Thoughts on obsession...addiction...habit

The Yarn Harlot signed her book for me last week and in it she wrote, "obession is normal," which got me thinking about the definitions of obsession, compulsion, addiction and habit.

--I would say I have a knitting habit. Habit is defined on dicitionary.com as a "recurrent often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition."

--I am addicted to (buying) yarn. Addiction is "the compulsive physicological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance," in this case, yarn. I love how buying new yarn makes me feel...I guess it must be what an addict feels when s/he gets high...the rush of blood to the head? Buying yarn is like getting a fix for me. It is the ultimate of retail therapy. Remember that scene in Pulp Fiction when Travolta gives Uma the shot of adrenaline in the heart to ward off her OD...after Stitches or Sheep and Wool...I feel like I need this sort of intervention.

But, I'm not sure I'm obsessed, at least not by the dictionary.com definition-"a compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of anixety." This definition has some pretty negative connonations that I'm not necessarily comfortable applying to my need for yarn and knitting.

Semantics I guess...

But, I am preoccupied at this point by my progress with the lace shawl and my lace knitting skills. Here is where we have been recently:



This is the shawl on Sat 4/15---I've completed the first lace pattern and have started the second. The second is MUCH more challenging, with each pattern row doing something different. I'm different too---I'm getting the hang of reading my knitting and finding mistakes. I'm not PERFECT with fixing the lace mistakes, but it is coming...

Here we are last night...I've completed the second lace pattern and started the third. The thing is GIANT...very very long.

I knitted in rounds this morning and am plowing through pattern number 3...it is pretty easy...or is the lace getting easier for me???

Anyway, my preoccupation with lace manifested itself last night in me going through some knitting books and obsessing about the lace patterns. WHAT AM I GOING TO MAKE NEXT? NOW THAT I KNOW I CAN DO THIS...THERE IS NO STOPPING ME! So I think my Sheep and Wool shopping will focus on yarn for lace projects. This actually works as I'm not knitting any sweaters until the weight watchers thing is more stable...I've lost 6 inches in my bust already so what is the point of putting all that time and effort into a sweater I won't be able to wear much??? I'm stressing that I won't EVER wear the koigu sweater again because it will just be too big...then what do I do with it? Frame it and call it art???