Knitting = Better Health

Before Christmas I decided that my weight gain was due to menopause, heredity, and night time eating. I figured it was 50/30/20 percent respectively and since I couldn't do much about the menopause or the heredity I should work on the last. (Of course, I know that there is WAY more involved such as lack of exercise and nutrition, but buzz off this is my blog and I'm going for humor, okay?) My solution to my binge junk food consumption was knitting.

The idea came to me while I was checking out my daughters in the orthodontist office. The three girls that work the payment/appointment counter love me and expect me to come in to entertain them. It is a lot of pressure, but I love them back and try to always rise to the task. One of the topics that day was new year's resolutions, and I explained my family's traditions in respect to that topic. One of the questions asked me was whether or not we made the same resolutions each year. I told them that in going back through them each year we noticed a recurring theme and for me that one was losing weight and curbing my language. Oh, and getting out birthday cards on time which they found hilarious. I suggested that maybe this year I should work on all my past resolutions and from that conversation I came around to my needing to keep my hands busy to keep from eating. That's when I made the announcement that I would take up knitting.

Madison: "Knitting? You don't know how to knit."
Me: "Well, for your information I use to knit in my younger days. My mother taught us and made us all knit hats for winter."
Madison: "Do you remember how to knit?"
Me: "No. But I can learn. Maybe it will be like riding a bike. It will all come back to me."
Darcy: "Yeah, well, don't knit me a winter hat because I live in Florida and don't need one."

I admit I was stymied on that one until I remembered that Madison lived north where it was chilly enough for winter hats and that one of the dental girls was pregnant. I announced that I would knit a baby blanket, and then told the girls that a knitting kit was a gift they could get me for Christmas. Madison did just that.

I started learning on Christmas. While everyone else was outside enjoying the hot weather and pool I was sitting on the couch trying to bring back knitting to mind. I read the instruction manual from front to back and then read casting on stitches three more times as I tried to follow the directions. I finally got the bright idea of turning to YouTube and before I knew it I was casting on. From there I watched videos on beginning knitting, purl stitching, and casting off. After a week of going back and forth with the kit I decided I was ready to knit my baby blanket.

I went to JoAnn's Fabrics and spent $40 some money on a better pair of needles and some soft, baby yarn. That night I worked diligently on getting my baby blanket started. The next day I spent more time researching various beginners patterns for baby blankets. I realized the yarn I had purchased was too big and bulky for beginners and so I traveled to Michael's and spent another $40 more money on different needles and different yarn. I found a YouTube video with an easy pattern, discarded my other attempts, and started knitting my blanket. The pattern called for 96 cast on stitches and I had trouble keeping them on the needles. That is when I learned about "circular needles" and back to Michael's I went to pick up a pair.

Tom: "What is all this yarn stuff in the garbage?"
Me: "I've made a few mistakes. Don't worry about it."
Tom: "What? Then undo it and reuse it. Why would you throw it out? That seems a waste of money."

I made some mistakes. No matter how hard I knitted I kept having holes in my blanket. I researched that and found that I was "dropping stitches". I started over once again and started burying my discarded projects deep in the trash. Eventually I finished my first blanket.

There were a few holes and some bunching up of fabric and it was small. So I went back to the drawing board. When I found I had dropped a stitch I followed the instructions and went back to fix it. At one point the needles came out and I had to spend an hour just trying to get them back in after fixing my mistake. When it happened again late at night I gave up.

I went to Walmart this time and made a few more purchases of yarn, needles, and a crochet needle for fixing up messes. I took a picture of a pattern I thought looked easy for a scarf. My friend had been wanting me to make her an arm knitted scarf for a few weeks and I thought it would be nicer if I knitted her one instead. She wanted gray yarn, but I found this really soft multi-colored yarn instead and went home to see how I fared with it. In two days I had actually finished a project that I could be proud of.

The pattern was a change between knit stitches and purl stitches and so I'm now working on the baby blanket using that pattern instead of the You Tube pattern. I've had to take out stitches twice and I think I need a lesson in recognizing stitches when I put them back on the needles, but for the most part the pattern hides major mistakes. I really enjoy knitting. Not only is it something to keep my hands busy, but it also calms me, and I found that I am more attentive to conversation around me.

An article from the New York Times titled, The Health Benefits of Knitting, by Jane E. Brody agrees with my assessment. She writes that the repetitiveness of knitting is a lot like mediation or yoga and the benefits include lowering blood pressure, lowering the heart rate, lowering stress levels, maintaining weight control, and in children calming them and improving their math skills. Madison reminded me that she and Darcy actually learned to knit in grade school for those exact benefits too. Who knew that an idea popping into my head in a dental office would set me on a course to improve my health?

Now if only I could get that damn blanket finished...