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If you are a passionate knitter; you know who you are'..you are the person who, just for a fleeting second, wonder if it might be worth taking your knitting into the bathroom with you instead of a magazine. You are also the person who feels a smidgen guilty you spend too much time fondling yarn.

Recently there was a topic thread on a knitting forum I visit asking how much time we all spend knitting every day. I lied. It was a forum; I didn't know any one personally on it'.and I lied. I believe I recorded a quarter of the time I actually do knit every day. That was a clear cry for help.

That was also the day I started to think about my knitting passion and how it affects my life.

I am lucky enough to be a stay at home wife. My children are grown and have homes of their own, so I also have a lot more free time than I have had at any other point in my life.

You might think my house is clean, orderly and well run; that I make a point of keeping in touch with good friends; spend time nurturing my relationship with my children and projecting the essence of grandmothering onto my eight grandchildren by making and sending them cookies as a treat. You'd think my husband would be greeted by a delicious home cooked meal every night when he came home from work and that my gardens are visual delights for neighbors who stroll by my home. You'd think''but''I knit. I knit all the time. When I'm not knitting I'm reading about knitting, or I'm in knitting chat rooms talking about knitting.

I don't know how many people out there might be quite as addicted as I am, but it's a serious issue. If I were drinking or doing drugs there would be a number of well intended folks interested in stopping me and helping me to develop a more well balanced and productive life. But, I knit. It looks harmless. I sit in my rocker, and click needles. No apparent need for intervention. There appears to be no hope for a cure either.

I knit a few rows, leap up, put in a load of clothes in the washer, take the vacuum out of the closet and set it in the parlor'.then, sit back down and knit. A few rows later I take the clothes out of the washer put them in the dryer and dust the parlor. The parlor gets vacuumed a couple of rows later. Now it's mid-morning and I finally think about taking a shower and getting dressed, unless I'm turning a heel on a sock, which really can't be interrupted Exchange these chores for others and my days all pretty much follow this routine.

It far worse in the warm months when I can sit on the screened porch or out on the patio'.hours can pass. Also, during this period I am too far from the house to do any chores.

I have a knitting bag in the car for those long trips to the corner grocery store. I sat in a meeting last week in church trying to work up the courage to ask the minister if he really truly would find it vexing if I knitted during services on Sundays. If he were just going to be a little annoyed'.well, then I think I might knit. After all, from time to time he annoys me too.

How do some knitters do it? How do they reasonably allot time to their knitting and maintain the rest of their lives appropriately? I have no will power or self discipline; to suggest I work this out on my own would be like expecting I'm only going to take one potato chip from the bag'.right'..that's going to happen.

If my Grandmother was right and we should always look for the silver lining, I do have to say, my husband and I have drawers full of wool socks for the winter, my grandchildren have warm sweaters in every imaginable color and style and even the cats have a hand knit wool pad in their bed.

The dust bunnies under the beds'.well'.does anyone know if they can be spun and knit?