Monday, April 20, 2009

Day 20 - Knitting

It was a yoga teacher who re-introduced me to knitting a few years ago. I'd learned to knit as a child, but it had been a long time since I'd got out the needles.

This particular teacher knitted like a demon! You could hardly see the needles move she went so fast, and she produced some beautiful stuff. She said she found knitting meditative, time when she could allow herself to focus on the feel of the needles in her hands, the movement of the yarn through the needles, time when she could totally be in the moment.

As someone who has a tendency to read too much and probably watch too much TV I thought knitting seemed a good way to get that "in the moment" feeling off my mat; a wind down before sleeping.

So two years ago I started what I thought at the time to be a relatively unambitious project. Knit a ton of squares and stitch them together as a blanket.

It took a little longer than I thought. I sewed the last of the squares together yesterday afternoon. It was a lesson in patience as well as being in the moment, but it has left me with a feeling of achievement now it is finished!

I have a couple of new knitting projects in mind. Like that yoga teacher said, it helps me to be in the moment, it helps me to work on mindfulness. But it is also a slow process for me, so don't expect too much too soon!

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