Knitting in the News: Missing Knitting and Training Your Brain
Tuesday May 6, 2008
I have to admit that I live a little bit in fear of a debilitating injury that would make it impossible for me to knit. My RSI is bad enough, occasionally keeping me away from the needles for a day or two at a stretch, but I just can't imagine what I'd do with myself if, say, I broke one of my hands.
Catherine Hollingsworth, a knitter and writer in Alaska, knows this fear firsthand. She fell on the ice in March and badly injured her right hand, sidelining her not only from knitting but from her many other creative pursuits. I understand what she's saying when she talks about coordinating knitting time and television time and how strange it feels to just sit and not knit.
She also talks about being diagnosed with arthritis and how aging takes its toll, but says that she hopes to keep knitting through it all. It turns out knitting may in fact keep our brains sharper than folks who don't do something to engage their minds as they age. A study of long-lived nuns found that precise activities like knitting and writing helped the women stay sharp in their old age, and that one nun was still knitting and having involved conversations at age 104. Sounds pretty good to me. Maybe I'll actually use up my stash if I live that long.
Finally, one more story about knitting and health. Nancy Seven VanDerPuy found herself enchanted by beaded and knit purses but she stopped learning how to make them after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She finally decided that she couldn't wait around to see if she was going to live, and she got so good at making the tiny bags (on size 0000 needles!) that she's now written a book and is teaching others about her passion.
Catherine Hollingsworth, a knitter and writer in Alaska, knows this fear firsthand. She fell on the ice in March and badly injured her right hand, sidelining her not only from knitting but from her many other creative pursuits. I understand what she's saying when she talks about coordinating knitting time and television time and how strange it feels to just sit and not knit.
She also talks about being diagnosed with arthritis and how aging takes its toll, but says that she hopes to keep knitting through it all. It turns out knitting may in fact keep our brains sharper than folks who don't do something to engage their minds as they age. A study of long-lived nuns found that precise activities like knitting and writing helped the women stay sharp in their old age, and that one nun was still knitting and having involved conversations at age 104. Sounds pretty good to me. Maybe I'll actually use up my stash if I live that long.
Finally, one more story about knitting and health. Nancy Seven VanDerPuy found herself enchanted by beaded and knit purses but she stopped learning how to make them after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She finally decided that she couldn't wait around to see if she was going to live, and she got so good at making the tiny bags (on size 0000 needles!) that she's now written a book and is teaching others about her passion.
Comments
My mother taught me to knit very young. She developed alzhiemer’s. She knitted until her work was nothing but stitches with no pattern to them. She still counted stitches for several years and everyone in the nursing home wondered what she was counting. My father recently found her stash carefully stored in a plastic bag in the attic. I opened it(it had been stored at least 15 years) In it I found a completed sweater with her monogram and label. It had not been blocked. She has been dead now for seven years. I tried it on. It fit like it was made for me. It is a beautiful purple. I covered the monogram with grape leaves and and a cluster of small grapes and am wearing the sweater. I felt like she left me a gift that I can still feel her hugs. she was 83 and loved knitting, and crocheting and many other hand crafts. She left me with her gift of the love of knitting. So I hope I can knit up my stash before my time ends. This is not meant to be sad but a joyful time of discovery. I am 70 and still knitting away and learning something new every day!
Carolyn, what a treasure! Like you said, it’s as if your mother is still giving you a hug each day. Your story reminds me of my grandfather’s coin collection. It wasn’t large or especially valuable but it was given to me after his death. I put it away and forgot about it. Many years later, I was a single mom struggling to survive on child support and a part-time job. There came a Friday when my child support didn’t arrive. I paid what bills I could with my paycheck, but I still needed groceries and diapers. My electricity was scheduled to be disconnected at 5:00 that afternoon. I remember kneeling down with my face in the sofa cushions, begging God to help me. Suddenly I saw, in my mind, my grandfather’s face. He was smiling at me. I ran to the closet and pulled out the coin collection. I went to a coin dealership downtown and sold the collection for enough to pay the electric bill and buy enough groceries and diapers for weeks. I even had enough left over for the next month’s rent! It was as though my grandfather had helped me at a time when I most needed it, many years after his death.
Knitting is good for when your emotions are shattered and you can’t think of what to do next. Just breathe and knit!