Knitting as therapy

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Knitting as therapy

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1nohrt4me
Dez. 5, 2007, 8:17 am

I knitted a lot as a teenager, lost interest, and then picked it up again in my late 30s.

I'm now a compulsive knitter, have to have something going on, often simple things I can knit while watching TV to avoid snacks and to soothe my nerves.

Anyone else find knitting is therapeutic?

2marise
Dez. 5, 2007, 8:48 am

Oh, yes!! It calms me down and helps me to focus on priorities. It also keeps me from snacking!

3Marensr
Dez. 5, 2007, 11:11 am

Oh yes. I find that even if my day is bad some time spent focusing on knitting will remove my rehashing the day.

I also love the way it makes me feel I can watch TV or a movie and not be guilty because I am still being productive.

I also think there is something more fundamental than that. I like creating something. My other work is often very intangible but something I have knit is real.

4littlegeek
Dez. 5, 2007, 11:55 am

#3 Everything Maren said. I have no guilt about watching tv.

At one point in my life, several loved ones died in quick succession. Knitting saved me during those dark days. I can't believe the beautiful things I made during that time. An alpaca bohus sweater comes to mind.

5scaifea
Dez. 5, 2007, 12:33 pm

#2 marise: Good point - knitting definitely keeps me from munching while watching TV!

6MaggieO
Dez. 5, 2007, 10:09 pm

It's also very pleasant to listen to an audiobook while knitting; I find it better than watching TV because I don't have to look away from the knitting. Also, the rhythmic motion of the knitting seems to clear my mind enough that I can focus better on the story and listen actively.

Even with the cost of knitting materials, knitting is still lots cheaper than seeing a therapist!

7pmpayne
Dez. 7, 2007, 7:01 pm

MaggieO, I also listen to an audiobook while I knit. I get alot of reading done that way and it is doing two things I like best at the same time.

8nohrt4me
Dez. 8, 2007, 9:29 am

littlegeek #4--A work acquaintance has a huge long scarf. I commented on it one time as she was unwinding it, and she said it was the first thing she ever made, started it while sitting with her mother during her final illness. She said she was on "night watch," and needed to stay awake and have something to do.

If it is possible to measure devotion tangibly, that scarf was it.

When a dear friend went through her last round of chemo, I knitted her some socks. Her husband told me she was cremated in them, something that made me feel good, like a part of me went with her.

Just as lots of us make baby things to show our joy at new life, some of us--and I hope this doesn't sound morbid--knit things at the end of life to show people we're still thinking about them. For those of us who aren't good at "mushy" speeches, it's a way to say we care.

9skewed
Dez. 8, 2007, 3:36 pm

Knitting has become a must for my sanity and inner peace. It is soothing and even the frustrating parts can be dealt with after working on a sock for awhile :) For an interesting read on the subject: The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood.

10nohrt4me
Dez. 8, 2007, 5:44 pm

Not to hog my own thread, but I just came back from an afternoon with a friend at the coffee shop. Some other middle-aged ladies had a craft table set up with knitted (and other items).

I had to show them my knitted pin and bag, and we exchanged stories about carpal tunnel and arthritis, etc. etc.

It was a wonderful spontaneous moment!

I'm not that outgoing and nice by nature, but knitting is a great ice-breaker for us curmudgeonly types!

My friend, who is only an occasional knitter, said, "I'm surprised you didn't ask for their phone numbers."

And now I wish I had!

11MaggieO
Dez. 8, 2007, 9:22 pm

I often knit in doctor's waiting rooms, or anywhere else I have to wait. One of my favorite memories was when I was sitting in a hospital lab waiting area, waiting for blood to be drawn. There were a lot of people there that day, including an elderly Indian woman in a wheelchair who didn't speak English and her young granddaughter. The granddaughter touched me shyly on the arm and asked if her grandmother could see what I was knitting. It was a simple scarf, as I recall, and by gesture the woman asked if it would be ok if she knit a little. It was a beautiful thing to see the smile on her face as she took my knitting and knit a couple rows, while I chatted with her granddaughter about learning to knit. Knitting brings us together!

12scaifea
Dez. 9, 2007, 11:16 am

#8 nohrt4me: That doesn't sound morbid at all to me - it reminds me of the ancient Greek story of the Fates, three women who spin the threads of life (one thread for each person), and snip the thread at the end of one's life. Ok, it's not knitting exactly, but you (and others, I'd wager) are in a similar way commemorating the importance of life, both the beginning and the end of it.

As for your coffee shop story - it's like knitters are very similar to bikers, who always nod to one another while passing on the road. Knitters can be from all walks of life and may not agree on much else, but there's still that bond - Hell's Knitters anyone...?

#11 MaggieO: Allow me one more trite analogy - knitting as a universal language - that's such a great story - thanks for sharing!

13nohrt4me
Dez. 9, 2007, 12:29 pm

Hell's Knitters! OMG, where do I sign up?! That's about the funniest and best analogy I've ever heard.

I keep thinking I should start a knitting group for my students, current and former. Many of them are knitters.

Yes, and MaggieO's story is great! I hope you left in the rows that the grandma knit, even better if they created some slight irregularity in the gauge, just to remind you of that kind deed!

14Marensr
Dez. 10, 2007, 1:12 pm

I think these are inspiring posts.

I know I took up knitting again when my father died. All I remember of that year is knitting and making soup.

I knit on the train in Chicago and it is amazing how many peoplr talk to you or ask you questions about your knitting or show you their knitting.

Sign me up for hell's knitters too.

15nohrt4me
Dez. 10, 2007, 1:41 pm

I wonder if there's something about death that inspires us to create. Knitting something for someone is also a kind of legacy.

I didn't have kids until I was over 40, and I'm making up baby blankets just in case I don't live to see my grandchildren.

I LOVE the Chicago trains.

I used to travel on the Amtrak there for business, then, leave Union Station and get on the suburban trains. What a lovely way to travel, no fuss, no muss, read the paper, drink coffee, unwind.

Speaking of Hell's Knitters, anybody remember that Hell's Grannies Monty Python sketch, where they dressed up like old ladies in leather jackets and shoved people off sidewalks? I think they knitted AND smoked in that bit, but I'll have to check it again to make sure.

16Marensr
Dez. 10, 2007, 9:31 pm

I remember that sketch nohrt4me. Something about blowing their pension checks on tins of food for the cat and knocking over young men in parks.

Union Station is great. I actually ride the el which is generally more crowded and less fun than the suburban trains but I agree -if I have to spend time commuting I like being able to read or knit.

As far as legacies go, I have a quilt my grandmother knit for my wedding knowing she'd never see me married and it means a lot to me to have it. It is tangible gift of love from a woman who never saw me reach adulthood so I think creating something for your grandchildren is wonderful.

17brokensnowpea
Dez. 31, 2007, 11:25 pm

I also find knitting therapeutic. I survived a very dark and disturbed childhood and one of the only reasons why I made it out is because my grandmother taught me to knit when I was six years old. Through all the dark year, I knit miles of garter stitch. It never became anything but a way for me to quiet my mind and world. I saw therapists growing up, but none of them provided the solace and insights that knitting did.

To this day, knitting is an integral part of my life. I have knit nearly every single day for 20 years; since I was taught to knit. It is a celebration of life and creation.

18Ariliss Erste Nachricht
Jan. 10, 2008, 2:35 pm

My goodness, all of the above applies to me.

I've knitted my way through grief when several close relatives passed in a short time, I've knitted for all the babies in the family and the neighborhood, I knit while watching tv, as a passenger, or while waiting anytime. I have knit things for future grandchildren and for charity. I knit just to give my hands something to do. I am now knitting beside my mother during her final illness.

It never ceases to amaze me how much comfort knitting brings, to the victim as well as the perpitrator ;)

19nohrt4me
Jan. 11, 2008, 10:09 am

Knitters as perps! I love it!

I just sent my elderly uncle some slippers and a friend going through radiation some handwarmers.

I'm not a huggy kind of person, so my knitting tends to give me physical contact (second-hand) with people I love.

Thanks to everyone who's written so far. It's so inspiring to hear from people who, in the midst of pain, have turned to creating something to help themselves. Seems to me that says something about the human spirit that is sometimes overlooked.

20pmpayne
Bearbeitet: Jan. 14, 2008, 2:52 pm

I think knitting is a balm to the soul. It also brings pleasure to the receivers. I just gave a prayer shawl to a friend going through radiation for breast cancer and she told me she uses it every night to throw over her shoulders while she reads in bed. Then I made a fisherman's knit afghan for my great grandson born last June. What pleasure it gives me to see that on his crib.

Knitting is surely therapy.

21Mokihana
Jun. 21, 2008, 2:49 am

I knit for relaxation, for friends, for loved ones going through chemo... and I knit when I'm tired, upset, or going through a hard time. I love The Knitting Circle because it so wonderfully describes what knitting means to me, especially when knitting with friends.

There was a study just done that proved that knitting calms down brain waves that show that we're upset.

22nohrt4me
Jun. 21, 2008, 9:41 am

I attended a knitting retreat not long ago, and it was pretty clear that those who knit for others are getting a lot of therapeutical benefits themselves.

Perhaps one of the most touching instances from the retreat was a mentally disabled woman--and a hell of a knitter--who knitted things for her friends in assisted living facilities.

23MmeRose
Nov. 15, 2009, 5:39 pm

I started knitting again in my 50's while going through chemo. I hadn't knit since my early teens and just started with scarves. Now I'm a crazy knitter, my latest is an oak leaf sweater that has me following 4 charts at once!
My daughter calls it "The Zen of Knitting". It has gotten me through some rough times.

24BONS
Jan. 19, 2010, 9:22 am

I just joined the group today. Started playing with a loom a week ago and finished a scarf. I mentioned to my husband that I would go into yarn stores just to touch the yarn..it was comforting. During the week I was on the loom he mentioned I was less hyper. I love to read but other than that I have a hard time just sitting down or relaxing. So I laughed and mentioned that there was something about the rhythm & creating that was calming.

I want to pick up needles soon but just reading this thread has been comforting. So helpful in putting words to it.

25erinfanning
Mrz. 24, 2015, 9:29 am

I'm new to Knitters Inc., and this topic caught my eye. I recently blogged about the benefits of knitting... You can find the posting on my site: http://www.erinfanning.com

26Gelöscht
Mrz. 25, 2015, 4:41 pm

Erin, thanks. I'm going to put the links to two of the therapeutic knitting sites you posted (could not get the other to load):

projectknitwell.org/
stitchlinks.com/index.html

27EAEowyn
Bearbeitet: Jun. 24, 2015, 8:31 am

Knitting really helped me to reduce all kinds of difficult thoughts and feelings during a two year time of cancer.

28Gelöscht
Jun. 24, 2015, 7:57 pm

Anna-Marie: I have some ongoing serious health problems, and knitting has done the same for me. I truly hope you are doing well now.

29EAEowyn
Bearbeitet: Jun. 25, 2015, 5:56 am

I beat the cancer i had very small chances to survive - 10 years ago. Still knitting, for fun and for relaxation. I really hope you will be fine, nohrt4me2.

30Gelöscht
Jun. 25, 2015, 11:19 am

Glad to hear it.

Serious illness changes you, as I'm sure you know, and not always for the worse. However it turns out, I think days tend to be a little sweeter, and accomplishments more of a kick. And I think we're more mindful of how precious time is and what we want to do with it!

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