Soft yarn. Pretty colours. Warm clothes. The creative and tactile benefits of knitting are clear from the very first time you pick up your needles. But did you know that knitting has benefits that go beyond crafting? From reducing stress to creating community, here are four of the ways that knitting can help you thrive.
Knitting is about more than creativity
One of the classic cosy hobbies, knitting is becoming more and more popular with an increasingly young audience. It’s easy to see why. When you learn how to knit, you learn creativity, patience, and how to create something that will give you joy, year after year.
But those aren’t the only benefits of knitting. Whether you want to reduce stress, lessen existential dread, or simply find new friends, knitting can help. Here’s how.
The 4 bonus benefits of knitting
Working with yarn can help reduce stress
Sometimes it feels incredibly stressful to just exist. Between the demands of work and home – not to mention the news – it can be difficult to find places to get relief. Here’s the good news: one of the best ways to relieve stress is right at your fingertips. All you need is some yarn and some needles.
Knitting for stress relief is not just a woo-woo feel-good hope. In fact, studies have shown that knitting can make people happier and calmer. A New York Times article about the health benefits of knitting discusses a report that says “the repetitive action of needlework can induce a relaxed state like that associated with meditation and yoga.”
The article goes on to suggest that, as you get better at knitting (and crocheting!), the benefits increase, too. The author mentions insight from Dr. Herbert Benson, a researcher who focuses on mind/body medicine. Dr. Benson says that studies have shown yarn crafting can lower heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol levels. In other words, knitting can help relieve the physical symptoms of stress.
Creating something tangible can help manage anxiety
As well as helping reduce stress, knitting can help with overall anxiety. In an article for the Anxiety Resource Center (ARC), mental health nurse and knitting teacher Betty Houtman discusses seven ways that knitting can perform this trick.
She says knitting is an activity that requires “bilateral, coordinated, precise hand movements” that are “hard work for the brain”. This requires concentration, and means that, while you are knitting, your brain can be too busy to think about what’s making you anxious.
On top of this, there is the fact that knitting is an incredibly tangible craft. And, if you are feeling a dose of anxious, existential dread, making something tangible can help. It’s hard to feel quite so futile when you can make something that you can touch.
It doesn’t have to be about the big picture, making something small like a hat can be all you need. After all, keep knitting for long enough and you will have solid proof that you can affect the world around you in a positive – and very warm – way.
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Knitting can help you practice the art of making mistakes
Have you ever felt the pressures of perfection? You are not alone! Our society often equates worth with productivity. This means it’s easy to think that, unless you can do something well first try, it’s not worth doing. But this simply isn’t true. In fact, letting yourself be bad at something is incredibly freeing – and a vital part of learning a new skill.
But getting used to making mistakes takes practice. In time, of course, you might be able to shrug off all mistakes as learning opportunities. But to get there it can help to practice within a low-stakes environment where mistakes are fixable.
Enter knitting. One of the benefits of knitting is that, at the end of the day, you’re just playing with yarn. And mistakes in yarn can be undone. So you did an accidental yarnover – you can undo it. So you dropped a stitch – you can ladder back up. So you twisted your stitches – you can go back and start again. Each mistake you make gives you a chance to discover a fix.
While this is certainly a great way to become a better knitter, the benefits aren’t just yarn-based. As you practice this art of mistake making, you’re building up your overall knowledge and confidence. It won’t be long before you can take this newfound resilience and apply it to other areas of your life, too.
Knitting and crochet groups create community
Another benefit of learning how to knit is that it can be a wonderful way to find your people. Now, this may seem like a strange statement. After all, knitting is often an individual craft, rather than a communal one. However, there’s something really bonding about a craft that you can work on individually while spending time together.
There are a few reasons for this. To start with, when you join a knitting group, you have an instant icebreaker ready to go. There’s no need to worry about what you are going to say. All you need to do is describe your project, or what you are hoping to learn. Or you can compliment someone else’s stitches or colour choices.
Secondly, having an individual project to work on can help create moments of escape for those who feel nervous about joining in with a crowd. As an article in the Guardian points out, having a knitting project to look at “can alleviate the pressure of eye contact or small talk that might come with more extroverted activities.”
In other words, if you long for community but are feeling introverted, try knitting in public! Having a project in your hands can act as both an escape and a conversation point. It’s ideal for anyone wanting to put themselves out there.
Want to learn how to knit? Join us!
Now you know the benefits of knitting, why not give it a try for yourself? If you aren’t sure where to begin, or if you’re in need of advice, our ForEveryone knitting and crochet workshop can help.
If you’ve never knitted before, we can teach you the knitting basics (and we will even lend you needles and yarn). If you’ve already got a project, bring it along and find your new knitting friends. Either way, we can’t wait to meet you. Come join us every Sunday afternoon at the No. 52 Cafe in Boxhangener Platz. Book your ticket to our next workshop here.