We all know knitting is a great way to relax (except when you mess up or can’t figure out the pattern or you have to rip it all out AGAIN or ….). I know from my own experience I find myself sighing in relief after just a couple minutes of knitting. Well, scientists at the Institute for Knitting Research and Technology – just kidding, that doesn’t exist (yet).  The following article at psychologytoday.com gives great insight into the different modes of the mind, and I believe the element of mindfullness the article mentions is all about why knitting is generally relaxing. In a nutshell it puts you in a present moment, observational mind state. Read more here.

I stopped by Gail Knits, the LYS near my home looking for inspiration. I just finished by Christmas gift blitz of six scarves and two shawls in three weeks (all on superbulky yarn and or large needles, so don’t be that amazed) and want to knit something for myself. I’ve been eyeing a leaf lace pattern for a scarf, but try and try again I keep messing up, not liking the yarn, not liking the pattern, wanting to change the pattern and not getting it right, and ripping everything out about ten times by now. Something was wrong. I had what I’ll call “knitter’s block”. Nothing would cooperate: not my hands, not the yarn, not the pattern.

It was the fiber. I wasn’t doing what I really wanted to do with the yarn I like. I was reminded of this at Gail’s store when I found the Eco Alpaca and Eco Duo by Cascade. NIIIIIIIICE. It’s single ply, which to me is wonderful, old world, “real” yarn, not the “city-fied” stuff they make by the millions of miles nowadays. I like the feel and vibe of natural fibers, especially naturally dyed or non-dyed. I love the hand spun look of single ply yarn as well. Comparing them in the store, even the beautiful blends that have tencil or some acrylic in them, they just aren’t right. They feel like they are made of plastic, and they are. They are plastic yarn. This is not real.

I have come to  a point where I am just not satisfied with synthetic fiber. As nice as it can look, as affordable, colorful and easy to get as it all is, it just isn’t real. And I think that is something of a theme in my life development. I want real. I want real me, real friends, real purpose, and real fiber in my knitting just underlines realness in all the rest.

What I want is my single ply, undyed alpaca reversible cable scarf I planned last summer but never bought the yarn for it. That will be my next project. So the other, artificial yarn I have I will use up for Christmas gifts and experiments. Yes, artificial, like flowers made of polyester and plastic. It’s not yarn snobbery, but wanting real stuff. Like real tile, not vinyl flooring, or real wood doors, not moulded mdf printed with wood grain and texture. Real chicken nuggets, not injection molded reconstituted chicken substance. And so on.

I’ve worn my share of heavy socks and found that its like walking on beads or gravel. If you are tender footed like me and need heavy socks for cold weather you know they are a bit uncomfortable, especially when you first start walking around in them. It feels like something is gnawing at your soles. Even after you get used to it the irritation is still there but your body is just trying to ignore it. I suspect this can affect you psychologically, like a bothersome noise you try to ignore.

Gravel is for Zen gardens and not a preferred texture inside socks.

Knitted socks are usually done purl side in, but the purls are clearly the bumpy side and that’s what is not so comfortable to walk on . So don’t. My idea for smarter worsted socks is the knit the foot with purl side out on the sole and to a point above the heel, and work knit stitches on the outside of the instep – or you could purl the whole outside of the foot below the ankle. Be sure to purl the outside of the under-toe area all the way to the tip of the toes, or you will get a ridge that will irritate you. If you do a lot of walking in your heavy socks your feet will appreciate it.

And yeah, I know that in some knitting styles purling is harder. You could work the foot inside out, or learn Portuguese knitting for the large purl areas. I knit Portuguese, Continental and Eastern European depending on my need and mood. When I have a long stretch of purling to do I always switch to Portuguese style knitting. It’s very easy to learn and purling so so easy and fast.

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Sometimes when you’ve been knitting a lot you get to a point were you just don’t want to do it, but you’ve got three or six or nine projects sitting around and all that time and money invested, and you know you enjoy knitting. So why can’t you knit now and what can you do about it?

Well, sometimes we just need a break. You need something different for a while. Really, your brain and psyche and spirit do need variety. Yes, some people can knit until the cows come home, but remember everyone is different. You know about how people with different astrological signs can be do different? Well, that applies to knitters as well. Not everyone is made to knit until the cows come home, to the sheep or alpacas or whatever. You are unique, so see that maybe you need to break it up a bit. Find other things to focus on periodically, with the intention to refresh yourself so you can get back to knitting happily. Read something – that’s not about knitting! Spend a little time on a craft that doesn’t use yarn. Do some gardening or other creative things that are distinct from knitting to refresh your tastebuds and you will enjoy your knitting more when it’s no longer stale on your palate.

And this uniqueness extends not only to knitting itself but what and why you are knitting. Here are a few variations on that:

Are you knitting to “save money” on gifts? You should know by now that knitting is not a great way to save money. Yarn doesn’t grow on trees, unless it’s part silk and part mulberry fiber and that’s another thing altogether. So if you do it for some back of the mind idea of affordable home made gifts and garments, you might want to think again – or plant mulberries. Or cotton.

Are you knitting for others and not yourself? Ultimately you should be knitting starting with yourself, if not literally, then experientially, meaning you need to enjoy it. What are you getting out of it materially? Have you knitted anything for yourself lately? Or are you being a servant of sorts to others, making gifts, fulfilling requests, answering promises or other “obligations”? How fun is that? If so, you need to rethink. You are not a knitting manufactory. You are a person. Unless you knit for a living, you don’t have to do it.

Handcuffs are not knitting tools.

Firstly, remember you are not truly obligated to knit something you don’t enjoy knitting for someone who asked you, and if you “promised” you can change your mind about it. They don’t own you. And that boring scarf you decided to make for someone – do you really think they want you to suffer through that and be unhappy for that long so they can have a scarf they may not even love? I don’t think it’s a good idea to knit in a bad mood or knit something you don’t like in any case because it puts bad vibes into the piece. Unless that was your intention, and I don’t think it is.  You can, in fact, put good vibes into a piece deliberately by repeating prayers. I read about a woman who repeated the mantra OM for each stitch she did in a shawl for a spiritual teacher she was going to visit and he was able to feel the good vibes that were embedded in it.

And just because someone asked for a hat or something that you agreed to make because it’s “small and easy” doesn’t mean you have to do it, not even if you do it because you are generous and love to knit, and not even because you said you would. Again, they don’t own you. If you are spending all your time knitting for others you have become a servant and not a person who loves to knit and you will suffer. “I said I would do it for them.” Well, now you can tell them you changed your mind because there are other things you want to knit for yourself. Self-affirmation is good for everyone, and teaches others not to be slaves to petty promises.

And another thing about knitting for others: are you knitting to impress them, to be part of a group, to keep up with the pack or fit in somewhere? If you are at all knitting to be liked in some way then you are not being a strong, self-affirming person. I don’t want to be around you – other than to tell you to cut it out. Think of the heroes and others you admire: they are strong, self-affirming people who do what they want and don’t run around trying to please and impress. It’s fine to knit because you enjoy it and enjoy the company of other knitters, but look for the real reason under that and be sure you are coming from your center, not their favor.

Nothing for you. As I said, what do you get out of it materially? My cousin recently admitted that she has not made one thing for herself short of a couple of dishcloths and washcloths – woo hoo! What remains of her nicer finished projects in her house is something she made for the cat. Believe me, your inner child or inner adult wants something knittied for her/his self. “I want one too. What about me?” Give to yourself of your knitting as much or more than you give to others or you will probably, at least subconsciously, feel cheated and left out.

Another reason we balk at knitting is we don’t love the yarn or the color. I have started at least two projects where I had to force myself to knit with the yarn, and then when I realized I didn’t like the color or fiber in yarn for this or any project I canned it. Does the fiber feel good, does it make sense, is it made of what you want to knit with? I’ve decided that for the most part I’m going to knit with organic, unbleached, naturally dyed fibers. Bleaching is needed for dying, and dyes are synthetic and synthetic fibers, pesticides and other dye chemicals all come from petroleum, so there you have it. Eventually I want all my clothes and bedding to be the same, in hemp, cotton, wool – of course alpaca!

On that point, here is a picture of what I call my hamburger scarf because the colors look like old hamburger you find in the fridge and need to throw out – blackish brown, meat-red brown, tan and so forth. I had a small quantity of this hand-spun, hand-dyed yarn in strange colors. I bought it on clearance for a gift for someone else, but one day I just needed something simple to knit at work, and I needed a scarf for myself. So I made this. I like the yarn itself but don’t like the colors. Everyone else loved the colors. It was okay for mindless knitting, and now I have a strange scarf that I like because it is strange, and it reminds me that what I think I don’t like, about myself or anyone or anything, is not a universally unlikable thing. It wasn’t a mistake; it was a life lesson. Yes, I will wear the scarf. Until I make my natural alpaca one with reversible cables.

My hamburger scarf.

Or maybe you just want to experience some exotic yarn once and then you will be fine with your more common yarns for a while. Get it out of your system.

The pattern is too hard or too plain or too repetitive. I had a scarf pattern I was going to do. It was complicated. Involved lace and small cable like cross-overs. It was mind-bending to do this pattern! Needless to say I have ended the adventure. The same can be said for the boringly repetitive scarf or whatever. I’ve looked at scarf patterns with lengths of cables repeating on and on and on and think to myself that I would have to keep changing the pattern so the cables did different things every 4 to 6 inches. I absolutely would not do a 4 to 6 foot scarf in all the same pattern. That’s what machines were invented for. I’m not a machine.

You don’t love the piece, the stitch pattern, the stitches in it. How interesting is this to you? Does the garment flatter your figure? Is the pattern not particularly exciting? If you do actually secretly want to impress others, will this do it? And do fear or dread the stitches? Some people love cables but not doing them. If the stitches are an issue, dive into some stitch practice swatches and see if you can learn a better way to do cables or whatever the challenge is.

You don’t need the piece. Motivation of some sort has to be there. Do you actually need another sweater in that color? Maybe you feel you have too many already but do want this one. Then find one or two you don’t love and give it away or frog it out. Thus you clear a space for the new one and create motivation for yourself to do it. Think of something you haven’t knitted for yourself and would like or could use and make that instead.

It’s nothing new. How many of these garments have you done? Why are you doing so many of them? Maybe you are actually the sort of person who needs to do one or two of a lot of different things. Explore and expand. Maybe a different garment or item would be more exciting and motivating. Try different stuff.

Tired of running with the pack; everybody does these pieces. You are an original and maybe you need to find your own knitting niche. Break the mold, break formation, break into a new to you and maybe new to the world field of knitting.

The project lacks true creativity or self expression. One of the things that keeps me going is inventiveness. I love to take a pattern and modify it, sometimes on the fly. I’m making a Glengarry had from the Folk Hats book by ____ and the first issue is it’s too small. I made one exactly as the book instructed just to figure it out, and didn’t like some of the features. So I have the exploration of how to make it my size, plus I get to change the pattern in a few ways to suit my creativity. I changed the bottom edge so it won’t curl on me, I’m putting diagonal ridges in the sides using carefully placed purl stitches in a field of knits, plus I am using short rows to make the front band taller than the back of the had, which is more like conventional Glengarrys. And for the top I’m going to make it all full of holes with yarnovers so it’s cooler in the summer. I may put holes in the sides for ventilation and decoration as well. So maybe you, too, need to inject some of yourself into your project. Then you get to learn and invent and have the mystery of how will it turn out ahead of you.

Nothing to learn. I like to learn new things, so if I’m doing the same thing over and over and not extending or expanding myself it gets boring. It becomes a chore. Find projects or things you can add to the project that will make it a growing experience for you. This motivation makes your knitting more valuable to you. Have you tried intarsia? Entrelac? Colorwork? Break your bounds and explore. Even if you don’t intend to do anything with a particular technique you will feel more complete and confident as a knitter when you master more skills. And you may discover a new knitting avenue to fire up and inspire your knitting.

You don’t have a great place to knit. So make yourself a knitting place. Where do you like to sit. Is it comfortable, warm or cool enough, lit properly, quiet enough. Maybe it’s too lonely. Find a knitting friend or circle. If it’s your space, fix it up, neaten it up and make it work for you. I used to knit with yarn in Ziploc bags. Not very romantic, so I found some fabric lined baskets that nest, and I like the look and vibe of having my yarn so contained while I’m knitting and the look of it when I’m not, and I like to knit on my couch with classical music playing. My cousin Leigh knits out of select pieces of her pottery collection at her dining table with good lighting. Don’t just plop down anywhere. Make it a pleasure to yourself.

My knitting awaits me.

You knitting energy is literally too dispersed. I believe it’s possible that if you have six projects going it can stall all of them. It is good to have maybe three so you can give yourself variety, but maybe you are the sort of person who needs to learn not to have too many irons in the fire. There are too many wips and not enough energy for any one of them because the energy you have is spread too thin. This could also be a sign of indecisiveness or poor choices and you aren’t knitting for some of the reasons on in this article.

You just have no real reason to knit. Well, if you do generally like to knit you can just knit nothing in particular. Just practice stitches and learn new techniques with swatches, and someday you will have those skills when you have a reason to knit.

Another way is to make it meditation or concentration practice. We all know how relaxing knitting is. If you are a bit stressed knitting can bring you back to center. And the effects of neuroplasticity will actually train your brain to support you in being generally more calm. With neuroplacticity you actually grow brain cells that make it easier to be relaxed.

You can also use knitting to train yourself to concentrate better by focusing on the stitches. Pick a more complicated pattern and stick with it to train your mind and grow your brain into shape. Better concentration has a powerful benefit and your life would be improved in many other ways. It develops the will and that is central in self-affirmation. Often when we are knitting we are thinking about several other things at the same time and listening to other conversations. See if you are able to think only about your knitting.

Talk about not being able to get knitting out of your head...

Remember that just because you started a project or are half way through you don’t have to finish it if you aren’t enjoying it. Either find a reason to enjoy it or cut your losses. And if you can’t find a reason not to enjoy it maybe you just need to learn to finish things. This can be a challenge, especially if you have a lot of Aries energy in your chart – like me. Pisceans are good at finishing projects – not like me. Believe me, your astrology does affect your knitting, so don’t blame yourself. Learn who you are, what works for you and how you work and learn to make knitting enjoyable.

So how do you get back into knitting? Knit what you love. Knit with yarn and needles you love. Knit for whom you love. Knit with whom you love. Knit how you love to knit. Knit where you love to knit. Knit with love in your heart. Knit as a gift you yourself. Know and love who you are. Make a happy, fulfilled self your gift to the others. Remember: you are the one knitting, and it’s your life.

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In my previous post about recycling yarn I stated that I didn’t like the process of hunting for the source sweater at a thrift shop, and I’m sticking with that opinion. You will not find me giving but a cursory glance at the sweaters there when I’m there for something else. It’s just too much effort for too little result. I have better things to do with that time.

I did however realize that recycling a new sweater from some inexpensive shop such as Ross or Marshalls is a great option. I was there shopping for the holidays last month and was lured to the men’s sweater rack. One thing I was confident of was that I would not be disappointed by finding a great sweater that had been ruined by washing and felting/fulling. While there were not a lot of colors and fibers that I wanted I did find one that is perfect.

A lot of nice yarn for just $20. Maybe I'll make a scarf and socks.

It’s a gray sweater in what I believe is sport weight, 45% lambswool. 40% modal, 10% nylon and 5% cashmere. I hunted up an extra large one to get the most yarn. It weighs 495 grams. The yarn is a mix of light and dark gray called Iron Heather, so it has a tweedy look. It has all the right kinds of seams – not serged.

And of course, Max my cat has to become involved in every knitting project.

The only odd thing is that it has a design on the front in intarsia, but that shouldn’t be a problem to unravel around.

The intarsia desing reminds me of a turtle for some reason.

Outside the sweater you can see Max approving of the cashmere content. Inside the sweater you can see the intarsia work. It didn't say it was this hand knitted. Do they have machines that can do intarsia?

I will give you an update when I get around to taking this sweater apart and unraveling it.

Well, my laziness about my knitting projects and supplies has come to a head. I don’t have much yarn my any standards. After all, I’ve only been knitting for a few months, but I never really got a good set up to keep my yarn and now I’ve had enough of the mess and have finally got it managed. I’ve been the sort that had a bag of yarn or stuff from the store and just used that to store the supplies in. The bags and balls of yarn were all over the place, mostly all over the dining table and surrounding area. Here’s what it looked like.

A little blurry, a lot messy.

I’d wanted a cabinet of some sort to keep it all in but didn’t want to invest in another piece of furniture, and I didn’t want some junky piece from a thrift store. Looking for a gift for my mother for Christmas I found myself at Target, in the far back corner where the closet organizing stuff is, and ran across their Sterilite plastic storage chests. I bought one with three drawers and one with five (both were the same size, but the second had four small drawers and one large) for under $25 and went home to tackle the monster.

As you can see by the before and after pictures it made a big difference. I can actually eat at my dining table without having to move yarn and knitting first.

Yes! The Yarn has been conquered.

The wool is in the wool drawers, the blends and other sorts of yarn are all in their own drawers, and the various tools and needles all have their places. My great knitpicks.com ball winder is put away, my crochet needles are separate from the knitting needles. The many started projects are in appropriate drawers in stead of lying all over the place accusing me of what I’m guilty of (neglect, distraction and indecision), and I have my sanity back. Some of it.

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(Be sure to see part 2 of this topic at this link)

Well, I made a trip to our local Savers Thrift Department store to look for decent wool sweaters from which to recycle the yarn. I thought this would be a great, economical way to obtain several skeins worth of yarn for just about $6. In general, I do believe recycling yarn can be a worthwhile endeavor, but I don’t think it’s for me. The reality of the hunt is not worth the result, which today resulted in more awareness than wool.

First thing I did was examine the 20 feet of men’s sweaters. Feeling along the edges of them for something that might be wool, as well as looking for sweaters that are mostly a solid color I discovered a few things about the sweater search that I don’t care for.

1. I don’t want to spend an hour pawing through hundreds of used sweaters. My time is worth more. On top of that I partially reinjured my mostly healed sprained finger sliding sweaters around on over-burdened racks.
2. Many of the sweaters are not solids, so you can’t get long runs of yarn out of them.
3. Some of them are sewn from cut steeks and can’t be unraveled in continuous strands.
4. Precious few haven’t been partially felted. I don’t know if Savers is washing these or the previous owners are the monster yarn murderers. Even one short wash will make the strands look very second hand, and I don’t want a new garment to look pre-owned from the get go. Also, a bit of felting will make it harder to pull out the stitches.
5. Some have stains. Do I want to spend $X on dry cleaning it before I cannibalize it? Not unless it’s a great looking yarn. Great looking yarn is very rare in situation.
6. Few of them are colors I want to work with. Do I really need that much DK weight, red yarn in 60% lambswool, 20% acrylic and 20% angora rabbit? It was almost the only one I found that wasn’t partially felted and had any potential. Do I know anyone who wants a bunch of socks made from this? I certainly don’t.

In the end I went up to the check out with a smallish, woman’s sweater in a bulky roving-type yarn that was dark gray and black mix. It was 20 percent alpaca, 70 percent wool and 10 percent acrylic, with cotton embroidery and the right kind of seams. I thought I could maybe get some yarn for a decent hat and scarf out of it. I waited a rather long time in line, observing the checker struggle four times trying to get the card swiper to work for a customer ahead of me, as well as other complications with the people in line. Having had this time to reflect on the whole, slummy experience, I turned around, put the sweater back where I found it and left empty-handed but with an armful of awareness.

Recycling yarn is more akin to hand-me-down-ism than you realize. You don’t have much of a choice. You have to decide if you want to make anything from what you do find that is decent. Do you like the color and the yarn? Will anyone else. It was kind of depressing to think I might get stuck with some yarn I don’t love and am not inspired by, and then drag myself through a project I know I’m going to want to give away, knowing it’s not just a gift, it’s getting rid of the stuff. I don’t want to give that kind of vibe to others, and I don’t want to keep it, a souvenir of the dismal fate of so many sweaters and a disappointing search.

You may have much better luck and spirit about yarn recycling that I do. To me though, after what I saw today, it’s more akin to picking at a trash heap than finding treasure. I want to feel better about the process of finding the yarn and its condition. I also prefer not to feel like I’m knitting in a compromise due to poverty. I can afford yarn, and even if I make the effort buy it cheaper online, at least it’s not what to me would feel like reclaimed junk.

Be sure to see part 2 of this topic at this link

You can get some great things at thrift stores. My favorite chair and a marble topped occasional table came from there, and a couple of vests I have. And I did have one super sweater find a couple of years ago, before I ever considered knitting: a fair isle sweater in 100% alpaca, NEW, in colors I love, for just $7. It is one of my cherished possessions. Here it is:

The suggested retail for this brand of 100% alpaca sweater was $150 for a solid color, and this one is multicolor fair isle. Maybe $250?

Well, as an Aries I guess I had to get used to the idea of time and slowness. Knitting is giving me an opportunity to see things unfold over time, even the planning and re-planning of projects. Usually I’m kind of impatient and don’t see the process of things. Somehow I expect them to just happen fast, but they don’t.

1. I have my red scarf planned and barely started. It’s a complicated pattern I’ve mentioned before, but I’m not excited about doing a scarf as I keep getting distracted.

2. I’ve been positioning myself for my first pair of socks, and have determined that I will do them toe up, magic loop, and have picked a pattern – mostly. I still have to order the yarn. I’m going for sport weight for a bit of a faster knit, but I also want to try a pair in worsted as the yarn is also cheaper – and I have some to use up. For the pattern I’m going to use the Serpentine pattern from Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson, but I need to modify the pattern for a taller sock, so that is delaying me. Socks are complicated! So many choices.

3. Another project is the Notting Hill cabled vest I ordered the pattern for from Interweave. I also sent for 10 balls of Dougherty yarn for it from knitpicks.com’s that is a blend of middle greens in their wool Shamrock line. Great price. The yarn just came today so now I have one project with a clear path and target. Nothing to figure out. Whew.

Notting Hill Vest from Interweave

4. Then I thought up a project for use in knitting itself, inspired by my cousin Leigh. She knits with her yarn sitting in an appropriate piece of her Hull pottery collection. I have a Hull & Sons chair, but I don’t have any Hull pottery or anything else.

One of Leigh's Hull Knitting Pots

I’ve been using Tupperware equivalents. So I decided I would knit myself some bowls and full them (like felting). So far I think I will double knit them so they have tougher walls to hold their shape, but I am yet to decide on a design, size or shape. I’ll have something for two-at-a-time socks that will hold two balls and the socks, and others for various projects, yarn and wip contained together. But probably not for the whole vest.

I paid $5 for this beauty. It's actually pretty comfortable.

I’m going to use mostly Lion Brand Fisherman’s wool worsted weight because I keep getting coupons for Joann’s to get 40% off and don’t really need much else – and they are big skeins for $9 before discount. I’m going there today to get a couple. Maybe I’ll buy some cheap craft felt or foam sheets to plan my bowl structure.

5. I also had begun a roll-up knitting needle holder but I’m not thrilled with how it’s turning out. It was to be in a multi colored acrylic yarn – didn’t care about that as it’s just for utility. But now I do care and have decided to make a sort of quiver with felted/fulled wool, and I think I’ll do a set of felted/fulled tags to keep the pairs paired rather than everything mixed up.

And then there are all the other exciting things I’m discovering: 6. I want to do a few videos on some things to show how the techniques are done in Portuguese knitting style, and 7. I have a new idea for a method that is derived from entrelac that I need to test. 8. I would also like to try stranded knitting.

One thing at a time. What? One thing at a time. What? One thing at a time. What?

• Turning a corner (crazyauntpurl.com)
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I started into knitting a few months ago, teaching myself from books and videos. You would think by now that I would have knitted more than more than the one, simple Cossack hat from the Folk Hats book. No. And even that I just finished last week.

I’m an Aries. We are starters. The beginning is all important to us. Sometimes it is more important than anything that comes after the beginning, which is why completing things is a challenge. Oddly enough, we are also into speed and can be impatient. Patience and focus are important lessons for me. I’ve tended to be impatient with myself for not completing what I’ve started. So knitting is an interesting situation for me. It’s challenging me to understand my process, to understand the process that is learning, as well as the process of knitting itself.

There is a book that has had a big impact on me, by the title The Practicing Mind, by Thomas M. Sterner. I recommend it to anyone who wants to accomplish more in their lives, to be more at peace, and to whoever wants to learn or develop him- or herself in some way. One thing it made me aware of is the fact that everything you take on to add to your life and to your being as a person, such as through learning, is a process of development, discovery and practicing. Knitting has been more of these things than I expected, and a pathway of discovery.

Like I said, I have little to show for the months I’ve been playing with yarn, except for a growing readiness to knit. In exploring the options I’ve discovered which of the style of knitting are best suited to my needs, I’ve learned about the different needles and methods of working on different kinds of articles, and I’ve done a bit of invention in the form of the Portuguese knitting pendant I developed. And even that has been a week plus of discovery.

With the knitting pendant I presented the idea on ravelry.com and here, and then proceeded to discover more factors that make it work better, including the amount of weight, the length of the cord and how tight you keep the angle of the yarn. I kind of regretted that so many (about 200 visitors to my blog since then) have missed the latest important discovery about making it work right (#4), but what can I do. Word will get around. It reminds me to see and allow the unfolding of things over time. This includes my knitting projects.

One of the first things I decided to knit was the red wool scarf you see in the banner graphic on this site (if I haven’t changed it already). This project has gone through about eight restarts. I’ve changed the pattern, changed the width, changed the width again, changed the starting border, changed the needle size, frogged due to a disastrous stitch drop – couldn’t be fixed in this complicated lace-and-cable pattern – change the border again, forgot where I was and had to start over, and a few other reasons. Poor thing, but I know once I get a few inches in I will keep going. Right now I just have three rows – and I’m not sure I like them! It’s all part of a learning process. Argh.

And the socks. I’m learning, learning, learning. How do I want to do them? I’ve pretty much decided on toe up, but the yarn I was going to use isn’t soft enough so I’m going to have to order something. And wait until I get the kilt hose book I ordered yesterday. And figure out what I want to do with all the options it offers me.

Some day I won’t be just a beginner. I’ll be a completer. In fact, as harbinger of that, the pendant I chose for my first knitting pendant is the rune Jera, which means completion. A good vibe to be present at the beginning.

Just don’t count on any knitted gifts for Christmas.

(By the way, tell your friends about #4)

The process is what happens between the beginning and completion.

There are many ways to improve your quality of living. Meditation is well known as a reconditioner of the human heart, mind and spirit, and knitting is apparently a pretty powerful mode of meditation. There are books and articles on knitting as a therapeutic, meditative and even spiritual tool. Many find knitting as a way to get through tough times, but apparently it has benefits that can help keep tough times away by soothing are training our minds and perhaps healing our bodies.

The rows to enlight-knit-ment?

As I’ve mentioned before, one of the reasons I got into knitting is to improve my powers of concentration. Delving into the craft I’ve been surprised at the degree of detail involved in producing a knitted item. I had done some basic crochet in years past, but I’ve found knitting is a good bit more complex. But don’t let that scare you away if you are new to it. I’ve enjoyed the structure and discipline called for in knitting. That’s what I want and need anyway.

So this post is supposed to be about knitting as meditation. Why am I writing about the degree of detail and mental demands in knitting? I think part of what’s calming and meditative about it is that it absorbs your attention and in such a way that it draws you away from other mental activity that either contributes to stress or which scatters your mental energy. Because knitting demands a certain kind and degree of attention on one thing it functions to order or comb out the jangles and tangles of your mind, both consciously and non-consciously.

Knitting is both creative and organized. In this way it occupies the left brain to maintain the structure needed to follow the pattern, but also stimulates the right brain as a creative activity. So a part of the soothing, meditative effect could be a result of this as a possibly balancing activity, along with occupying the left brain which often is a source of stressful mental activity.

In my own experience I find myself sighing in relief even as I cast on, as if my inner being is getting the signal that some good knitting time is coming, and this relaxation response continues as I knit, with a few more sighs as I get into it. Part of this is also the satisfaction I get from allowing myself a creative outlet, something I have tended to neglect in my life. That alone is very satisfying. When you are deficient in creative self-expression you will feel stressed.

I believe additional soothing effects come from the feeling of the soft yarn on your finger tips and pressure on the needle shafts. Your fingertips are loaded with nerve receptors and you have acupressure points near each finger tip. The tactile stimulation with both your needles and the yarn is likely to be very supportive of mental function and overall body health in some way. Most of us know how soothing it is to pet a cat, dog or other animal – any soft, smooth or furry material. And while you aren’t directly stimulating the acupressure points they receive some from the movement of the tissues as you handle the needles. Your mind is focused and soothed, which takes stress off the body as well.

Practitioners of meditation receive long lasting benefit when they have been doing it for a while, so it’s not like you will have to knit to relax. As in any activity, what happens is that you train your brain, actually reconfiguring and growing the new neural connections between your brain cells, that knitting requires. Thus your ability to concentrate and to enter the soothed state outside of knitting grows and grows the more you knit. You could even just imagine knitting to help yourself shift closer to that state.

So knitting isn’t just a nice little needlecraft. It helps you develop a quality of mind and consciousness and even condition of body through the direct and indirect effects of the activity of the mind and hands. Considering this you look differently at knitting as an activity.

You may have seen the tshirt that reads, “I knit because I’m smarter than you.” Or maybe you are smarter because you knit. Or both!