Knitting is good for you… and needlework

I read an article this morning on how knitting is good for you. Of course, I think we can extrapolate based on what is in the article, that needlework and any form of repetitive craft can be good for you too.

The article talks about how knitting can relax the mind and “induce a relaxed state like that associated with meditation and yoga”.

Years ago, before he died, I had the privilege of knowing a past Police Commissioner of our state. As you can imagine, being in charge of the police force for a whole state was a large, important and high-stress job. This man was a very kind man, (a grandfatherly-type figure to me and my siblings) who used to knit in his spare time. He’d do complicated fair-isle knitting. I imagine that the repetitive nature of the knitting helped him to destress and think about things other than work.

I used to find that my embroidery time was my thinking time. Unfortunately, these days my mind seems to get distracted by all sorts of things. I’d like to try to get back to that meditative state. I’d love to be able to slow down my mind again, when I’m stitching. I think that my increased use of the internet over these past years has given me a shorter attention span. I find that rather regretful. I think I will try to limit my internet time this year and try to retrain my brain a bit.

Of course, we all knew already that knitting, needlework and other crafts are good for you. No-one needs to tell us that. But it is always nice when “studies” confirm these things!