Sweetness, snuggled up against the cold in Silva Shawl

It’s a dreary rainy day out today.  I was supposed to meet up with a college student from Randolph Macon to photograph some knitwear.  We’re rescheduling for later in the week.

Days like today remind me of a word I learned while I was in Sweden: Mysig.  It means, roughly, an activity/place that is comfy, agreeable, snugly, brings comfort and has a relaxing vibe.  Most often I heard it used in contrast: that is, it’s nice to go home after a hard day of work and mysig; a place that has mysig might be warm and cushy after being out in the dark and the cold.  It’s a word that encapsulates that feeling of holing up and relaxing when it’s rainy/snowy and cold outside.

Mysig is particularly appropriate, I feel, for the month of December.  It’s been fall really winds down and winter sets in: it’s a time for handknits, truly.  I find I finished with a pair of socks only to launch into another pair: I feel a need to make things both warming and comforting.  I want my tried and true sock pattern, and none of that new-fangled stuff.

I was working on a design submission this week, and I found myself struggling to come up with transitional pieces like the call was asking for: all I wanted to work was warm and snuggly things in bulky and lofty yarns.  Meanwhile, my recovering cat Watson is a drugged and warm and oozy kitty in my lap (in that way only cats and small children can go boneless).

I am particularly enamored of this set of design submissions: if they don’t get chosen I’m afraid I’ll just have to make them all myself.

So in the tradition of Mysig, I’m going to try something a little bit different this month – all my posts will somehow tie back to that theme of cozy, comforting and warming.