My name is Nina and I'm a knitaholic

Today I got to thinking: what if my knitting is no longer a harmless hobby but an uncontrollable addiction? What if I no longer hold the strings (or yarns) in my own free hands, what if knitting has taken control? How do I know if I am simply enjoying a pastime that produces beautiful things or if I am dangerously no longer in control of my own life?

Today I have pretty much done nothing apart from eating and knitting. It's not like knitting has kept me from doing anything - I am with my boyfriend visiting his mother in a rather remote small town and it has been raining for almost the whole day - still, shouldn't I have done something else as well? I haven't kept track of how much money I've spent on yarns in the last 6 months, in the last year, what I know though is that balls of yarn have been piling up in our small apartment for quite some time now and my smallish closet is also getting full of all kinds of knitted objects. I knit everyday, on some days more than others but still, everyday. I have multiple projects in the making. When before, when I still could be sure of having my knitting under control, I only bought yarn for something I was sure to start in a few weeks, I now buy yarn for something and then when I finally have time to start that something I might not want to make it anymore and have that yarn for nothing until maybe someday I figure out another project it would be good for.

Today I have - while knitting Cookie A.'s sock Pointelle from a beautiful golden yellow - been haunted by these questions. My boyfriend thinks I'm being silly. I don't want to quit knitting, even to know if I actually am addicted, I don't want to quit for even one day. Is that just a symptom of my addiction? I love knitting, and knitting socks is at the moment pure bliss, the easiness of the small project, the anticipation of getting to a new section that lurks just around the corner and can be reached in a matter of hours, the feel of the soft thin yarn in your fingers. If I am not addicted to knitting per se at least I am going through a phase of serious sockmania.

But seriously, who am I kidding? I am addicted to knitting, there's no question of that. But what I really want to know is if this is harmful or if it can just be considered as kind of cute? I'll hope for the latter as I turn my hands back over to my knit pros and the sweet soft yarn.