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The Wisdom of Yarn

Writer's picture: Rebecca (a yarn enthusiast)Rebecca (a yarn enthusiast)

I have highlighted the research that shows the health and mental health BENEFITS that accompany a practice of knitting and crocheting in a number of previous blog posts. Today I want to expand on that a bit more.

Knitting, wool, yarn, fiber arts
Basketweave (knitting) stitch scarf, in progress

I have been working on a crocheted afghan, and I got to a point where I simply couldn't crochet one more row. I had, it seemed, lost my "CroJo" - a phrase used when we crocheters lose our inspiration or motivation to crochet. Instead of giving up on yarn entirely, I decided to work on some knitting projects that I had in mind.


I found a pattern for a knitted scarf, grabbed some old school Susan Bates knitting needles and got to work. The photo above is the start of that project.


I had purchased yarn on the most recent, Steel Valley Yarn Crawl, and in keeping with a wee promise I made to myself, I look to my stash when beginning a new project before running off the the store to buy more. To my delight, I found several skeins of Plymouth Yarns Hearty Homestead Tweed wool.


I had purchased skeins in Oatmeal Heather, Brown Heather and Natural, and decided to use the Oatmeal and Brown for the scarf.


After casting on 20 stitches, I quickly got in the groove of the pattern. While the basketweave stitch is a simple pattern, it does take some attention to prevent mistakes and the need to "frog" (rip out stitches and redo them). I eventually got it down, and was on my way.


The pattern began to pop out as the scarf took shape and I was VERY pleased with the look! As I continued, I thought about the simplicity of knitting each stitch with care and attention, and my mind then wandered over to a number of the challenges weighing on my heart.

There are simple things like what project I want (need?) to undertake in my house next, and more complex things like taking that next step to meeting with a financial person to evaluate my options for retirement. Then there are the heavier issues, like worries about family and friends. A number of these are quite worrisome, and it can be easy for me to slip into a deep, dark hole around the "what can/should I do!?", which is a question we all have at times. Like most of you, I have my share of these, and at times, they can seem to outweigh ANY positive happenings in our lives. As my hands continued the rhythmic dance with the yarn and knitting needles, I realized that there was a lesson around all this - right here in my hands. Knitting and crocheting require that we make things one stitch at a time. We must slow our anticipation around getting something - in this case a finished scarf. This process helps to mitigate the "instant gratification" virus that has infected our modern culture. In these journeys, a stitch at a time, we are reminded that the challenges or problems in our lives must ALSO be approached in this manner. There are no magical QUICK FIXES that will swoop in and remedy all that is wrong. There are no Prince(ss) Charmings out there that will save us the hard work, and no leprechauns to lead us to that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.


Fixing the things in our lives that are messy requires that we, one step at a time, work toward mending whatever it is that needs to be mended. Like our various works in progress (WIP's), our life challenges will ALSO likely be around for a bit before they are resolved. And like those WIP's, they will not magically be finished until we spend the time working on them, one little piece at a time.


Whether our challenges are relational, physical, emotional; work, home or community; financial or non-monetary - none of them is going to suddenly evaporate while we sleep. There are no shoemaker's elves that we can wish into our homes at night to tidy things up. For years I put more hope in that old fairy tale than I'd like to admit. Alas, it's just an old fairy tale and not reality.


Speaking of fairy tales, I want to pause here and put in a plug for a TERRIFIC BOOK by Naomi Novik. It is a folk tale based loosely on the story of Rumplestiltskin.


The title: Spinning Silver.


It is available on audiobook - which is a wonderful complement to knitting or crocheting. In fact, that's my go-to for books these days PLUS many local libraries have audiobook options which is a terrific way to add more reading to our days without squeezing our budgets.


Knitting and crocheting as a regular practice remind us that creating the lives we want takes time and effort. How many of us have gotten part way through a project and had to put it aside? Sometimes this is due to family needs, while other times we simply cannot deal with that project (we've grown weary of it) at that moment. Other times, we simply don't have the bandwidth - or we've lost our CROJO. The GOOD NEWS is that projects keep. I have circled back and completed a number of projects that were left in tote bags in my craft room, some for several years. It feels GOOD to finish something that was started - even if we hadn't remembered that it was there.


The practice of patience that we cultivate with each knitted or crocheted stitch is a wonderful life lesson. We know instictively that we will not sit down and crochet an afghan or knit a sweater vest in an evening. We know that these things take time and that when we put the time in, we will end up with a piece that is worthy of giving or enjoying ourselves.


This is life. There are difficult times, and painful roads that we will all walk at some point. While it can appear that some folks aren't experiencing as much misery as we do, comparison is the path to even more misery. I recommend avoiding that as much as possible and simply running our own race, or as I like to say - knitting our own socks.


Like a quality crocheted or knitted piece, our lives are sewn together one moment, one decision, one action, one thought at a time. We have all experienced that row or section of stitches that we dread and dislike, each time we come to that part of the pattern. Life has those difficult "rows" or "sections" too. Lucky for us, we know how to persevere when it comes to yarn, which means we have a road map to getting through some of life's hardest periods.

Knitting, wool, yarn, fiber arts
Finished! Basketweave Pattern Scarf

When it all seems to be a bit too much, find a pattern, pick up some yarn, and get your needles or hooks. The rhythm and pace of knitting and/or crocheting is a balm to the soul, and while it doesn't solve all the world's problems - it's certainly a remedy to angst and stress in the present moment; and some people believe that the present moment is all we can be sure of in life!

Whether it is all we can be sure of - or not - time spent with yarn is never wasted.


Be well, take care of yourself, and go grab some yarn!

 

(C) 2023 Stitch 'n Dish









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