KEEPING HANDS BUSY, BRAIN BUSY

I am late to the world of knitting and crocheting.  After reading Sutton Foster’s memoir, “Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life,” a few months back, I found a beautifully written, moving backstory of a traumatized childhood. The Audible version is narrated by her. Foster makes crochet and knitting into art, and she uses it to deal with her own anxiety issues. She is a mental health advocate sponsored by Lion Brand Yarn.

I decided to give it a try. 

This morning, after creating one successful hat a week ago, I started my second hat, a chunky hat pattern with thick, luxuriously soft lilac colored yarn.  Crafting is good for your hands and brain, important muscles that you lose when you stop using. 

Crafting is mindful, and while I can’t stop my mind from wandering back to worries or concerns, I can gently distract it by bringing it back to focus on the stitch, the yarn folding over the needle, the soft feeling of yarn in my hands. 

And that’s what makes it enough. Exactly enough.