I live in a quiet suburb, on the North Shore of Montreal, in the province of Québec, Canada. You know Canada: home to everyone’s polite cousins, where people apologize when bumped into, and are accused of having odd accents (Aboot, anyone? P.S. No one actually says it like that.)

You’ve most definitely seen pictures of our winters. You’ve heard the blizzard horror stories. You’ve likely literally winced when reading about how low temperatures can get here. Yes, -40C is an actual thing. Yes, we still have to go outside to get to school or work. Yes, we have to start our car well in advance of having to drive it, in order to warm it up. Please don’t forget, however, that it gets way worse in other livable regions!

There is a marked and weird sense of pride that comes with being the theme of those winter internet memes. I won’t deny that we love to be featured on your social media feeds throughout the season. Here is the whole truth: it really does get quite cold here for a few weeks, we do get quite a bit of snow, but winter really is a beautiful season! After the long days of summer, and the colors of fall, the crisp air of winter offers us gorgeous scenery and ample opportunity for fun! I love driving even further north into the mountains with pine trees lining the highway. I love Christmas lights. I will never not believe that they look way more awesome when there’s snow on the ground.

Plus, winter is the perfect season to crochet.

You don’t have to enjoy winter sports to enjoy winter. I like walking outside in the evening, during a big-snowflake-super-quiet snowfall.  I like being the first to leave footsteps in the snow while it’s still clean, and all the world is hushed. I don’t ski much anymore, but I do build snowmen. And I crochet. A lot.

In my four-season world, there are people who (gasp) put away their hooks when spring arrives. For them, the heat makes the process unbearable. I’m not one of those people and I’m going to assume you’re not either. I crochet year round. Here’s the thing, though: having lived in a desert for a spell when I was a kid, and in this province for the rest of my life until now, I readily admit that I much prefer to crochet in the colder months. Maybe it’s the lush fibers, maybe it’s the type of project I tend to focus on. In any case, winter is crochet season.

And so it is back, and with it our crochet blankets! We get to actually wear and use what we’ve spent so much time lovingly creating. Winter is made for our beautiful hats, sweaters, mittens, cowls, infinity scarves, slippers and socks!

Winter is the season, too, when we get to make gifts for others. With the holidays looming close, we get to think of those we love, those that we want to show that love to through the art of our hands. We get to sit quietly, for a few splendid moments, and put love into stitches that we hope will bring smiles to the recipients.

We also get to decorate with our craft! Pretty wreaths will adorn doors, crocheted snowflakes will adorn windows and trees, delicate table runners will receive our holiday meals.

We can impress those around us with our intricate wearables. How absolutely wonderful to be asked if we made the sweater we’re wearing and be able to proudly answer that yes, yes we did!

If you are a designer, or if you sell the items you crochet, you’ve already noticed the uptick that comes with the season. This is when our business definitely becomes profitable.

My favorite thing to do in winter is to crochet under a warm blanket (that I also crocheted, of course), sipping mulled wine, or hot chocolate, or tea. I love the winter aesthetics of silver and white, gold, red and green, buffalo plaid, pine cones, frosted windows. I know it’s almost wrong to voice this sentiment out loud, so I’ll whisper it hear, just to you:

I really quite like winter!