Might crafts such as knitting offer long-term health benefits?
Note: I tend to use the term knitting interchangeably with crocheting.
What has knitting done for your health since you started? Have people around you noticed the benefits as well? Do you find any negative effects stemming from knitting?
My personal experiences are nothing but positive. I've suffered from depression, anxiety and numerous other conditions for a couple of years now and found it really hard to manage them and improve, even with therapy.
When I picked up knitting it was just a spur of the moment thing; my best friend knits, and I saw her do it and asked if she could teach me. I learned and learned, I improved, I began to challenge myself. I used the internet as a resource to find out new techniques, learned to read patterns, and before I knew it I was knitting up a storm and enjoying myself!
I started about a year ago, took a break after a month and picked it back up in September '13. That was around the time I got together with my boyfriend, which gave me the perfect target to knit for. Along with his support, I started noticing improvements: my anxiety is less severe, I'm not as stressed out as I was before (and when I am and I knit, I notice it gets better in 5 minutes) and I have a better control over my emotions.
I'm a terrible perfectionist and realizing that knitting will always be flawed but it's totally okay helped me strive to focus on learning from mistakes and doing better, rather than getting it flawless the first time around. I now expect to make mistakes, especially when I tread on new territory.
Finishing projects makes me feel very accomplished. I struggled with finishing much of anything due to my conditions, and being able to complete knitting projects has been a major help in sorting out my goals and meeting them.
As for negative effects, all I can say is that I've grown a severe dislike for untangling yarn! It's terrible and prompted me to order a yarn winder so that I have manageable yarn cakes to work with instead of these horrendous loose skeins that fall apart and get all tangled up.
I've been hearing a lot of positive things from friends too. I'm doing noticeably better in their eyes, and I love it.
Note: I tend to use the term knitting interchangeably with crocheting.
What has knitting done for your health since you started? Have people around you noticed the benefits as well? Do you find any negative effects stemming from knitting?
My personal experiences are nothing but positive. I've suffered from depression, anxiety and numerous other conditions for a couple of years now and found it really hard to manage them and improve, even with therapy.
When I picked up knitting it was just a spur of the moment thing; my best friend knits, and I saw her do it and asked if she could teach me. I learned and learned, I improved, I began to challenge myself. I used the internet as a resource to find out new techniques, learned to read patterns, and before I knew it I was knitting up a storm and enjoying myself!
I started about a year ago, took a break after a month and picked it back up in September '13. That was around the time I got together with my boyfriend, which gave me the perfect target to knit for. Along with his support, I started noticing improvements: my anxiety is less severe, I'm not as stressed out as I was before (and when I am and I knit, I notice it gets better in 5 minutes) and I have a better control over my emotions.
I'm a terrible perfectionist and realizing that knitting will always be flawed but it's totally okay helped me strive to focus on learning from mistakes and doing better, rather than getting it flawless the first time around. I now expect to make mistakes, especially when I tread on new territory.
Finishing projects makes me feel very accomplished. I struggled with finishing much of anything due to my conditions, and being able to complete knitting projects has been a major help in sorting out my goals and meeting them.
As for negative effects, all I can say is that I've grown a severe dislike for untangling yarn! It's terrible and prompted me to order a yarn winder so that I have manageable yarn cakes to work with instead of these horrendous loose skeins that fall apart and get all tangled up.
I've been hearing a lot of positive things from friends too. I'm doing noticeably better in their eyes, and I love it.
I like untangling yarn! I think it's the best part.
I agree that knitting is helping me. It gives me something to focus on and while I'm way behind you, I keep thinking ahead to when I'll be able to knit things beyond straight lines and it makes me feel good. It also doesn't hurt that now I have knitting friends so I no longer have to feel like the oddman out when I don't know something.
I'm sorry to hijack this, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm seeing some of the same things in myself.
I agree that knitting is helping me. It gives me something to focus on and while I'm way behind you, I keep thinking ahead to when I'll be able to knit things beyond straight lines and it makes me feel good. It also doesn't hurt that now I have knitting friends so I no longer have to feel like the oddman out when I don't know something.
I'm sorry to hijack this, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm seeing some of the same things in myself.