A Tisket a Tasket-My Little Knitting Basket

Last year in an effort to recapture the sanity that I felt like I once had, and also to carry out my plan to become a true lady, I decided that it was time to learn how to knit. I am not sure why, but at some point in my life I decided that true ladies, or fancy ladies, know how to knit. So my dear sweet husband bought me a beginners knitting kit, complete with a pair of knitting needles, some denim blue yarn, and a booklet of instructions to teach me how to knit and purl. I soon set off on my new knitting adventure which resulted in a less than perfect scarf. Knitting has helped me regain some of my sanity, but I have yet to become the fancy lady that I long to be. I love that I can knit in the car on a long ride, or while we sit together at home watching a movie. My son is of course up in my knitting business, but it is a nice escape. It is a project that I can pick up and put down at anytime without too much frustration (I hate being interrupted while working on a project).

I haven't done much knitting since the weather warmed up. I think that knitting will be a cold weather activity for me, but I am learning to love it. I am learning to read patterns, and I am in the process of knitting a baby blanket. Luckily I have quite a bit of time to finish it-seeing that I am not expecting.

Enough rambling though-I started knitting in December-around the same time that family members start asking "What do you want for Christmas". That is generally a pretty difficult question for me to answer. I finally told my Mother in Law that if she could teach me to knit or get me some additional knitting supplies. She is a wonderful and thoughtful lady. She ended up buying me this adorable basket along with some skeins of yarn and some additional knitting needles. I love the basket-it was originally a picnic basket, but it works so well as a knitting basket that I thought that I'd share. Here are some of the reasons that I love it:

• It is collapsable
• It is polka dotted
• It has this lovely pocket in the front for storing patterns or needles that can easily get lost while not in use.
• It has these lovely handles to transport it wherever I might be going
• It is waterproof (maybe not a big selling point for knitting baskets, but I think that it is cool)
• The drawstring top makes it expandable for growing projects.
• You can use it as the intended picnic basket during the off season.    

Anyway, I am a beginner knitter, but I sure do love my basket.  It's just one more way to keep my craft life organized. The basket was made by a company called Picnic Time and I believe that she bought it at TJMaxx. By the way, I received an email from fabric.com saying that they are having a 50% off sale on yarn.  I am trying not to give in (because it is my off season), but if you are still knitting away you might want to check it out.