How many times have you said to yourself “I’d love to knit more, but I just don’t have the time.” If I had a skein for every time I’ve said that…

The sad truth is most of us don’t have big, uninterrupted stretches of time just lying around, waiting to be filled with colourwork and cables. But what we do have is “dead time” – the in-between bits. The waiting rooms, the traffic jams (as a passenger, naturally), the no-man’s land between ‘coffee ordered’ and ‘coffee arrived’. And that’s exactly where the knitting magic can happen.

Turns out the secret to knitting more isn’t finding time, it’s noticing it. So rather than sitting there like a lemon (or more likely staring at your phone) get in the habit of carrying a project bag like it’s an essential limb – and fill your “dead time” with some knitting!

It’s taken me years to figure this out to be honest (I know, the shame). But all it took was me getting trapped in the car several times after my son fell asleep partway through a journey, sitting on my own driveway, staring longingly at my front door, knowing there was a project bag just a few feet away. No more! Now I always have a knitting project with me, no matter where I’m going.

My favourite places to knit

There’s something almost subversive about pulling out a project in places traditionally meant for boredom. But it’s a habit I’ve been sticking to for some time, and I’ve found my projects flying off the needles a little faster ever since.

Here are a few of my go-to knitting haunts:

• Car journeys – when passenger-side on a quick nip to the shops or a long-haul trip, I love to take a portable project to keep me occupied (and off social media). Motorways are excellent for long rows; bendy A-roads, less so (ask my nausea).
• Waiting rooms – It has to be up there as one of the most annoying of life’s tricks – turn up ten, twenty minutes early to an appointment, they’re running twenty, thirty minutes late. Suddenly you’re staring down the barrel of boredom, and those two year old magazines won’t cut it. This is the perfect time to get a few extra rounds in, and instantly that time is transformed from impatiently waiting to wildly productive.
• Pedicure chairs and hair salon basins – There’s a beautiful moment when someone else is massaging your feet or rinsing your highlights, and you’re knitting away like a Renaissance noblewoman. Bonus points if they ask what you’re making (they will).
• Coffee shops – Especially the ones with proper mugs and forgiving lighting. Latte, table near the window, sleeves-in-progress. Absolute bliss.
• The park – A sunny bench, a bit of people-watching, and rows that don’t count for anything but joy. I keep a project in a cotton tote just for this.
• The train – A particularly smug setting if you’ve got a reserved seat. The rhythmic clack of wheels underneath and your own gentle click of needles on top – my idea of transport-themed ASMR.
• The sofa – But of course. It’s the HQ, the mothership. Preferably with a blanket I’ve already knitted and the telly on low in the background. My absolute happy place and second to none.

Pack light to knit smart

For knitting on the go I tend to keep a little “out-and-about” kit ready: small project (accessories, baby knits or just cast on projects are ideal), circular needles so you don’t poke your neighbours, mini snips on a keychain, stitch markers shoved into an old boiled sweets tin, and the pattern either memorised or saved on my phone so it’s easy to read.

The time is there – you just have to catch it

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt, it’s that the time to knit does exist. It’s just not always wearing a neon sign and waving at me from the calendar. It’s squirrelled away in between life’s bigger moments – ten minutes here, fifteen there. But those little pockets add up.

Get in the habit of noticing them. Leave a project bag by the front door. Keep a work-in-progress in the car. Start something new just to live in your handbag. Make it easy for yourself to pick up your knitting and go. Once you start looking, you’ll be surprised how many extra minutes you find.

My only recommendation is don’t let yourself get tempted away from knitting with all the things you should be doing – cleaning, organising, working. That’s why some of my favourite places to knit are on the go: the temptation to “be productive” is reduced, and the stitches flow a little more freely.

Where do you knit?

So that’s me. Always casting on in public like it’s my job. But where’s the oddest or most wonderful place you’ve pulled out your project bag?

Beth x