Cigarettes. Alcohol. Caffeine. Even chocolate.
But knitting?
Often used as a relaxation technique or as a way to make great gifts, urban knitting has struck the nation with yarn fever.
But knitting can also be costly, time consuming and distracting. Several local knitters said knitting is a hobby for the addictive personality.
“Once you get going, you just have to finish your scarf. It’s horribly addictive,” junior Shayna Breslow said. “My knitting has taken over my furniture.”
Breslow said once she got started with knitting, she couldn’t help but want to be the best.
Sophomore Emily Hines agreed.
“At first it was more frustration than anything else that sparked a need to keeping doing it,” Hines said. “Then I got one row done and saw that I could do it. Then, I kept going.”
Hines said she started knitting to keep herself entertained while watching television and to provide herself with a break from homework. Now she picks up her knitting needles on a regular basis, she said.
“It does distract me,” she said. “I get addicted because it’s soothing and
relaxing.”
Both Hines and Breslow agreed that knitting can become a preferred activity over homework. Knitting “breaks” can easily extend into an hour or two, and half a scarf is purled and knitted before the knitter knows where the time went.
Cindi Blevins, an employee at Soft Horizon Fibre in Eugene, said knitting is a time-consuming habit. For a beginner, Blevins said some scarves can take weeks of work.
Blevins said knitting can be as costly or as cheap as the knitter desires.
“Because of the many different qualities of yarns, there are thousands of yarns in all kinds of prices,” Blevins said, adding that she spends a great deal of money on yarn and has devoted an entire room to her yarn collection.
Many knitters follow Blevins’ path and start collecting knitting supplies. Hines said she saw it as a cheap form of entertainment in light of today’s skyrocketing theater and restaurant prices.
“Now that I’m good, I’m willing to spend up to $25 on a heap of yarn,” Breslow said.
Breslow said she brings her handiwork to class because it keeps her hands busy with something other than doodling, thus helping her listen to the lecture.
Knitting can be distracting to other students, however.
“People are always looking at what I’m doing and asking questions about my project,” Breslow said.