Skip to main content

Knitting as therapy

After my Dad passed away quite suddenly in 2000, my Mum began a diary as a way to keep a track of time and she also began to knit again. She knitted simple garter stitch squares with some wool she had stashed. It upset me at times to see how hard she concentrated on these simple squares after her skilled hands had produced lovely fair isle and lace knitting. But she explained that this was one way that she could produce something constructive to show for the time she spent thinking and grieving. She worked them in the square and diagonally, and invented her own take on modular knitting before we even knew the term existed. She exercised her imagination and gradually, I could see a small part of her coming alive again.

Looking back I was doing the same with cross-stitching. I have samplers on the walls of our home, and when I study them hanging there, I can remember exactly what part I was sewing on when Dad was called back into hospital, when we sat at his bedside and during the sad times when we just sat together at home afterwards.

After a couple of months had passed, I discovered a book by Debbie Abrahams called 'Blankets and throws to knit'. I just had to buy it for my Mum to encourage her to develop her repertoire. By this time she used to say - 'It's just squares - I'm just wasting time knitting these, don't you think?'. Finding this book was a way of saying - 'Squares are good - look what can be achieved by just knitting a square at a time!' She loved it and has already completed a throw and some cushions. We have been fortunate to have attended several of Debbie's workshops held near to where we live (in Northern Ireland, that is no small feat, as we seem to be the 'ugly sisters' of the knitting fraternity - but we are catching up!).

So, to cut a long story a little shorter, I have decided to take the plunge and knit one of Debbie's designs from her second book of blanket and throw designs. It is simply called 'Fish' and has some lovely designs in the squares that make up the throw. There isn't really a good clear picture of it in the book, so I will try to post pictures of some of the squares as I complete them. It should be an interesting process as I am not too good with intarsia - Mum, as a true Shetlander, thinks that fair isle should be good enough for anyone!

I do think we should never underestimate the therapeutic potential of creating things with our hands. In particular things that we can sit and do while thinking. Knitting, I think, provides almost the perfect elements for that, depending, of course, on the pattern you chose. There is something comforting about the simple rhythm of passing yarn over needles and the repetitive movements that calms the soul and clarifies the mind.

(So after spending the day marking dissertations from our final year nursing students, I am off for some soul calming!)

By the way, the garter stitch squares were all sewn up into pretty, colourful throws and sent to Shetland. My aunt works in a lovely nursing home there, and they use small throws as lap rugs for the eldery and infirm residents. So hopefully they will brighten someone else's day there, too.

Comments

Twelfthknit said…
Hi Pauline - I know what you mean about comments - they're like cookies ;0)
India

Popular posts from this blog

My Mathilde blouse

For a while now I have been thinking about taking up sewing again. I say again as I loved GCSE Textiles which I chose over Home Economics. I think over the years our home economy has benefited more from what I knew about fabric than what I might have known about food, but that's for another day. I had a fantastic teacher. Mrs Plummer was a designer and an artist and motivated us all to do our best and to develop an understanding and love for fabric, for cutting it up and sewing it all back together. As a result, there were several years when at least one item of clothing I wore every day was handmade. Believe it or not we still exchange Christmas cards and she sends me photos of her latest artwork. I love hearing about what she has been doing - it's 24 years since I was in her class! In the years since, I have sewn less and less clothing and more and more curtains and then, when there are only so many curtains you can hang, my trusty machine was retired for a while. Recentl

Shade Card Ripple - Ta Dah!

  This is the blanket I made - it is based on the ripple pattern made famous by Lucy from Attic 24 . It fits a double bed perfectly. I used a 3.5mm crochet hook and one of each of the colours from Jamieson's double knitting (25g) shade card. I used around 409 ch to start with and around 220 rows. This is the blanket Mum made. She used the second half of each ball once I had completed the rows on my blanket. Again a 3.5mm hook was used, but this time she used a chevron crochet pattern from The Gebtle Art of Knitting by Jane Brocket . She started with 360 ch and the same number of rows. It fits a sofa or a single bed beautifully. What do you think? We loved sharing this project - it gave us a lot of pleasure and many happy hooky hours!   There's about 1200g of leftovers - all wound into magic balls and waiting for the next project...

Is there such a thing as 'Investment Knitting'?

Following my knitting revival came a succession of plans and lists of items that were to be produced - some sooner than others. One of the first Rowan patterns I completed was 'Lisette' by Kim Hargreaves from Rowan 36. Boy, was I a proud girl when this was finished! It was my first experience of knitting with a Rowan yarn, and nothing has yet shifted 4-ply Soft from the top of my list of the best yarns for drape and finish. It has virtually no 'bloom', washes brilliantly and wears as new. The colour is aptly called 'Beetroot' and is a bit darker than the picture below. The pattern was straightforward to knit, and as a result I think I will forever be partial to a Kim Hargreaves pattern. The edging was knitted separately and sewn on, which was a challenge for me as I am not too confident of my hand sewing skills when it comes to knitted fabric! I have learnt many things since I knitted this a couple of years ago. One of them is never to carry 'live' stitc