Therapeutic Knitting Takes on Many Forms

I’ve long been a fan of Betsan Corkhill’s website Stitchlinks, which is focused on using the process of knitting to enhance wellness.  Corkhill has worked in a pain management setting as a therapist, and over the years she has developed the idea of Therapeutic Knitting.  Her ideas and how she got them is covered in her book Knit For Health and Wellness: how to knit a flexible mind and more, first published in 2014. 

In Chapter 8 of her book she identifies eight types of knitting projects and explains how each one can contribute to well-being.  She encourages knitters to have multiple projects going at once, allowing someone to turn to the project that suits one’s needs at any given time. I was able to relate my own multiple projects to the list:

Radiant Star Cowl from Shetland Wool Week 2020 Annual

1. Intricate: A Fair Isle cowl that has 6 colors, and 3 repeats of a 29-row pattern.  It most certainly requires focus and close attention to the color chart.  This intense focus has been a great tool for taking a break from all the worries and uncertainties of the pandemic world we’re in. After reading Corkhill’s chapter, I realize why I always have either a Fair Isle or Shetland lace project at hand.

2. Novelty: The Christmas ball for one of my SILs for Xmas and stocking that I made for a charity.  The tree ornament had a distinct shape and it was necessary to follow a pattern that I haven’t worked on in a few years.  The stocking was a new design on a standard template that I developed a few years ago.  The stocking is a commission in which I have asked the recipient to donate funds to our local family shelter. 

Arne & Carlos Ball #22

3. Automatic: I’m making myself a yoke cardigan from the Wool Week 2020 Annual.  The pattern begins with a sleeve, which has 7 color-change rows before there are many, many rows of knitting one color in the round.  Doesn’t get much more automatic than that!  This project has been great for those Zoom meetings when I don’t need to take many or any notes. Just angle that camera up a bit and knit away!

Also great for webcam watching...

Strom Cardigan from Shetand Wool Week 2020 Annual

4. Group: The Camel Knitters, still meeting most every week since December, 2006.  Corkhill rightly suggests doing your Automatic knitting at this time. She also describes the benefits of doing a group project, which we have done in various forms over the years.

5. Big: I participated in the Sharon From Security knit-a-long a few months ago.  My shawl took on blanket proportions, so it was certainly big. This type of project is one that is expected to take a while and can be finished whenever the knitter decides enough is enough. For me that was several rows short of the pattern’s end.  The Big project going at the moment is a redo of a large sweater that I made last year that I can’t wear.  It was in Vogue Knitting and was designed by Deborah Newton. I’m generally a big fan of her designs, but this sweater looked very bad on me.  Sometimes it takes a year to accept that reality. I ripped it out and am using the yarn for a different sweater (see # 8 below).

Making it up as I go along...hopefully a bulky raglan sweater that I can actually wear.

6. Quick-fix: The Xmas ornament (see #2) might qualify as a quick-fix. It was done in a day, although that was a day when I had set aside lots of time to knit. I have discovered a new “quick-fix”: wrist warmer/fingerless mitts based on the Switching Modes patterns.  I’m going to write a pattern for them, and call them Mode Mitts.

7.  Bag: Until it gets too big, that would be #3 above, and Mode Mitts would also work. Corkhill suggests that we have a portable project that can alleviate the pain of waiting in line, waiting for an appointment, waiting for the bus/plane/train to reach its destination. 

8.  Free Knitting: I started to make a poncho that has been designed on the go.  It’s one of my favorite types of knitting.  You really have to accept that the final product might be a total fail.  It’s all about the process.  This is probably how I will approach Big Sweater Redux. I have converted what began as a poncho into a “bed-poncho” for the recipient to wear while sitting in bed watching TV.  She seemed rather pleased with it!

So, of these eight categories which one best describes your current favorite project?