Why I Knit, Part I

It's hot outside!  I come in from hanging towels on the clothesline and grab a glass of lemonade, feeling the frosty glass stick to my fingers as I lift it to my lips.

Hardly the time most of us Settlers think of knitting, eh?

Summer's quiet time is best used in other hobbies, like reading or small-hoop embroidery, making butterflies on tea towels, right?  To everything there is a season, and this is NOT the one for working with rivers of wool sprawling out into toasty afghans.

But what if, like me, you love to knit or crochet?  What if the feel-good physical act of it has nothing to do with the season?  You might try what I've done:  switch to work with small hooks and needles and use crochet thread instead of bulky yarns.  Make delicate, lacy dresser scarves and head bands and summer knit tank tops.  Use tin-can sized skeins of cotton thread and make dishcloths.

Whatever you choose for a project, summer is the surest time for the realization to hit you: it's not really about what you're making after all.

Sally Melville understands.  She explains it in her book, The Knitting Experience, Book I.  Her reasoning validates my addiction to knitting and crocheting:

How Knitting Can Change Your Life!
Knitting is being called "the new yoga."  It's a catchy phrase, and it speaks well of what we love about knitting:  the beauty of its physical rhythm, the meditative state it induces, the community it fosters.  But when asked why we knit, most will say something as inarticulate as "It feels good!"  What a concept!  Doing something merely because it feels good!
If you think about it, this IS a pretty powerful concept: doing something just because it feels good.  In a world dedicated  to productivity, it's pretty wonderful to give ourselves permission to do something just because it feels good.
And if this 'feel good' activity is something we can carry with us, wherever we go, that's pretty wonderful, too!  We'll never mind waiting.  We won't struggle against time.  We'll be more patient because we can always pick up our knitting and be happily engaged, wherever we are!

Tomorrow, I'll give you part two of Ms. Melville's thoughts on why knitting--along with many other activities involving the same brain-place--feels so good.