Once upon a time, this occupation was considered the prerogative of our grandmothers. Today, more and more young women are beginning to knit – just to get peace from the rhythm in which the knitting needles move, and pleasure from the creative process.
Just four months ago, 27-year-old Nadezhda started knitting, but has already finished three scarves and started one sweater. And she speaks of these knitted works with the same pride as she speaks of her professional success in an advertising agency. “I had a very difficult period at work and a quarrel with a loved one. I went to my best friend to talk about my problems. She listened to me and knitted at the same time. And when I looked at her, I felt such peace that I decided to try it myself. It turned out to be even better than I thought – my friend and I even talked about “knitting therapy” more than once. When I pick up the knitting needles, my worries seem to subside. There is a feeling that I am a child and my mother is rocking me. Now I have a good period in my life, but I continue to knit – for me this is the best protection against stress.
Hands are busy, the spirit is serene
Nadezhda is absolutely right when she talks about “knitting therapy”. For example, in the United States, some doctors even prescribe it as a way to deal with stress. At the Cabrini Medical Center in New York, patients are advised to knit before heavy and painful procedures. Cardiologist Herbert Benson, a professor at Harvard Medical School, recommends knitting for chronic pain relief, hypertension and insomnia; and doctors at the University of Chicago ranked knitting as one of the top ten ways to quit smoking*.
For 30-year-old Natalya, knitting literally helps “free her head.” “I’m not very good at knitting yet, so I’m fully concentrating on the process. I am an anxious person, but while knitting I am literally in a zen state: I am only here and only now, with my crochet and threads. While I am knitting, I remain absolutely calm, even if something does not work out for me. Focusing on relatively simple manual work that requires accuracy and does not tolerate fuss brings inner peace. Beginners knit simple “stocking” loops, trying to make them evenly, experienced ones make complex “braids” and openwork patterns, but the effect is the same regardless of experience. It is similar to that which occurs in meditation by focusing attention on a repetitive, monotonous physical action, such as rhythmic conscious breathing. The movement of the fingers, the sliding of the needles along the thread, the constant automatic counting of loops – this turns out to be an effective way to calm emotions and clear the mind.
According to clinical psychologist Emilie Holmes of Oxford, while knitting, the brain switches to processing constantly incoming sensory information, thereby blocking negative thoughts and memories**. Herbert Benson, who has been researching the state of relaxation for decades, compares the effects of knitting to traditional relaxation techniques such as yoga, tai chi, and the practice of repeating short prayers. He calls knitting “an antidote to stress,” and research led by him shows that simple manipulation of knitting needles and wool lowers blood pressure and heart rate, even in inexperienced knitters. “I’ve been knitting for half a year, but it’s always the same – just rectangles that you can’t even call a scarf,” admits 34-year-old Vera. – I don’t have a goal to knit something “useful”, I just like working with knitting needles, it calms me better than any other way I know to cope with feelings. Therefore, I always carry a skein of thread with knitting needles with me on business trips, and on the road and in the evenings in the hotel I make row after row, as long as there is enough time and desire. Knitting is a soothing ritual for me.”
Therapy with creativity
Unlike Vera, many knitting lovers are not only addicted to the process, but also focused on the result. They follow their progress with satisfaction, share their successes with their friends, and are proud of their newfound skills. In addition to feeling serene, knitting becomes a source of special pleasure – the joy of being able to create. This is a completely creative activity, and it is satisfying even if we do not boast of special talents. “My first scarf turned out uneven, more like a giant tie,” recalls 23-year-old Katerina with a laugh, “but I was terribly proud of myself because I made it myself. Now I can make beautiful things, I like to choose the colors of the yarn, vary the patterns – all this incredibly cheers me up. It might sound pompous, but knitting makes me feel like I’m living life to the fullest.”
Any creative activity can become that positive dosed stress that triggers the so-called adaptation mechanism in our body, explains psychotherapist Kirill Gorelov. “This mechanism helps to adapt to life, to better use the potential of their psychological capabilities, to increase the effectiveness of their actions. Such positive stress, including the positive stress of creative activity, is a necessary part of our life, it mobilizes psychologically and physically, without it we will not be able to do something new tomorrow, something that we did not do today or yesterday.”
Not everyone is interested in knitting – someone, on the contrary, this activity scares away with its monotony, the need to perform accurate painstaking movements. Then it can hardly become a therapy. “Stress becomes positive if the activity is subjectively pleasant for us, it arouses interest,” emphasizes Kirill Gorelov. – Then creativity can lift us above the hardships of everyday life, give an impetus to vital interest. A person who has made creative style a part of his life can set goals and objectives in his path more sensibly and balancedly.
Sensual Ritual
Knitting is also a whole gamut of sensory sensations, a pleasure for touch and vision. It begins at the stage of choosing yarn, its texture and color. And it continues as a ball of soft fine or spiky coarse wool gradually turns into a tightly knitted vest or openwork cardigan. “Touching the yarn both calms me and sharpens my senses,” admits 31-year-old Irina. My grandmother used to knit for me, and as a child I loved rummaging through her knitting basket. For a long time it seemed to me that with knitting needles I would look like an old woman. But I found diagrams of fun things for my daughter and again felt the pleasure of touching the wool, of the work itself, of the soothing tapping of the knitting needles.
The repetitive dance of hands with yarn and crochet, the soothing contact with wool — for 34-year-old Elena, knitting has become a bedtime ritual. After putting the children to bed, she turns off the overhead light, lights the aroma lamp and gets ready for bed. “I have a tendency to insomnia – I can not switch off from my problems and go to bed with them. Now that I have started knitting, I allow myself to take a break and thus separate the day from the night.
* H. Benson «The Relaxation Response», Paperback, 2000.
** From a presentation at the annual conference of the British Psychological Society, 2009. More information at http://www.bps.org.uk/home-page.cfm