Stress is most likely the most common word spoken on a college campus. It follows us around like Eeyore’s little raincloud as we try to eat, sleep, and Netflix it away. While it may seem easiest to zone out and scroll through Tumblr for hours as a break from studying or writing a massive paper, sometimes the best thing is to lightly exercise your brain in a way that keeps it awake and yet doesn’t exhaust it further. One way to do this is by working with your hands. If doing a load of dishes or scrubbing down the bathroom isn’t your coping mechanism, one beneficial and creative way I’ve found to use your hands is needlework.
Knitting and crocheting aren’t the only avenues for working with needles, but their simple stitches are the easiest to learn. All you need is a skein, or a roll, of yarn and cheap pair of needles to start you off (for crocheting, you need just one, hooked needle). No fancy threads or complicated patterns.
While plenty of people knit and crochet crazy patterns into large blankets or actual articles of clothing, you only need to learn the basic stitch to begin reliving your stress. In fact, not having a pattern and just repeating a knit stitch over and over is best since the object is to not have to pay too much attention to what you’re doing.
Since I learned to knit off of YouTube tutorials, I’ve made several scarves, attempting to make each more creative and interesting than the last by creating patterns with differing stitches and colors. However, through all of these projects, I’ve needed something simple to work on as well, where I didn’t have to focus on what I was doing. Even though I can’t take my eyes off of what my fingers are doing for very long, after a few stitches into the first row, it’s easy to get into a comfortable rhythm.
Knitting has also been scientifically proven to not only relieve stress, but to act as therapy and has even been compared to meditation with its repetitive movements. CreativeU.net lists health benefits to knitting, among which are the releases of the hormones serotonin and dopamine and the decrease of unwanted stress hormones. While chemical changes in your body might not be noticeable at first, confidence in a new craft and the motivation that comes from having a new, exciting project can truly brighten up these bleak, wintry days that lead up to our final exams.
If you are interested in learning to knit or crochet, I would recommend YouTube tutorials. Not only do you not have to bug your knitting friend down the hall, but a good video will zoom in close on the needles and you can obviously replay it as many times as you like until you nail it. If you find that you enjoy it, and said project is finished over Christmas break, you might even start another scarf or a simple blanket next semester and enjoy a more relaxing and creatively productive term.
