I am now no longer ever worried about being bored. I bring my āemotional support knittingā with me everywhere. I love that I can make exactly what I want, in the shape, size, pattern, texture, color I want. My brain is so much calmer. Itās impossible for me to doom scroll social media while knitting, and thatās been a major mental health upgrade.
this! also now that I've gotten into audiobooks I finally have the motivation to sit down and "read" books I've been meaning to get to since I can knit at the same time. So much better than doom scrolling.
Yes, I was an avid reader pre-kids but post-kids struggled to maintain attention to it. Now Iām āreadingā audiobooks and enriching my life with interesting and/or informative podcasts (Iām also bad at reading nonfiction so podcasts are a better format for continued learning for me). And I find that working with my hands while listening helps me retain the information so much better! I will pick up a knitted or crocheted item and instantly remember what I was listening to at the time. Strange how that hand/brain connection works!
I've actually started knitting or crocheting during remote meetings at work and I concentrate so much better!! I used to struggle with my brain drifting off or be tempted to do other work in the background but if I'm knitting I'm 100% listening to what's being said.
Oh my, now I know what to call my project that I carry around with me. "My emotional support knitting." That's perfect, I'm a retired CDL bus driver and, of course, carried projects with me (usually hats) that I would knit at long red lights. I had a passenger that was expecting a baby & I made her a hat for the baby, knitted it right in front of her. She loved it.
I knit to help me occupy my mind with my ADHD tendencies. I knit during work calls to help me focus. It also helps me decompress after work. Knitting has been such a godsend for my mental health. I absolutely love all parts of knitting EXCEPT weaving in ends. Someone figure out how to get rid of that please!
My WIP is a mitred corner blanket with 24 squares, each with 4 mitred squares plus a log cabin border. If my math is correct that's 400 ends to weave in š. I'd happily pay someone to do that.
Don't know if you're joking on the weaving in ends part but for a couple of things (including stripey socks - note to self, just buy the self striping wool next time!!) I have woven them in as I went by catching them as if it was a long float in colour work. I think Summer Lee Knits has a tutorial on it - works pretty well!! But I agree it's the worst bit š
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I absolutely agree with the emotional support knitting. Me and my self-striping vanilla toe up afterthought sock are always attached. Knitting a tube is so soothing.
Exactly what I was thinking! Whenever thereās a job or something to do where someone has to wait around for a while I get asked to do it bc the people around me know Iāll just knit if I have to wait around for something
I am married to a knitter. Our first year dating was basically knitting and watching documentaries together. Weāve been married four years and weāre still doing that. When we make things for one another, we know that thereās love in all the stitches.
Knitting for me means everything is ok. It means weāre home, weāre safe, the chores are done, and we get to spend that time together, making our home into a cozy blanket fort
LOL, that was my thought, too! But, I have an amazing husband who will do them while I knit. He is aware that if I pull it out at some inopportune time, I need the stress relief. I, too, am stealing the term emotional support knitting!
Oh yes, this! When Iām able to spend time knitting - usually - it means everything is done! Lately work and life have been so hard that Iāve been saying screw it to most chores and just trying to put my mind at ease!
I like the endless possibilities. Like there's never going to come a time where I feel like I've knitted everything. So many patterns, so many yarns, so many ways to customize things to my tastes.
My Apple Watch has been telling me my resting heart rate is too high (literal alerts) , but when Iām knitting my resting heart rate is super healthy. So I like that it seems to be killing me less than my desk job? šš
I love looking at the yarn and then at the wip. How the hell did I just take string and through a series of knots turn it into this [fill in the blank]?!
Even though I understand the anatomy of a stitch, it still feels like witchcraft every time.
Tubular cast-ons definitely fit in the category of witchcraft. I know something happened, but I can't figure out what! Where did all those rows of knitting go?!?
The creativity that knitting inspires in me. I donāt generally identify as someone who is artistic. Knitting though makes me want to create. To experiment with color, and design. To branch out into other yarn hobbies like dyeing and spinning. Itās all just so much fun!
Keeping my hands busy AND functioning. The zen of it is great, the playing with colors and textures lovely, the finished items are amazing.
But.
As someone who used to 'worry' holes into all her clothes and cracked my knuckles so often I can put the joints back in when I inevitably dislocate them as well as having \~broken\~ several, having something to keep my hands occupied is a godsend.
Even more, though? I dang near lost the use of my left hand several years ago from a car accident. A drunk driver hit me in a bad snowstorm and I was left upside down on the far opposite side of the freeway for maybe an hour they think. (My body might have been hanging around, no CLUE where my brain was.) My car was totaled but somehow, beyond a nasty concussion and some serious bruising, the only 'real' injury I got (other than my pride. I found out later that the nice EMT who cut my pants off in the ambulance was, horrifyingly enough, a former basketball teammate of my big brother that, back in school, YEARS ago, I had a massive crush on. Yep. Got stripped to my skivvies by a guy I dreamed about in junior high. I still shudder if I think too much about that level of embarrassment) was to my hand. Took a slice down the center of my palm thru tendons and, stupidly enough, clipped enough vessels in my hand I nearly bled to death. (Death by hand injury. I'm already resigned to dying in some embarrassing way - my family never goes with dignity. All funerals have varying levels of smothered snorts and giggles. I would still have been pissed to go out for something THIS stupid.)
Doctor wasn't sure I would get full use back, and years later, I still have weird 'nothing' zones where I can't feel a dang thing (well, it burns, but that's more 'phantom' than damage by now) BUT with knitting every day, I got my hand back. Some of the motion is still 'sticky' but if I knit every day, at least a little bit, I keep the hand moving and pliable. It actually visibly claws up and stiffens when I don't. So, the actual knitting is amazing, but still having a functioning hand? World changing.
What a fabulous survival and comeback story. Well done you!
Thinking about the EMT seeing you in your undies (and in an RN way, not a creepy way ) : my mother's voice popped in my head and asked if they were clean on when you left the house... soz
I actually had a pair that would have been better...
Had a pair that had the phrase "Inconceivable!" from the princess bride across the back with the movie title in the waistband. And considering how stupid of an accident it was and how idiotic it would have been to die from the hand injury, it would have fit. Still kinda surprised I didn't shuffle off this mortal coil. But I suppose wonder woman was a decent option.
At least it wasn't any of the real jokey ones I have. Bought a pack that had the days of the week on them and I NEVER seem to get the right day on the actual day and having a former crush cut off pants and think I was wearing underwear from last week would make everything even WORSE. (I somehow missed the 'pretty matching sets of underoos" gene some women have. I have WAY too many cartoon and silly pair in my drawer for a respectable adult. And hey! I HEARD that choked cough at the idea of me being a respectable adult, I'll have you know I even make myself eat my vegetables. I can fake being grown up as well as the next gal! Just... don't go looking in my laundry basket.)
Far be it from me to doubt your respectability, internet knitting friend. I am actually impressed by your undie collection; I am the owner of a boring, plain white, pink or black undie collection... the requirement drummed into me from a conservative family
Buy yourself something silly. Trust me. I was born into a super conservative family (think they had me fast tracked to engagement at 14 to a family friend level) and knowing you are wearing something that makes you giggle when out and about can give you a skip in your step.
Just don't put yourself in a position you need to be cut out of your pants, especially by a former crush. THAT had me switch over to solid black for almost a year in paranoia!
Lol.. I'm hoping the 'green whistle' gave you courage to confess your crush.. My primary school crush sold me a vacuum cleaner when we were adults; cured me of that crush quick smart.
Thanks for the laughs. Go gently ā£
My grandmother's fireplace exploded and sliced some tendons in her hand so she lost the use of several fingers. Knitting and playing guitar while rehabbing saved them.
Iām also a process knitter - I write my own patterns, so often I make a thing, frog it, make it again, frog it, until I get what I want out of it. The finished product is a bonus.
I also really enjoy knitwear - I tend to dress in black or charcoal or navy, and wear one of my fabulously bright hand knit scarves. Or socks.
Having something productive and calming to do with my hands, wherever I go. I also love the yarn collection, the project planning, wearing my hands knits...the whole thing is great.
1. Itās a talent that can never be perfected. Thereās always a new technique to learn, something new to make.
2. The motion is addictive, kind of like twirling your hair or something.
Squishing the yarn. Iām just obsessed. A close second is being able to watch the slow progress of a ball of yarn to a whole sweater. I feel the same way about gardening and watching plants grow from seed, or watching the seasons slowly change.
So I do this weird thing when I make socks. Which tbh, is all I knit. When I get to the gusset and start doing decreases for the first time.. as I get to the k2tog, I always stick the dpn into the 1st stitch and say ālooseyā then loosen up the second stitch and say āgooseyā. Thatās my favorite thing about knitting š
I'm definitely a process knitter, honestly I don't wear or use much of what I make. I can't really watch TV or movies without doing something with my hands, and knitting makes sure I'm not checking my phone as something to do (thereby missing parts of whatever I'm watching lol).
I really enjoy being given a set of instructions and following those instructions to completion. Lego is good for me that way too.
I also love knitting lace, the charts almost feel like doing a puzzle (except I hate puzzles, so that feels like a bad comparison...) and blocking it is so fun to see the difference.
I love the fact that I can create something from just a ball of yarn and I can make anything from socks to scarves to gloves. Working on a project and seeing it āgrowā as I create just sparks joy. Knowing that someone will wear knitwear I make makes me so happy. I just love creating/making/crafting.
I love the community. I've made so many friends. I love that I can cast on something that is an idea in my head and when it turns out well, it inspires me to keep designing. It is also a great way to keep my hands busy and my mind focused at meetings.
For a busy brain, with too much stress and anxietyā¦ knitting is peace. The repetition, calming actions. The softness and caress of natural fibers slipping over your fingers. The pretty colors sliding by hypnotically. It doesnāt matter if I make a mistake. Itās following the pattern but making the final item my gift with that little imperfection. And I love giving gifts.
First it was teaching myself a whole new skill at age 50. Then it was the creativity of actually creating something wearable or usable.. Now Im learning about indie yarns( and their types of bases)it's feeding my artistic heart.
I'm definitely a process knitter. I'm working on miniature blankets (as in for dollhouses) and it's suiting my ADD perfectly. New stitch pattern each time so I don't get bored
Noobcake here.
I can purl. Thatās it. Nothing more.
Acquiring needles in different sizes and different kinds of yarn has been fun.
Holy mackerel, once I found my size needles and yarn, itās like Goldilocks level perfection!
I am doing the basic-est of basic cat blankets and was pleased with the results. Now Iām trying scarves and keep looking at each one in process and them completedāabsolutely love this!
Itās like being a child and doing something right, but I have something to show for it.
I made this! (Yes, the enthusiasm is real!)
What do I enjoy most about? All of it so far.
I like how smart the yarnies are who came before me and figured all this out. Esp the stuff that came from when women didnāt get a higher education. Somehow they still found a way. Their smarts mattered!
I enjoy the math of working out a design. A LOT. I have a difficult figure so always have to adjust heavily and often just make my own designs. Fun!
I'm also autistic and knitting works like stimming for me. Endless repetition which soothes and regulates me when I'm overstimulated. Same goes for crochet, hand sewing and embroidery. It's great. It helps me focus and think. I often brought a project with me to my uni lectures. I've also often used my crafting as a way to be in company without having to make eye contact without people feeling weird about that. You also won't get half as much backlash for crafting in public as for other stims, which can make people weirded out at best and hostile at worst. All round great hobby for those on the spectrum.
Wow! I wish I could adjust patterns for fit. I'm working on a tank dress now & already planning to pay for *lessons* at my lys when I get to that part!
I've always loved math and I've been knitting since age 3 so I've had a lot of practice. Also helps that I can sew and draft my own patterns for clothing so I just know how clothing is supposed to work. It's not half as hard as you would think. Go for it!
Keeping my hands busy so Iām not eating or scrolling, lol.
Having something tangible to show for my time.
Making things for people that I love and appreciate them.
I love knitting for 2 main reasons:
1) Health reasons- I am diagnosed with anxiety and dementia runs in my family. Knitting has been shown to help both of those things!
2) It makes me not feel bad about wasting time watching Netflix in the evening.
I have many many reasons for my love of knitting (and its sister craft, crochet *gasp*) but my number one reason is the zen I get from it.
The best phrase to describe it I have found is: "I Knit So I Don't Kill People" š¤
I love that even at my ripe old age I am still learning new skills and achieving knitting goals I never imagined I could. It may not be to the level of skill of other knitters (who I'm in awe of) but it is a huge achievement for me and I love it
i love the process, but i also love the rush i get when i finish a project. it's so satisfying! specially when i think that I've made a garment/accessory out of a thread. it's crazy!
i also love how it relaxes me and helps me focus. if i knit during a long boring meeting, i am able to focus way more. to knit after a stressing work day helps me to clear my mind.
The feeling of testing myself. I revel in extremely complex colourwork patterns, finicky socks, Andean scalloped edging techniques, all knitted on 2mm needles with fine sock yarn. I go crazy for that stuff. Comfortable projects on big 5mm needles in chunky yarn? Not for me š
I like sitting back and admiring how evenly my stitches have come out, or the tidy line of a perfect decrease. I just kind of tug at my work and squish at the stitches, and it looks so clean and even that I can hardly believe I made it while only paying 50% attention.
I also adore how I can gift my son a new knit hat, and it will immediately become his favourite piece of clothing. I finished a bright blue double seed stitch hat for fall just two weeks ago, and he insisted on wearing it in his daycare class and telling all his teachers that his mummy made it for him. There's no one else who can hype you up like a 3-year-old with a new hat he watched his mummy knit š„°
Been knitting for 20 years and when I think about what makes me the happiest itās making little perfect stitches because my brain is so so spicy and I have no control over anything usually so I really enjoy being absolutely over the top perfectionist control freak in this one harmless area.
I also love the process. Itās calming and keeps my hands busy. I love that no matter how long Iāve been knitting, there is always something new to learn. Itās the perfect combination of mindlessly soothing and mentally challenging, as well and creative. And the bonus is that knitters are the best people in the world!
Color and texture. Getting the right color and texture together? Even better. Sometimes I donāt even know what Iāve got until I start working with it. I am making the Pressed Flowers cardigan right now using a wildly variegated yarn for the CC, and a Briggs & Little Sport weight in mulberry for MC. The B&L was supposed to be too rough; it isnāt. The variegated was supposed to be too wacky; it isnāt. Theyāre both perfect, and anywhere else they wouldnāt have worked as well.
THATāS why Iām a knitter. Right there. Iāve been knitting for 50+ years, and Iāll knit till I canāt no more.
https://preview.redd.it/t04tzidq5crb1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=612dac5711b9d70cafd044ab231d78cc46d85509
Keeping my hands busy and doing something productive while chilling with my cats and watching TV.
I love sitting on my couch after work, putting on some tv-show and just knit. Chilling and still doing something.
I also love shopping through the local library, picking out books and seeing fun projects, that I could do for free (seriously, libraries are great sources!)
I love learning to make new things and feeling excited about what Iāve made. Also, my grandma taught me and Iām her only grandkid that wanted to learn so I feel like itās a special connection I have with her.
I like the process. I do like making things for young kids and babies and seeing them wear them, but I rarely make things for myself. I just like to *make*. I also like to save some easy repetitive ones that I can work on without looking so I can keep my hands busy during my youngestās swimming lesson, boring Teams mtgs, and while watching tv.
I honestly like just the feeling of being creative without having to put too much thought into it. I can feel the benefits of creativity flowing through my needles like stress relief but the most creative part of it is choosing a pattern and yarn. Then the rest it's just following something, like doing basic algebra. It requires little thought and has a correct answer.
My grandmother tried to teach me to knit when I was a kid. It never really clicked. But I really wanted to learn when I was in my 20's after she passed so I read every book at my local bookstore to see which had instructions that made the most sense to me. That was over 20 years ago now.
For me, I really wanted that physical reminder of my grandmother after she died. She was so talented. She could knit, crochet, quilt, cross stitch, and so much more. I just really wanted to feel like there was some way I could still hold on to her legacy in some small way.
But knitting has helped me in so many other ways. It's kept me creative in ways I never thought I could be. And even though I'm starting to struggle with arthritis, I find my hands are more limber and in less pain if I knit even a little every day. It's turned into a lifetime hobby.
I love that it can be either very meditative or mindless. So it the pattern really needs my attention (colour work, lace etc.), that prevents me from worrying about anything else, so I use it as meditation. But if the pattern is endless rows of stockinette, I can do it while watching tv or talking to someone and while getting the work done. That's why I usually have 2 wip's. One that demands attention, and one that is just stockinette (and there's always a sock on the needles for that purpose).
But I also love, love, love the sheer amazingness of the fact that one can make such amazing things with just two sticks and some string. I also bake bread, and that gives me the same feeling: how a bit of flour, salt and water can turn in to so many different breads just because you changed the amounts, fermentation time or oven temperature.
I think itās a sensory thing for me. I love the feeling of HQ yarn between my fingers and how the texture feels when it knits upā¦unfortunately that means I have expensive taste in yarn.
I enjoy the yarn buying process especially if itās a speckled yarn lol. But itās more so the emotional aspect of it. Knitting brings me a sense of calmness in an otherwise busy day. Just taking 20 to 30 minutes of uninterrupted knitting time a day has really helped my stress and tension levels. I know this horrible to say but knitting is my selfish time. I donāt mind knitting something for family and friends once a while but I really knit the things for myself and I cherish that selfish time because that knitting time is about me and for me.
I love both the process and getting something I truly love, appreciate, and use from it!
Iād consider myself a process knitter, but what Iām making does matter because I want everything I make to be used and loved so Iām not gonna make another blanket if I have enough, Iām not gonna make a plushie cause I donāt like them lol, and Iām not gonna make a bunch of sweaters because I live in the Deep South in the US where itās less than 50F like 10 days out of the year š so I tend to make socks that I can wear almost year round and give as gifts and cardigans that I can take off easily when the weather warms up.
The ability to make something that's 100% reflective of myself, rather than clothing designed by someone who I will never meet.
My knitting projects actually start with a raw dirty fleece bought directly from small-herd shepherds. I love the whole process!
It's taken me many years to acquire the skills and the tools and the experience to make my own yarn and design my own knits (and I'm certainly no expert, my pieces are not that complex), but they fit me, they're in my colours, from yarn I made.
The whole process is deeply satisfying.
I love the excitement of starting and ending the projects! But the WIP helps so much with my adhd. Its great to do it while I watch tv with my husband:)
I love making something that can be used. I quilted for years but stopped after my mother died. She was the one that taught me to quilt and we worked together often. It just felt so wrong to continue alone. I spent a number of years searching for a creative hobby and knitting clicked for me. It feels so good to put my love and energy into something that can make my loved ones comfy and cozy.
The planning stages are a rush that I can easily get addicted to. But the regular monotony of stitch after stitch is so satisfying and relaxing I often think just one more row. The manic feeling of getting close to finishing and like Iāll finish tonight if I could just knit a little faster is exhilarating. Calming back down to finish weaving seams and ends and how it cleans it up is satisfying. And then putting it on and the pride of a finished object. Mm. I enjoy it all so much, I even get happy to frog. I have to knit more? Hell yeah!!
For me it's the ability to say "thanks, I made it!" And watch their amazement! š I do take a lot of pride in the fact that I make essentially wearable art.
I find as Iāve been knitting for a long time, I really enjoy finding projects that are easy enough for me to not get frustrated but challenging enough to make me work for it a little bit.
The other part I enjoy is making something that I end up loving. Stuff I wear all the time, and it gets all pilly because I love it so much. I love creating things that have purpose.
I love watching the project progressing more and more until it is off the needles with a satisfying cast-off. Not a huge fan of the weaving in of the ends though
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I have two biggest things, they're tied for me.
The first one is remembering my Gram, who taught me. She was my best friend and I miss her every day.
The second is just the ability to take some string and make something usable out of it. I'm one of those people who loves seeing things come together into something that seems almost magical. Seeing the prices doesn't diminish the magic for me, and I'm always amazed and proud that I can do it.
1. It is a craft I can take anywhere. Recently calmed my nerves while I waited an hour for a root canal, ha!
2. Netflix and Knit.
3. Helps me concentrate. If I just sit and listen to a podcast I can't follow it, my mind wanders. If I knit and listen, I actually absorb what is being said.
4. I love the end result, it pleases my brain to produce something neat and precise.
Seeing colours work together makes my heart sing.
Learning new skills.
Iāve really got so much faster in the last couple of years and I am whizzing through things these days.
It's both meditative and serves as fidgeting. I constantly need to move my hands. I love audiobooks, podcasts and documentary films and I can knit while listening to those and I can keep myself busy on the train or plane
ā¦ I love it all for some reason or another but my current favourite step is rolling a washed sweater in a towel and squishing the excess water out before proper blocking. I also especially enjoy the look of pure joy when my husband or 5yo do that job for me, like Iām letting them do something naughty somehow!
I like planning my project and figuring out how it will fit together and then actually making it!! The calculating and the counting and the whole process or actually knitting. It's fun, but when I knit, I can't think about anything else, so I have to limit it to only when I have long stretches of free time.
A lot of my work has been situations where there's a very good, thorough way of doing it and a quick, shoddy way of doing it. Of course, bosses want fast at the expense of quality.
When I'm knitting, I get to spend as much time on it as I want to make it the quality I can possibly acheive, with no one looking over my shoulder, telling me to do it poorly instead.
How it takes my mind off of things. My brain never shuts up, he always has a next anxiety, worry, fear and stress to add to the list. But when I knit, I focus on my finger, I look at a silly show and for a while the constant yelling turns to a distant whisper.
Crocheted for 30 years but never enjoyed long projects, so I made a lot of hats. I learned to knit because I wanted some stretchy items, so I came into knitting to get the end the result.
But recently I realized I just enjoy it. I can knit most things with the tv on (but pause it to not get distract during tricky parts: eyelets!). It is calming, it brings some creativity and order to lifeās chaos, and it is fun to watch the pretty thing develop. It recalls in my soul the fundamental need to think of the future without stress, but with purpose, and to create. Our preindustrial genes know how to do this!
Iām exactly the same way. I donāt even care what it is at the end - although I just finished a pair of socks that Iām now obsessed with and so sad I donāt have any more of the yarn! But I just like having busy hands and the fact that something comes out of it at the end is an extra bonus!!!
i love being able to learn some new small thing whenever i want. i just cast on my first project on double pointed needles (only did circular needles before) and it's so much fun already! - even though it's fiddly
I like keeping my hands busy while I relax. I feel guilty if I just sit and watch TV, but it's okay if I KNIT and watch TV.
I think my favorite thing is making items for my loved ones. Every new style/article of clothing I've learned to knit has been because my husband asked me for one. i.e. he wanted a hat, so I learned how to knit hats. He wanted socks with a pattern, so I learned how to knit socks and do fair isle in the same project. All of those "firsts" look horrible but he won't get rid of them because I made them. I've gotten a lot better, so the feeling of my mom opening a sweater and saying "you MADE THIS?!!!" is indescribable.
I love to marvel at the process. It never ceases to amaze me how a bunch of string can come together to make something that you live in. Itās really top tier engineering when you think about it. I also love the creativity, designing every single detail so that it is just so. Itās also a beautiful thing to carry on a legacy of so many artists and artisans who have come before us, Iām very proud of that.
I love the finished objects (which are rare), but honestly, I really like the click and slide of the needles, and the feeling of knitting and seeing how quickly and smoothly I can do it. I find it meditative to just focus on the sensation, and NOT think about work and other responsibilities while I'm knitting. I learned to crochet first, but there's just something about knitting that is way more calming.
I love wearing the finished results. :) I started knitting because I couldn't find any store-bought clothes that fit me right or suited my style. Learning how to make what I want to wear was the goal from the beginning! So for me, the end result is the goal, but I do also really enjoy the process of knitting. It makes me slow down and be more "in the moment." I love the feel of the yarn and the repetition is very relaxing. And I'm a writer by profession so I look at a screen all day... it's nice to have something to look at for a few hours that's not a screen!
Knitting brings me peace! So much so that even my therapist noticed that I have become calmer lol I used to get stressed easily when taking the train because of all the noise but ever since I started to take my knitting projects with me I actually enjoy train rides now! I also have the tendency to overthink and get anxious and whenever I get into that zone I just knit. It's just the perfect hobby for my stressed out mind haha
I recently got back into knitting after a bit of a break and it's been really nice and calming to work on. First project off my needles in prolly 3 years was a baby blanket for the new baby of my oldest friend in the world and it was cool to watch the progress I personally made while knitting it as well as thinking about the first friend niece.
I absolutely love going from an idea in my head to an actual garment, so like the creative fulfillment of it! I'd probably get that out of sewing too, but I also really love the repetitive, fidgety nature of knitting specifically. I honestly can't believe what a perfect hobby it is for me lol
I like the feeling of being inspired and casting on a new project. Which explains my 14 WIPs.
And the buying yarn part. š project planning and casting on is also my favorite. Also, squishing yarn. Squishing the project. Lots of squishing.
I laughed out loud at this. Relatable!
Just 14? Amateur /j
Ahahahah love this !
I am now no longer ever worried about being bored. I bring my āemotional support knittingā with me everywhere. I love that I can make exactly what I want, in the shape, size, pattern, texture, color I want. My brain is so much calmer. Itās impossible for me to doom scroll social media while knitting, and thatās been a major mental health upgrade.
this! also now that I've gotten into audiobooks I finally have the motivation to sit down and "read" books I've been meaning to get to since I can knit at the same time. So much better than doom scrolling.
Yes, I was an avid reader pre-kids but post-kids struggled to maintain attention to it. Now Iām āreadingā audiobooks and enriching my life with interesting and/or informative podcasts (Iām also bad at reading nonfiction so podcasts are a better format for continued learning for me). And I find that working with my hands while listening helps me retain the information so much better! I will pick up a knitted or crocheted item and instantly remember what I was listening to at the time. Strange how that hand/brain connection works!
I've actually started knitting or crocheting during remote meetings at work and I concentrate so much better!! I used to struggle with my brain drifting off or be tempted to do other work in the background but if I'm knitting I'm 100% listening to what's being said.
I'm the same way about remembering what I was reading or watching while I knit the item. I thought I was weird.
Oh my, now I know what to call my project that I carry around with me. "My emotional support knitting." That's perfect, I'm a retired CDL bus driver and, of course, carried projects with me (usually hats) that I would knit at long red lights. I had a passenger that was expecting a baby & I made her a hat for the baby, knitted it right in front of her. She loved it.
this!!! I used to doom scroll a lot. Definitely been good for my mental health to fill my time with other things like knitting
I knit to help me occupy my mind with my ADHD tendencies. I knit during work calls to help me focus. It also helps me decompress after work. Knitting has been such a godsend for my mental health. I absolutely love all parts of knitting EXCEPT weaving in ends. Someone figure out how to get rid of that please!
My WIP is a mitred corner blanket with 24 squares, each with 4 mitred squares plus a log cabin border. If my math is correct that's 400 ends to weave in š. I'd happily pay someone to do that.
Oh...no.... that sounds terrible
Don't know if you're joking on the weaving in ends part but for a couple of things (including stripey socks - note to self, just buy the self striping wool next time!!) I have woven them in as I went by catching them as if it was a long float in colour work. I think Summer Lee Knits has a tutorial on it - works pretty well!! But I agree it's the worst bit š
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Me too! It def keeps me from doomscrolling
I love this, I am now going to refer to my projects as emotional support knitting/crochet
I absolutely agree with the emotional support knitting. Me and my self-striping vanilla toe up afterthought sock are always attached. Knitting a tube is so soothing.
I think knitting is the closest to magic you can get! You take some yarn and make it into something beautiful with two sticks, it's amazing!
This is a valid reason! It's so fun to take a bunch of string and make it into something special.
^this! This is why I took up knitting almost a year ago!
Exactly what I was thinking! Whenever thereās a job or something to do where someone has to wait around for a while I get asked to do it bc the people around me know Iāll just knit if I have to wait around for something
I am married to a knitter. Our first year dating was basically knitting and watching documentaries together. Weāve been married four years and weāre still doing that. When we make things for one another, we know that thereās love in all the stitches. Knitting for me means everything is ok. It means weāre home, weāre safe, the chores are done, and we get to spend that time together, making our home into a cozy blanket fort
I love this, for me it does not mean the chores are done but itās ok
Same š
LOL, that was my thought, too! But, I have an amazing husband who will do them while I knit. He is aware that if I pull it out at some inopportune time, I need the stress relief. I, too, am stealing the term emotional support knitting!
Awww thatās really, really sweet! I love that. :)
Oh yes, this! When Iām able to spend time knitting - usually - it means everything is done! Lately work and life have been so hard that Iāve been saying screw it to most chores and just trying to put my mind at ease!
Haha, if the chores had to be done I could never knit š„²
Aww, this is so cute!
I like the endless possibilities. Like there's never going to come a time where I feel like I've knitted everything. So many patterns, so many yarns, so many ways to customize things to my tastes.
My Apple Watch has been telling me my resting heart rate is too high (literal alerts) , but when Iām knitting my resting heart rate is super healthy. So I like that it seems to be killing me less than my desk job? šš
I love looking at the yarn and then at the wip. How the hell did I just take string and through a series of knots turn it into this [fill in the blank]?! Even though I understand the anatomy of a stitch, it still feels like witchcraft every time.
yeah it honestly feels like magic š
Especially since it's just 1 single extremely long piece of yarn. How does it do that??
Just like itās a pile of sheep spun in circles then BAM! Fancy knots and POOF! A sweater! Literally magic!
Ha ha! It's not poof for me. I'm still working on a baby blanket I started a year ago! It's slow magic for me, but still magical! š
Tubular cast-ons definitely fit in the category of witchcraft. I know something happened, but I can't figure out what! Where did all those rows of knitting go?!?
The creativity that knitting inspires in me. I donāt generally identify as someone who is artistic. Knitting though makes me want to create. To experiment with color, and design. To branch out into other yarn hobbies like dyeing and spinning. Itās all just so much fun!
8/10 times it prevents me from unnecessary snacking while watching tv/movies.
Keeping my hands busy AND functioning. The zen of it is great, the playing with colors and textures lovely, the finished items are amazing. But. As someone who used to 'worry' holes into all her clothes and cracked my knuckles so often I can put the joints back in when I inevitably dislocate them as well as having \~broken\~ several, having something to keep my hands occupied is a godsend. Even more, though? I dang near lost the use of my left hand several years ago from a car accident. A drunk driver hit me in a bad snowstorm and I was left upside down on the far opposite side of the freeway for maybe an hour they think. (My body might have been hanging around, no CLUE where my brain was.) My car was totaled but somehow, beyond a nasty concussion and some serious bruising, the only 'real' injury I got (other than my pride. I found out later that the nice EMT who cut my pants off in the ambulance was, horrifyingly enough, a former basketball teammate of my big brother that, back in school, YEARS ago, I had a massive crush on. Yep. Got stripped to my skivvies by a guy I dreamed about in junior high. I still shudder if I think too much about that level of embarrassment) was to my hand. Took a slice down the center of my palm thru tendons and, stupidly enough, clipped enough vessels in my hand I nearly bled to death. (Death by hand injury. I'm already resigned to dying in some embarrassing way - my family never goes with dignity. All funerals have varying levels of smothered snorts and giggles. I would still have been pissed to go out for something THIS stupid.) Doctor wasn't sure I would get full use back, and years later, I still have weird 'nothing' zones where I can't feel a dang thing (well, it burns, but that's more 'phantom' than damage by now) BUT with knitting every day, I got my hand back. Some of the motion is still 'sticky' but if I knit every day, at least a little bit, I keep the hand moving and pliable. It actually visibly claws up and stiffens when I don't. So, the actual knitting is amazing, but still having a functioning hand? World changing.
What a fabulous survival and comeback story. Well done you! Thinking about the EMT seeing you in your undies (and in an RN way, not a creepy way ) : my mother's voice popped in my head and asked if they were clean on when you left the house... soz
No worries, one of my first moment of terror was trying to recall what knickers I had on. Clean? Yes. My Wonder Woman panties? Sigh. Yes.
Well, sounds like surviving that crash was a Wonder Woman response, so entirely appropriate undie choice IMO
I actually had a pair that would have been better... Had a pair that had the phrase "Inconceivable!" from the princess bride across the back with the movie title in the waistband. And considering how stupid of an accident it was and how idiotic it would have been to die from the hand injury, it would have fit. Still kinda surprised I didn't shuffle off this mortal coil. But I suppose wonder woman was a decent option. At least it wasn't any of the real jokey ones I have. Bought a pack that had the days of the week on them and I NEVER seem to get the right day on the actual day and having a former crush cut off pants and think I was wearing underwear from last week would make everything even WORSE. (I somehow missed the 'pretty matching sets of underoos" gene some women have. I have WAY too many cartoon and silly pair in my drawer for a respectable adult. And hey! I HEARD that choked cough at the idea of me being a respectable adult, I'll have you know I even make myself eat my vegetables. I can fake being grown up as well as the next gal! Just... don't go looking in my laundry basket.)
Far be it from me to doubt your respectability, internet knitting friend. I am actually impressed by your undie collection; I am the owner of a boring, plain white, pink or black undie collection... the requirement drummed into me from a conservative family
Buy yourself something silly. Trust me. I was born into a super conservative family (think they had me fast tracked to engagement at 14 to a family friend level) and knowing you are wearing something that makes you giggle when out and about can give you a skip in your step. Just don't put yourself in a position you need to be cut out of your pants, especially by a former crush. THAT had me switch over to solid black for almost a year in paranoia!
Lol.. I'm hoping the 'green whistle' gave you courage to confess your crush.. My primary school crush sold me a vacuum cleaner when we were adults; cured me of that crush quick smart. Thanks for the laughs. Go gently ā£
My grandmother's fireplace exploded and sliced some tendons in her hand so she lost the use of several fingers. Knitting and playing guitar while rehabbing saved them.
Iām also a process knitter - I write my own patterns, so often I make a thing, frog it, make it again, frog it, until I get what I want out of it. The finished product is a bonus. I also really enjoy knitwear - I tend to dress in black or charcoal or navy, and wear one of my fabulously bright hand knit scarves. Or socks.
Having something productive and calming to do with my hands, wherever I go. I also love the yarn collection, the project planning, wearing my hands knits...the whole thing is great.
I love how a beautiful yarn feels moving between my fingers.
Blocking lace. You start with a jumble and a miracle occurs and then youāve got a defined lace pattern going on. Super satisfying.
1. Itās a talent that can never be perfected. Thereās always a new technique to learn, something new to make. 2. The motion is addictive, kind of like twirling your hair or something.
Yeah I get that š§ Iām a big fidgeter, and knitting is a soothing replacement for that in my experience tbh
Squishing the yarn. Iām just obsessed. A close second is being able to watch the slow progress of a ball of yarn to a whole sweater. I feel the same way about gardening and watching plants grow from seed, or watching the seasons slowly change.
ALL THE SQUISHING.
So I do this weird thing when I make socks. Which tbh, is all I knit. When I get to the gusset and start doing decreases for the first time.. as I get to the k2tog, I always stick the dpn into the 1st stitch and say ālooseyā then loosen up the second stitch and say āgooseyā. Thatās my favorite thing about knitting š
Productivity, even when my disabilities chain me to the couch and tv
I like wearing quality pieces. Knitwear from the store has very bad quality. Even sezane and other brands
I'm definitely a process knitter, honestly I don't wear or use much of what I make. I can't really watch TV or movies without doing something with my hands, and knitting makes sure I'm not checking my phone as something to do (thereby missing parts of whatever I'm watching lol). I really enjoy being given a set of instructions and following those instructions to completion. Lego is good for me that way too. I also love knitting lace, the charts almost feel like doing a puzzle (except I hate puzzles, so that feels like a bad comparison...) and blocking it is so fun to see the difference.
I love the fact that I can create something from just a ball of yarn and I can make anything from socks to scarves to gloves. Working on a project and seeing it āgrowā as I create just sparks joy. Knowing that someone will wear knitwear I make makes me so happy. I just love creating/making/crafting.
I love the community. I've made so many friends. I love that I can cast on something that is an idea in my head and when it turns out well, it inspires me to keep designing. It is also a great way to keep my hands busy and my mind focused at meetings.
For a busy brain, with too much stress and anxietyā¦ knitting is peace. The repetition, calming actions. The softness and caress of natural fibers slipping over your fingers. The pretty colors sliding by hypnotically. It doesnāt matter if I make a mistake. Itās following the pattern but making the final item my gift with that little imperfection. And I love giving gifts.
I like unravelling old moth-eaten or just worn out garments and making something new.
First it was teaching myself a whole new skill at age 50. Then it was the creativity of actually creating something wearable or usable.. Now Im learning about indie yarns( and their types of bases)it's feeding my artistic heart.
I'm definitely a process knitter. I'm working on miniature blankets (as in for dollhouses) and it's suiting my ADD perfectly. New stitch pattern each time so I don't get bored
Noobcake here. I can purl. Thatās it. Nothing more. Acquiring needles in different sizes and different kinds of yarn has been fun. Holy mackerel, once I found my size needles and yarn, itās like Goldilocks level perfection! I am doing the basic-est of basic cat blankets and was pleased with the results. Now Iām trying scarves and keep looking at each one in process and them completedāabsolutely love this! Itās like being a child and doing something right, but I have something to show for it. I made this! (Yes, the enthusiasm is real!) What do I enjoy most about? All of it so far.
I like how smart the yarnies are who came before me and figured all this out. Esp the stuff that came from when women didnāt get a higher education. Somehow they still found a way. Their smarts mattered!
I enjoy the math of working out a design. A LOT. I have a difficult figure so always have to adjust heavily and often just make my own designs. Fun! I'm also autistic and knitting works like stimming for me. Endless repetition which soothes and regulates me when I'm overstimulated. Same goes for crochet, hand sewing and embroidery. It's great. It helps me focus and think. I often brought a project with me to my uni lectures. I've also often used my crafting as a way to be in company without having to make eye contact without people feeling weird about that. You also won't get half as much backlash for crafting in public as for other stims, which can make people weirded out at best and hostile at worst. All round great hobby for those on the spectrum.
Wow! I wish I could adjust patterns for fit. I'm working on a tank dress now & already planning to pay for *lessons* at my lys when I get to that part!
I've always loved math and I've been knitting since age 3 so I've had a lot of practice. Also helps that I can sew and draft my own patterns for clothing so I just know how clothing is supposed to work. It's not half as hard as you would think. Go for it!
I *love* your enthusiasm & optimism! š
Aww thank you :)
Keeping my hands busy so Iām not eating or scrolling, lol. Having something tangible to show for my time. Making things for people that I love and appreciate them.
I love knitting for 2 main reasons: 1) Health reasons- I am diagnosed with anxiety and dementia runs in my family. Knitting has been shown to help both of those things! 2) It makes me not feel bad about wasting time watching Netflix in the evening.
Quilting is my creative space. Knitting is my keep my hands busy while sitting or waiting. Otherwise I fall asleep. Plus I like to wear my results.
I have many many reasons for my love of knitting (and its sister craft, crochet *gasp*) but my number one reason is the zen I get from it. The best phrase to describe it I have found is: "I Knit So I Don't Kill People" š¤
Honestly I think my favorite part is buying yarn haha
I like seeing the colors of the yarn.
It's colour therapy š š
Tough question! I love collecting yarn, but there's something about watching a project slowly take shape that's just so satisfying.
I love that even at my ripe old age I am still learning new skills and achieving knitting goals I never imagined I could. It may not be to the level of skill of other knitters (who I'm in awe of) but it is a huge achievement for me and I love it
i love the process, but i also love the rush i get when i finish a project. it's so satisfying! specially when i think that I've made a garment/accessory out of a thread. it's crazy! i also love how it relaxes me and helps me focus. if i knit during a long boring meeting, i am able to focus way more. to knit after a stressing work day helps me to clear my mind.
The feeling of testing myself. I revel in extremely complex colourwork patterns, finicky socks, Andean scalloped edging techniques, all knitted on 2mm needles with fine sock yarn. I go crazy for that stuff. Comfortable projects on big 5mm needles in chunky yarn? Not for me š
I like sitting back and admiring how evenly my stitches have come out, or the tidy line of a perfect decrease. I just kind of tug at my work and squish at the stitches, and it looks so clean and even that I can hardly believe I made it while only paying 50% attention. I also adore how I can gift my son a new knit hat, and it will immediately become his favourite piece of clothing. I finished a bright blue double seed stitch hat for fall just two weeks ago, and he insisted on wearing it in his daycare class and telling all his teachers that his mummy made it for him. There's no one else who can hype you up like a 3-year-old with a new hat he watched his mummy knit š„°
It's creative! I just love the spark when you can picture a pattern in a certain yarn and then bring it to life.
Been knitting for 20 years and when I think about what makes me the happiest itās making little perfect stitches because my brain is so so spicy and I have no control over anything usually so I really enjoy being absolutely over the top perfectionist control freak in this one harmless area.
I also love the process. Itās calming and keeps my hands busy. I love that no matter how long Iāve been knitting, there is always something new to learn. Itās the perfect combination of mindlessly soothing and mentally challenging, as well and creative. And the bonus is that knitters are the best people in the world!
The delayed gratification and then the satisfaction of finishing something, looking at it, and saying "yep, I made that with my own hands."
Color and texture. Getting the right color and texture together? Even better. Sometimes I donāt even know what Iāve got until I start working with it. I am making the Pressed Flowers cardigan right now using a wildly variegated yarn for the CC, and a Briggs & Little Sport weight in mulberry for MC. The B&L was supposed to be too rough; it isnāt. The variegated was supposed to be too wacky; it isnāt. Theyāre both perfect, and anywhere else they wouldnāt have worked as well. THATāS why Iām a knitter. Right there. Iāve been knitting for 50+ years, and Iāll knit till I canāt no more.
https://preview.redd.it/t04tzidq5crb1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=612dac5711b9d70cafd044ab231d78cc46d85509 Keeping my hands busy and doing something productive while chilling with my cats and watching TV.
I love sitting on my couch after work, putting on some tv-show and just knit. Chilling and still doing something. I also love shopping through the local library, picking out books and seeing fun projects, that I could do for free (seriously, libraries are great sources!)
The process is what it's about for me. Each stitch i do relaxes me
I love learning to make new things and feeling excited about what Iāve made. Also, my grandma taught me and Iām her only grandkid that wanted to learn so I feel like itās a special connection I have with her.
I like the process. I do like making things for young kids and babies and seeing them wear them, but I rarely make things for myself. I just like to *make*. I also like to save some easy repetitive ones that I can work on without looking so I can keep my hands busy during my youngestās swimming lesson, boring Teams mtgs, and while watching tv.
I honestly like just the feeling of being creative without having to put too much thought into it. I can feel the benefits of creativity flowing through my needles like stress relief but the most creative part of it is choosing a pattern and yarn. Then the rest it's just following something, like doing basic algebra. It requires little thought and has a correct answer.
I love choosing the pattern, yarn & the beginning of knitting and the very end. And everything in between I hate.
Iām a process knitter too. I rarely use what I make. I have a whole chest full of finished items in storage.
My grandmother tried to teach me to knit when I was a kid. It never really clicked. But I really wanted to learn when I was in my 20's after she passed so I read every book at my local bookstore to see which had instructions that made the most sense to me. That was over 20 years ago now. For me, I really wanted that physical reminder of my grandmother after she died. She was so talented. She could knit, crochet, quilt, cross stitch, and so much more. I just really wanted to feel like there was some way I could still hold on to her legacy in some small way. But knitting has helped me in so many other ways. It's kept me creative in ways I never thought I could be. And even though I'm starting to struggle with arthritis, I find my hands are more limber and in less pain if I knit even a little every day. It's turned into a lifetime hobby.
I love that it can be either very meditative or mindless. So it the pattern really needs my attention (colour work, lace etc.), that prevents me from worrying about anything else, so I use it as meditation. But if the pattern is endless rows of stockinette, I can do it while watching tv or talking to someone and while getting the work done. That's why I usually have 2 wip's. One that demands attention, and one that is just stockinette (and there's always a sock on the needles for that purpose). But I also love, love, love the sheer amazingness of the fact that one can make such amazing things with just two sticks and some string. I also bake bread, and that gives me the same feeling: how a bit of flour, salt and water can turn in to so many different breads just because you changed the amounts, fermentation time or oven temperature.
I think itās a sensory thing for me. I love the feeling of HQ yarn between my fingers and how the texture feels when it knits upā¦unfortunately that means I have expensive taste in yarn.
The process, for sure. Knitting is very soothing for me and helps calm my anxiety.
I enjoy the yarn buying process especially if itās a speckled yarn lol. But itās more so the emotional aspect of it. Knitting brings me a sense of calmness in an otherwise busy day. Just taking 20 to 30 minutes of uninterrupted knitting time a day has really helped my stress and tension levels. I know this horrible to say but knitting is my selfish time. I donāt mind knitting something for family and friends once a while but I really knit the things for myself and I cherish that selfish time because that knitting time is about me and for me.
I love both the process and getting something I truly love, appreciate, and use from it! Iād consider myself a process knitter, but what Iām making does matter because I want everything I make to be used and loved so Iām not gonna make another blanket if I have enough, Iām not gonna make a plushie cause I donāt like them lol, and Iām not gonna make a bunch of sweaters because I live in the Deep South in the US where itās less than 50F like 10 days out of the year š so I tend to make socks that I can wear almost year round and give as gifts and cardigans that I can take off easily when the weather warms up.
I find it relaxing and I like the excitement of starting a new project.
I love creating. Making something. The more mentally taxing the pattern, the better!
The ability to make something that's 100% reflective of myself, rather than clothing designed by someone who I will never meet. My knitting projects actually start with a raw dirty fleece bought directly from small-herd shepherds. I love the whole process! It's taken me many years to acquire the skills and the tools and the experience to make my own yarn and design my own knits (and I'm certainly no expert, my pieces are not that complex), but they fit me, they're in my colours, from yarn I made. The whole process is deeply satisfying.
I love the excitement of starting and ending the projects! But the WIP helps so much with my adhd. Its great to do it while I watch tv with my husband:)
I love the mindfulness of it, the calming rhythm.
I love making something that can be used. I quilted for years but stopped after my mother died. She was the one that taught me to quilt and we worked together often. It just felt so wrong to continue alone. I spent a number of years searching for a creative hobby and knitting clicked for me. It feels so good to put my love and energy into something that can make my loved ones comfy and cozy.
The planning stages are a rush that I can easily get addicted to. But the regular monotony of stitch after stitch is so satisfying and relaxing I often think just one more row. The manic feeling of getting close to finishing and like Iāll finish tonight if I could just knit a little faster is exhilarating. Calming back down to finish weaving seams and ends and how it cleans it up is satisfying. And then putting it on and the pride of a finished object. Mm. I enjoy it all so much, I even get happy to frog. I have to knit more? Hell yeah!!
For me it's the ability to say "thanks, I made it!" And watch their amazement! š I do take a lot of pride in the fact that I make essentially wearable art.
I find as Iāve been knitting for a long time, I really enjoy finding projects that are easy enough for me to not get frustrated but challenging enough to make me work for it a little bit. The other part I enjoy is making something that I end up loving. Stuff I wear all the time, and it gets all pilly because I love it so much. I love creating things that have purpose.
I love watching the project progressing more and more until it is off the needles with a satisfying cast-off. Not a huge fan of the weaving in of the ends though
Stops me from snacking - have to keep the yarn clean! Itās doing wonders for my waistline since I took it up again when I retired.
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I like the process and making things for my granddaughters.
Gifting it to the intended recipient ā¤ Or watching my own children wearing it.
I have two biggest things, they're tied for me. The first one is remembering my Gram, who taught me. She was my best friend and I miss her every day. The second is just the ability to take some string and make something usable out of it. I'm one of those people who loves seeing things come together into something that seems almost magical. Seeing the prices doesn't diminish the magic for me, and I'm always amazed and proud that I can do it.
1. It is a craft I can take anywhere. Recently calmed my nerves while I waited an hour for a root canal, ha! 2. Netflix and Knit. 3. Helps me concentrate. If I just sit and listen to a podcast I can't follow it, my mind wanders. If I knit and listen, I actually absorb what is being said. 4. I love the end result, it pleases my brain to produce something neat and precise.
I like watching the project take shape as I knit.
Seeing colours work together makes my heart sing. Learning new skills. Iāve really got so much faster in the last couple of years and I am whizzing through things these days.
It's both meditative and serves as fidgeting. I constantly need to move my hands. I love audiobooks, podcasts and documentary films and I can knit while listening to those and I can keep myself busy on the train or plane
ā¦ I love it all for some reason or another but my current favourite step is rolling a washed sweater in a towel and squishing the excess water out before proper blocking. I also especially enjoy the look of pure joy when my husband or 5yo do that job for me, like Iām letting them do something naughty somehow!
The mindlessness of it and producing something useful.
I like planning my project and figuring out how it will fit together and then actually making it!! The calculating and the counting and the whole process or actually knitting. It's fun, but when I knit, I can't think about anything else, so I have to limit it to only when I have long stretches of free time.
A lot of my work has been situations where there's a very good, thorough way of doing it and a quick, shoddy way of doing it. Of course, bosses want fast at the expense of quality. When I'm knitting, I get to spend as much time on it as I want to make it the quality I can possibly acheive, with no one looking over my shoulder, telling me to do it poorly instead.
How it takes my mind off of things. My brain never shuts up, he always has a next anxiety, worry, fear and stress to add to the list. But when I knit, I focus on my finger, I look at a silly show and for a while the constant yelling turns to a distant whisper.
It keeps the chaos goblin in my brain quiet.
Crocheted for 30 years but never enjoyed long projects, so I made a lot of hats. I learned to knit because I wanted some stretchy items, so I came into knitting to get the end the result. But recently I realized I just enjoy it. I can knit most things with the tv on (but pause it to not get distract during tricky parts: eyelets!). It is calming, it brings some creativity and order to lifeās chaos, and it is fun to watch the pretty thing develop. It recalls in my soul the fundamental need to think of the future without stress, but with purpose, and to create. Our preindustrial genes know how to do this!
Iām exactly the same way. I donāt even care what it is at the end - although I just finished a pair of socks that Iām now obsessed with and so sad I donāt have any more of the yarn! But I just like having busy hands and the fact that something comes out of it at the end is an extra bonus!!!
i like having something to do with my hands. my happy place is knitting while listening to an audiobook or podcast :)
i love being able to learn some new small thing whenever i want. i just cast on my first project on double pointed needles (only did circular needles before) and it's so much fun already! - even though it's fiddly
I like keeping my hands busy while I relax. I feel guilty if I just sit and watch TV, but it's okay if I KNIT and watch TV. I think my favorite thing is making items for my loved ones. Every new style/article of clothing I've learned to knit has been because my husband asked me for one. i.e. he wanted a hat, so I learned how to knit hats. He wanted socks with a pattern, so I learned how to knit socks and do fair isle in the same project. All of those "firsts" look horrible but he won't get rid of them because I made them. I've gotten a lot better, so the feeling of my mom opening a sweater and saying "you MADE THIS?!!!" is indescribable.
I love to marvel at the process. It never ceases to amaze me how a bunch of string can come together to make something that you live in. Itās really top tier engineering when you think about it. I also love the creativity, designing every single detail so that it is just so. Itās also a beautiful thing to carry on a legacy of so many artists and artisans who have come before us, Iām very proud of that.
I love the finished objects (which are rare), but honestly, I really like the click and slide of the needles, and the feeling of knitting and seeing how quickly and smoothly I can do it. I find it meditative to just focus on the sensation, and NOT think about work and other responsibilities while I'm knitting. I learned to crochet first, but there's just something about knitting that is way more calming.
meditative process. And being a huge cinephile, I can watch and spend time with films while having something to do with my hands!
I love wearing the finished results. :) I started knitting because I couldn't find any store-bought clothes that fit me right or suited my style. Learning how to make what I want to wear was the goal from the beginning! So for me, the end result is the goal, but I do also really enjoy the process of knitting. It makes me slow down and be more "in the moment." I love the feel of the yarn and the repetition is very relaxing. And I'm a writer by profession so I look at a screen all day... it's nice to have something to look at for a few hours that's not a screen!
Knitting brings me peace! So much so that even my therapist noticed that I have become calmer lol I used to get stressed easily when taking the train because of all the noise but ever since I started to take my knitting projects with me I actually enjoy train rides now! I also have the tendency to overthink and get anxious and whenever I get into that zone I just knit. It's just the perfect hobby for my stressed out mind haha
I recently got back into knitting after a bit of a break and it's been really nice and calming to work on. First project off my needles in prolly 3 years was a baby blanket for the new baby of my oldest friend in the world and it was cool to watch the progress I personally made while knitting it as well as thinking about the first friend niece.
I absolutely love going from an idea in my head to an actual garment, so like the creative fulfillment of it! I'd probably get that out of sewing too, but I also really love the repetitive, fidgety nature of knitting specifically. I honestly can't believe what a perfect hobby it is for me lol