August

August is the time of year when knitting takes on a whole new flavour. No, new isn't the right word. Revived perhaps is better. Along comes August and everything changes.

In summer, we can quite contentedly knit dishcloths and shawls. You think about sweaters, and read a lot about wool, but you don't work with it. You might consider playing with fibres that you might otherwise not knit. Along comes August and everything changes.

There is a briskness to at the yarns people consider, an urgency that has been absent for a while. August is the month when your thoughts turn to warm, where contemplating wool and warmth becomes serious, and you start looking with focus and intent. There is a vigour to the things we choose to knit in August, a weight and a need that isn't there in the desultory, airy knitting of summer.

August is when you start to think about sweaters. Scarves, and mittens are knit as often as dishcloths and light lace while sitting on sandy beaches. Chunky Lopi yarn starts looking like the most interesting thing in the world.

Though August isn't cold, it is surely the end of summer. It sends all the signals that cold isn't very far away, and you had better stock up, sock it away and prepare yourself because cold is mere moments away.

I'm not sure where August went to. I know that it was there and I lived it. Those September sweater plans are urgent and mittens and gloves are about as interesting as a knit can be. Selbuvotter is looking like grand literature right about now, with its intricate details and historical story lines. All the spring sock books are gaining new meaning with the fullness of late summer and thinking about fall.

Or maybe it has nothing to do with shorter days, and cool evenings even on the hottest day. Maybe it isn't August making me think these things. Maybe it is the pile of unworked and ignored socks I came across as I dug through the WIPs yesterday. Maybe its just because I took a pair of socks to knitting and quite contentedly knit an couple of inches through the afternoon. Maybe it is because for the last week, my feet have been very cold and I remembered socks for the essential item of clothing they are.

No matter. I cannot stop August and its fast approaching end. I can only knit those things which will keep me warm, harboured from winters chill. The most important things to knit over the next few weeks, are vests, a tiny baby sweater, and an endless pile of the toasty warm goodness of socks.