Knit Your Way to Nirvana

First of all let's get past the image of granny in a rocking chair on the porch whenever you hear someone mention knitting. There are alot of young people that are finally catching on to what those grannies knew all along. You can be pretty poor but still have a world of color at your fingertips for a few dollars. Knitting can be very affordable and alot of fun. In this economy it can be challenging to try to make ends meet. We have been stretched to the maximum when it comes to paying bills and feeding our families. To say that we are stressed out is an understatement. There doesn't seem to be much left at the end of the month. Many people have reduced their spending on dining out and movie going. So, what do you do when you need to do something but you don't have alot. I grab my knitting needles and get going.

I learned to knit over twenty four years ago. My children were very little and our pockets were pretty empty. As a young mom I needed a break now and then but my options were limited. Until one of my sister-in-law's invited me out to a knitting class one night. My first thought was that I was going to get a night out. The knitting part didn't particularly thrill me at the age of twenty two. That being said, had she asked me to go watch paint dry I would have gone because I needed to talk to big people. When you find yourself singing "Sesame Street" songs in your head even while you sleep it is time to get with some grown ups. In the beginning I was all thumbs. The needles felt awkward in my hands. More often than not I found myself all tangled up in yarn. I wanted to quit but the instructor asked me to finish one child sized sweater before I made my decision. At the time I was working on a navy blue pullover v-neck sweater for my oldest son who was beginning kindergarten in a few months.

I finished that sweater with only a few days to spare before his first day of school. When I saw how proud he was to wear it I fell in love with knitting. Little by little my body began to relax when I knitted and I stopped holding the needles in a death grip. The fear of dropping a stitch evaporated when I learned how easy it was to go back and pick it up. Even eighteen rows later you can pick up a crochet hook and fix a dropped stitch in minutes. I even allowed mistakes to become part of the pattern. If I messed up while trying a pattern that was a little more difficult than the last I found that I could just repeat the mistake and it was fine. No one was the wiser except for me and maybe a few uber knitters who were quick to point it out. Some knitters cannot tolerate imperfections. I embrace them because as an imperfect person I would like to be accepted and valued.

As my knitting experience grew and I got very good at creating pretty pieces I realized that when I was knitting my worries of the day evaporated. Knitting became and still is for me a source of a form of meditation. My choice of yarn and color is governed by my mood. I find myself grabbing blues and greens more often than red hues when choosing yarn because the colors soothe me. When I am knitting I think about the person that will recieve the piece and I incorporate my feelings of love or good wishes as I toil along. Knitting for babies that are soon to arrive creates such a feeling of love and hope for the future in me that I feel more like the reciever of the gift than the giver.

Whenever possible I try to teach a young person this craft when I see an interest because it just may carry them through difficult times as it did me. I knit my way through sleepless nights when I was diagnosed with cancer. During treatment when I was so tired I still could pick up the needles and knit. Knitting does not require physical strength. During that time in my life it provided me with a sense of security. I just wanted my life to go back to normal and knitting was something I normally did every day. I never had to give it up while I was sick. It gave me peace and a feeling that I still had some control over my life. I knit myself the softest peach colored scarf to cover the scar on my neck that was left from a thyroidectomy. It was an act of self love. After years of knitting for loved ones and never for myself I was both the giver and the reciever.

Knitting for me is not just an artform. It is both a form of prayer and meditation. It is my inner spirit that is expressed through color and texture. It is something that comforts me and calms down negative inner dialogue. My finished pieces hold woven thoughts and emotions as well as beauty and functionality. There is always a bit of me in my knitting and even though it is given away I retain more and more of who I truly am. I am a creator. I am a craftsman. I am a prayer intercessor. I am a survivor. I am a knitter.