It’s OK, I promise I’m not going to bang on about how knitting is the new yoga or to wax lyrical about how ‘younger people’ are rediscovering a dying art.
Knitting has always been fabulous, it never went away and it clearly has very little in common with yoga. But knitting as a self care practice? That’s a cliche that I can get behind and sometimes those cliches, like your grandmas favourite sayings have more than a nugget of wisdom at their core.
No one is suggesting that when the shit hits the fan whipping out your sock WIP is going to magically solve all your problems - they are knitting needles after all, not magic wands. But the act of stopping and sitting down in itself is good. Taking a few calming breaths is even better. And crucially doing something with your hands instead of scrolling on your phone is better still. It can buy you some valuable thinking time in which to reclaim some much needed brain space.
Knitting and crochet are fairly unusual in terms of the way they combine tactile sensations with visual ones. It’s been proven that engaging in simple repetitive hand movements - with your eyes able to follow and track along can reduce blood pressure and calm an over stimulated nervous system.
I’ve lost count of the number of ways that my knitting has helped me, both in the immediate short term as well as longer term emotional regulation.
I wrote an Instagram post a while ago about knitting a baby blanket at the height of the Covid pandemic. Intended for a baby that I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to see for months, nevertheless I felt really strongly that despite all the uncertainty they still needed and deserved a new baby blanket.
At a time when I couldn’t do much for the new parents to be, it felt like a really positive way to channel my thoughts and best wishes into something tangible, something useful. Something that had positive energy woven through the very fabric of it.
Paraphrasing the quote that ‘to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow’ I wrote in my journal in big letters
‘To knit a baby blanket is to believe in hope’.
And it really did help me. The act of knitting the blanket really helped me during what was such a difficult time for all of us. And it also helped the new parents deal with becoming new parents, at a time which must have been as bewildering as it was overwhelming.
There’s something very helpful, very calming about focusing on a longer term goal, especially during an emotionally turbulent time. For me it calms the mind much more effectively than reading a book for example.
It’s a very real, visual reminder that life goes on, and that one day the item you are working on will somewhere be keeping someone warm. Long after the present moment has passed, however uncomfortable it may be at the time.
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The Wishing and Hoping baby blanket is a lovely, calming knit -you can find the pattern and more information on my website at the link below if you are interested.
Yes, this. I knit a baby blanket for an expecting new mom during the pandemic. And it was even ready in time for her second child!
I totally agree. I often find sitting down and knitting a few rows, or even just one row, helps my mind to slow down. Clarity ensues and I feel rested and renewed.