Friday, October 19, 2007

Knitting as security blanket

I've mentioned here before my mild case of agoraphobia, since being housebound a few years back.

If I'm comfortable where I'm going, I can leave with or without a portable knitting project, no problem. It's nice to have along if I know I will be in the car for some time, but in general for trips to the grocery store and so forth, I don't even think about bringing it along.

That's a contrast to how I feel about my knitting when headed somewhere that hits all my triggers. Like doctor's offices or dentists and so forth. I LOVE my doctor, she's terrific, and I feel she supports me 100%, but I still hate going.
I was close to frantic this morning when I realized none of my current knitting projects were portable, and I had only 2 minutes before I had to leave for my yearly physical.
Then I remembered a set of pulse warmers I planned to make to go with the cap from Noro Cashmere Island. I nabbed the yarn and a set of #6 DPNS and I immediately felt better. Faster and more completely than Xanax would have accomplished.

Yep, lots has been written about the Zen of knitting and addiction to fiber, but seldom has it been more demonstrable in my own life until I noticed the instant relief of my anxiety attack, simply by grabbing some yarn and needles.

There are worse things to be addicted to. I could feel the need to drag around a musk ox, and spin quivet directly from it's undercoat. That could get messy in a cityscape.

(image from http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/arctic/Awildlife.html)

2 comments:

Lynx said...

Bless the first woman to knit or crochet! I used to sit in the dentist chair and "air-crochet" to calm myself. Works much better than Lamaze breathing, and there is absolutely no frogging necessary because you NEVER make a mistake when knitting with air!
ALWAYS have at least one portable project, you know better than that! Glad you remembered the wrist warmers in time! I know what you will be getting for Yule....

Anonymous said...

I know exactly what you mean. I was in a group of women whom I really love about two weeks ago; we'd all gone out for lunch. Pleasant company, everything was fine. But the whole time I was there I thought how much more calm I'd be if I'd just brought in my knitting!