Even though it is only the middle of the week it has been one of “those” weeks. You know the kind of week I am talking about. The kind where nothing goes right; your car doesn’t start, you have so many meetings scheduled you can’t possibly attend them all, your husband gets sick (and becomes the world’s biggest baby), you step barefooted into dog barf, but I am sure you get the idea. This week has left me scrambling for my sanity.
Knitting has literally saved my marbles. Seriously, there were many times this week all my marbles threatened to spill over and roll under the refrigerator and to be honest I don’t know that I would bother to try to get them back. Thankfully, I have found at least 30 minutes a day to turn something stupid on TV and sit and knit. As I sit there, listening to a show I really don’t care about and knitting, all of my worries start to melt away. I am able to focus on the soft squishiness of the fabric, the subtle change in hue in my hand-dyed yarn, and on each stitch instead of the litany of things that I could torture myself thinking about.
When I knit, it is truly my time. I can take a deep breath and focus only on what is in front of me and what I have control over, my yarn. Each stitch makes me feel less stressed. By the time I have knit an inch the student I am worried about at school is still a concern but is pushed a little farther back in my mind as I decompress.
There has been a lot of research done on the mental health benefits of knitting and crochet. I am living proof that it is true. Knitting is truly my happy place. It distracts me from my worries. Knitting is also a productive way to work through my stress as I create gifts or items I will wear myself. Knitting has even helped stop some of my stressful work dreams. The ones that I am sure we all have where your principal comes to observe your teaching and you come in 20 minutes late wearing no pants. Anyone? Just me? Ok. Even when it doesn’t stop my crazy stress fueled dreams it at least slows down the dancing conga line of thoughts that prevent me from falling asleep.
Labor Day weekend cannot come soon enough. I plan on taking my stress out on a few skeins of yarn.
Dove Call Knits 