.  If I wasn’t a multi-crafter, perhaps I would be more aware of it.  Before I ponder my seasonal craft habits, perhaps a little background is needed…

I live in Guernsey in the Channel Islands.  Those of you who regularly read my blog or listen to the iMake podcast will be well aware of this as I talk a lot about where I live.  But those of you visiting iMake for the first time because of blog week might need a little background.

Guernsey is is a small island in the English Channel, somewhere between England and France.  Size wise, Guernsey is about 30 square miles and has a population of approximately 65,000.  We speak English, although some members of the community still speak a little patois (Guernsey French).  Our currency is the pound, although we issue our own money (we still have one pound notes which is rather cool, see below!)

We are self governing, our government consists of a Chief Minister, Ministers and elected deputies. We recently had an election which I will talk about on a bonus podcast that I am releasing later this week.

I should also mention that Guernsey has a pretty impressive knitting history.  Check out this podcast if you’d like to hear more.

Ooh, and I should mention that we have beautiful cows.  Our dairy products are some of the best in the world thanks to the wonderful milk our lovely cows produce…

Our Golden Guernsey goats are also famous…

And also, Victor Hugo lived here once…

One more thing… we are very polite drivers.  The speed limit is 35 miles an hour (sometimes less) and at certain junctions, we take turns each  – we filter in turn.  This confuses tourists a great deal!

Right, that’s the whistlestop tour over. Back to the topic in hand!

In terms of seasons, ours are the same as the UK, but due to our close proximity to France, the temperature is usually a little warmer.  Which is just as well really because there isn’t that much to do here other than knit or go to the beach (personally I don’t combine to 2 activities).

Like many knitters, I am definitely more productive during the colder months.  This is partly to do with spending more time indoors, but also because my favourite items to knit are accessories, particularly shawls, scarves and fingerless mitts. None of these items are that suitable for warm weather!  I rarely knit garments due to my short attention span, although this is hopefully going to change soon as I will be co-hosting a knitalong on the iMake Podcast Ravelry group.

In the warmers months I only usually have one or 2 projects on the go.  Bizarrely, this is when I tend to knit socks (not an obvious summer knit, I know).  Summer is my sock knitting season because I want a portable project (as evidenced in the photo below, this is me knitting at a music festival last year).

The other craft I tend to focus on as the weather turns warmer is photography.  Guernsey is a wonderful place for walking and a walk just doesn’t seem right without a camera.  Also, I’d usually enjoy a little paper craft or jewellery making.  When the sun is out, shorter projects seem more suitable.

So to sum up, whilst I am always knitting something, I don’t really think of myself as a knitters for all seasons.  The seasons do seem to influence my project choices though, perhaps not in the way that you’d expect.  What I definitely am is a ‘crafter for all seasons’.  Craft is a big part of my life.  If I am not making something I am writing about making something or photographing something I have made.  I am definitely a Crafter for all Seasons.