For people that like lists

This is such a perfect list that I couldn't resist sharing it.... Perfect for persuading your professor to let you knit while in class perhaps?

What do you think of this list? Where would you post it? Can you add anything?


This is straight from the Stitchlinks Website:
Copyright Stitchlinks www.stitchlinks.com November 2007
Betsan@stitchlinks.com




25 WAYS KNITTING AND STITCHING CAN HELP RELIEVE STRESS


Slow down thought processes enabling you to think more clearly

Stop cycles of stressful thoughts – useful to use before sleep

Enhance problem solving enabling you to look at problems from all angles

Facilitate mindful meditation – you don’t worry about the past or fret about the future

Facilitate relaxation – necessary for bringing down high levels of stress hormones

Distract – focus your mind away from problems

Enable you to escape into the sanctuary of a quiet mind, giving your mind a break

Encourage positive thought cycles helping to break negativity

Improve mood and help to manage the worry associated with stress

Improve feelings of loneliness/isolation if you've been over working

Teach patience and perseverance – you don’t have to rush at everything

Improve feelings of helplessness – stress is greater if you feel there’s nothing you can do

Raise self esteem and confidence so you feel better equipped to manage stress

Enable you to experience excitement, anticipation and achievement again

Teach planning and goal setting so you become better organised

Involve you in the outside world – opening up an alternative avenue away from stress

Take them anywhere – their portability means you can deal with stress any time

Improve communication skills – build communication networks at work and outside

Help in peak stress times before deadlines or presentations

Introduce enjoyment and fun into life, so life becomes more than work and stress

Enable you to make friends at work or outside through groups

Occupy you on your commute to work, so you arrive calm and collected

Put you back in control

Calm – great tools for workplace stress

Encourage you to look forward to tomorrow

Therapeutic Benefits of Knitting

Just recently I learned that a friend has received notice, and will become unemployed shortly. Most likely a change in lifestyle will follow, and I have been thinking about her lately. I wanted to acknowledge the situation, but how? Then I remembered that before this job she used to knit beautifully and prodigiously. I found myself putting together a small care package for her.



For me this would be a good consolation package: some beautiful organic O-Wool classic yarn and a pattern.... and some chocolate. There is the immediate remedy of chocolate to scare the demons away (or dementors just as professor Lupine knew in the Harry Potter series.) Then there is the immediate project, an activity. It feels intuitive that hand work would help her feel better. I have always felt that the process of knitting had that power. I remember coming to some conclusions about knitting in college. (not an arts or crafts college by the way!).

I started knitting seriously in college, and liked it for a number of reasons. One important reason was that it made long stressful car rides tolerable. Being a member of several athletic teams, I was often on the road heading to a game or race, and then heading home again. The knitting helped tremendously with all the negative aspects: the length of the drive, the case of nerves, a depressing performance, and side dramas with teammates. Instead the result was a great creative challenge, a finished garment (usually a hat) and later, pocket money as I started to sell them. I loved coming up with new color combinations and charting designs. I loved that knitting was portable. I loved that wool was a natural fiber. And oddly enough, I also appreciated that I could be comfortably warm when others were chilly in our underheated group house. The act of knitting seemed to raise my temperature just a bit, and engage my metabolism. (This led me to think it burned calories as well)

Lately, while listening to all the dire news about the downturn in our economy, I have been reflecting that hand crafts like knitting provide a wonderful combination of lifestyle benefits for a wide variety of people. I decided to look into this subject online and found a number of interesting sites. Betsan Corkhill of the UK has been interested in the therapeutic benefits of knitting and has developed a whole website which helps foster support and positive development in the face of life's changes. All the stitch arts: needlework, knitting and crochet are included.

http://www.knitonthenet.com/issue4/features/therapeuticknitting/ http://www.stitchlinks.com/

There are several pages of quotes from people who attribute their ability to cope and thrive with their habit of knitting, or doing other stitch work. http://www.stitchlinks.com/quotes.html

Karen Zila Hayes of the Brainwaves School of Creative Arts has also written at length about the incredible therapeutic benefits of knitting, and has devoted herself to this mission in Knit Magic. http://www.knitmagic.com/4.html

Apparently knitting has been known to help people with chronic pain, ADD and ADHD, cancer recovery, Post tramatic shock syndrome, grief related disorders, motor skills impairment and possibly more. I'm not really surprised to read this list. And I don't credit knitting alone perhaps. But knitting can help in so many situations. It can help lower blood pressure (and get you through a stressful family gathering), it can make you feel engaged instead of bored....I know I have felt these things. Why wouldn't others have their stories too.


Knitting is also being used by a network of voluteers to increase the positive quality of life for cancer patients. This group is called Knit for Life and has the following mission statement:

To support and enhance the lives of cancer patients and their caregivers while going through the process of treatment and recovery by the gentle and healing experience of knitting. This program enables patients and caregivers to come together and share experiences and concerns in a relaxed and supportive environment.

Their website is complete with news events, testimonials, support, and sponsors http://knitforlife.org/about.html

In our overall economically stressful times, or in a particularly challenging time in a friend's life, maybe we should make a special effort to remember that hand work like hand knitting can actively play a positive role. Maybe now is the time to send out a care package, or start a new knitting group at your library, senior center, church or community hall. Or maybe now is the time for you to pick up a new knitting project; something that will calm, soothe, and engage you. A simple repetitious movement, with a natural wool organic yarn, (with or without a circle of friends,) can slow life down and remind us of connections that bring joy to life and help us remain resilient in the face of challenging change.

I had been wanting to try a felted piece for quite a long time, and when I saw this felted braid...I felt a spark.
And an idea started growing for a felted bag made of our new O-Wool Legacy bulky yarn. I had also seen a classic elite pattern that showed a cable bag, though not felted.


http://www.classiceliteyarns.com/WebLetter/20/Issue20.php


So I began casting on, and soon found out just what it feels like to knit with size 15 needles, the largest size in my KA interchangeable set. What a sloppy feel! You could see through the net bag I was making. I started to lose faith that it would ever look nice. This was the type of project I felt a bit embarrassed to take out in public...I did NOT want to hear the interested passerby ask "What are you making?" Actually, after awhile I caught on, and just brought the swatch along to show people. Knitting in public (KIP) really is a conversation starter. I'm sure other people have noticed that fact. Haven't You?



So, then came the moment when I had to drop this piece of knitting into the washing machine. I found this rather difficult to do. It really went hard against all my instincts. I actually had to go psyche myself up to the task by viewing a step by step on the computer, even though I knew the process.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How_to_felt_a_knitted_piece/


After this helpful nudge I managed to drop a pillowcase of my knitting into the machine with a pair of sweatpants. I went through 3 cycles of agitation, checking in after each one, and ended up with a wonderfully soft piece of fulled wool. I really was surprised to feel how soft, and pleasantly dense the wool had become. The organic wool was looking its best...I think even the sheep would be proud!



Next came the sewing, which proceeded pretty quickly. I forced the top of the flaps through the handle slots, and sewed them down onto themselves on the inside. I will definitely also be making lining, after I find the perfect material of course.




Since this is just the first model of the bag, I decided to keep things interesting by making each side a different cable pattern. I was hoping that I would like one alot more than the other, and then choose it for both sides in the future. Actually though, I think I like them both. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, in her Yarn Harlot blog recently mentioned knitters' inability to have a matched set of knit wear.

http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2009_01.html


the child told me that she has noticed something about knitters. She says that she can spot them in a crowd because their hats, mittens and scarves don't match.






















I most definitely fall into that category ....heck I can't even seem to manage two matched sides! It is just too much fun to knit different designs all the time.



Well, I still need to get serious about this project, because the top opening needs some designing work, as does the bottom. I have plans to make another one. Like most everything else in my life, it is after all, still a work in progress.

Happy New Year !

We were fortunate enough to assemble everyone in one room the other day, so I can pass along greetings from our whole O-Wool Family. Names starting in the back ... Caroline and Christina from fabrics, Matt Mole our founder, Ronan our spreadsheet guru, and Ed our CEO. In the front we have the HKY crew (Hand Knitting Yarn), with Marin, Cathy, Wendy and Lynn. We all look forward to helping you with organic wool in 2009!

Packing for a Tradeshow

Here are the hanging banners, or prayers flags, as I have been calling them as I pray that they get finished in time. We have twelve colors of our New Legacy 100% Organic Wool to show. These are made with the DK. The colors are available in a bulky weight as well.





It's quite a big project to pack for a booth a tradeshow. At O-Wool we are in the midst of it! More photos to come...

A moment in Time

We received a most beautiful light snowfall yesterday ..8-10 inches that coated our world, yet could be blown away with a single breath! Everything looked completely different, with large caps of snow on the bird feeder, the branches, the railings, the car. It gave all the familiar things around us new shapes and even an air of mystery.

As I hung the new calendar I noticed the familiar sight of heavily marked days of appointments and schedules replaced by an altogether new sight as well, the mystery and beauty of the empty page. A whole January page of empty squares stared back at me. Days to be orchestrated. Adventures to be had. Yarn to be knit. Meals to be created. Thoughts to be thought. All still suspended unformed.....


Sometimes at the beginning of the new year, out of the usual routine, I experience a moment of timelessness like this that leads to reflection. It seems like an opportunity to draw on a blank page, an empty snow field, an act of creation. But also, the moment asks me to reconsider my driving beliefs, priorities, inspiration. There seems to be the real possibility of making some new choices.
















As I ponder my first knitting project of the year I let the thoughts flow freely about what I am striving for..... to achieve simplicity yet elegance, to promote healthy relationship to the Earth and all her inhabitants, to maintain healthy lifestyle patterns for myself and my work, to be joyful and appreciative of gifts around me, to sow seeds of friendship, teach and learn well, take nothing personally, find humor often and occasionally stare into the vastness of the night stars.

Before I know it however, schedules have begun anew, and time is back to being serious. At O-Wool, here, we are suddenly in a great hurry to prepare for the upcoming National Needlework Association show, TNNA in San Diego. Although I will not be going this time, I feel the excitement! This means booth preparation, paperwork preparation, packing, planning. organizing etc. There is definitely no longer time for quiet reflection.


















I have been employing my trusty Brother Standard Gauge Knitting machine to make some hanging backdrops for the booth these past few days. The Legacy DK knits up very nicely on the #10 Stitch Dial setting, and so I have been enjoying creating some long flowing banners or flags. I'll post some photos tomorrow!

A Wreath to inspire creativity

In the northeast here, we are definitely starting to look forward to Solstice, or more specifically to the time when the days will start getting a little bit longer. Just a few minutes a day at first, but every bit helps. The shadows start to get very long and cold just after school gets out. Luckily the moon and planets are cheering us up with their light. And there is some wonderful homey time to catch up with indoor sewing and knitting projects.



This is also the season for donations and giving. The three of us in the Hand Knitting department at O-Wool have had a lot of fun this week, decorating a wreath that will become part of an auction to raise funds for a local child care center.

Wendy used her standard gauge Brother knitting machine to create these little stocking ornaments out of our new Legacy DK o-wool yarn, in the colors lava, grove and natural.



Lynn knit up this little snowman, who can be used as a tree ornament or a table ornament. He has some beans at the bottom to help him stand up! She used a great little pattern from the winter edition of the Living Crafts Magazine (p 22.), and our DK wools (on #4 needles) in the same holiday colors.




We really wanted to include the Peace dove that was also featured in the same issue of the Living Crafts magazine (p.18). Marin made a wonderful pair of peace doves out of the o-wool melton fabric in natural.

And then perhaps the best idea of all! Marin thought it would be great to include the patterns and all the materials to make the decorations. So we stuffed the little stockings with the o-wool yarn needed, enclosed the patterns in envelopes, and rolled up a bit of the fabric. Voila!





Here it is: our beautiful wreath which includes not only the ready made ornaments, but also the supplies needed to make a set of your own. We stepped back to admire our wreath, and all realized that we would love to bid on it ourselves!