Overheard in the Clay Room at Preschool

First Mom (while working on a clay platter): "Knitting is yoga."

Other Mom: "Heh?"

First Mom: "Knitting is yooh-ga."

Other Mom: "Heh?"

First Mom: "Knitting. It's the same as yoga."

Clay Teacher: "You think?"

First Mom (using a stick to make circles in the clay): "When I knit, all the negative ions just release, you know? And I'm in a different place for awhile. And I think I told you my New Year's resolution was to do more things for myself, so I knit. I've been knitting since January. It is yoooh-ga."

Other Mom: "Oh yeah, I remember. Didn't you say that you were knitting a scarf for your sister?"

First Mom: "Oh yes. I finished three inches already. It's so yoga....Knitting."

Clay Teacher to the First Mom: "Be gentle with that platter you're making! You're poking holes in it!"

Anyway. That's what I get for eavesdropping.

But let's be honest, folks, last time I took a yoga class the teacher had us exercise our eyes: "Look up. Look down. Look right. Look left. Take a deep breath. Hold it. Close your eyes. Look up high!" And yeah, it was a beginning class and I sort of walked in without getting the low-down at the front desk first. But the last time I relaxed while knitting was, well,..never.

Knitting is too exciting for me to relax. Maybe the side-effect of the whole thing is a bit of relaxation, but during the process, I'm not relaxing. Just think of all the dropped stitches! What about stitch counts? I'd be off! And gauge? Unless I have a cache of different sized needles to switch out depending upon my current Zen Meter reading, I'll stay away from the whole knitting/yoga thing, if you know what I mean.

But then again, there are some aspects of yoga that are invigorating, or what have you. Maybe even challenging and frustrating too. So maybe that's what the First mom meant. (Somehow though, I'm thinking no.)

Enjoying a bit of a reprieve for a day or two and starting something new for Girlfriend. Just finished the fabulous ponchette in that nifty hemp and I tell you what: linen and hemp are probably my favorite fibers at the moment. One thing I don't understand, however, is that there aren't more people singing the praises of linen and hemp. Yes, it feels like string at first. It probably won't be sending you into Down-Dog heaven while you're knitting with it, but I tell you what: once you've done your thing and given it a good bit of agitation in the washer or throw it against your zen-garden rocks a few times, you'll swear you wondered how you got into the knitting thing so far without discovering the linen and hemp thing earlier.

Comments

[Kathy]

I can definitely get into a Zone while knitting that's pretty similar to yoga or meditation. That's a good part of why I do it - it allows escape away from daily stress and into something else.

[Liz K.]

My reasons for knitting continue to evolve. First, I knit for something to do, to make cute things for the kids. Then, I bought into the B.S. and thought that knitting relaxed me. After that, I knit to feel like I was accomplishing something, as motherhood is a never-ending role, never finished, and knitted more for the product, less for the process. Now, one of main lures of knitting is that it keeps me from feeling dumb and stupid. I constantly have a challenge to overcome, technique to learn, a pattern to figure out, a skill to acquire -- much more process than problem. Blogging keeps me writing, and thinking more about my craft, reminds me to be more precise, more thoughtful...

Let's hope that the preschool mom evolves beyond "knitting is yoga." We can always welcome new Knitters into the fold.

[Shelagh]

Is that a picture of you doing your taxes while designing? Oh no, tax day has come and done.

Knitting=yoga. Aaahhhh, no. But let's remember that this was from a woman poking HOLES in her pre-school platter. Which I guess was becoming a sieve.

I have knit with linen and really enjoyed the washed product. I'm gonna get me some hemp.

[Sherry]

Knitting is sometimes relaxing for me. I love to knit shawls with fine yarn and repetitive patterns. At first, it is stressful because I have to keep track of all the yarnovers and worry about the number of stitches I have. But after a while I memorize the pattern and it becomes calming and fun.

At least until I find out that I skipped a yarnover and have to frog Kidsilk Haze.

[Jade]

I think that's a new catchphrase of some sort. I overheard this exact statement too when I was at my LYS last week. A guy(yes a big burly guy) was teaching 3 ladies how to knit when he blurt this out. I am sorry but me and my knitting friends nearly burst out laughing!

[gleek]

linen is amazing stuff once it's been washed. i too am a fan. hemp is next on my list of must-haves :)

[Robyn]

I'm with you on the knitting thing. If I start to relax and zone out while knitting, I lose track of how many rows I've knit or purl instead of knit. It's not good. But maybe this has to do with the fact that I haven't even been knitting for a full year.
Oh, and I really like the ponchette you made. I just don't know if I'm a ponchette kind of gal, but I do really like the skirt you've mentioned in previous posts. How's that coming along?

[Wendy]

Robyn, I've knit one inch of that skirt...(it's like Yoga!)

[Linda]

So if Knitting is her yoga I'm thinking she's not so good if she has knit 3 inches on her sister's scarf since...January?! Maybe she breathes in, knits a stitch, breathes out, knits a stitch....?

Linen - long my MOST favorite - EUROFLAX is "buda" for me. I'm thinking about that nightie in MDK's new book-have you seen it? All linen all the night long.

LOVE your blog.

[Linda]

Usually I'm a seasonal knitter, come october I dig up the needles and some yarn and start knitting. And those first stitches just make me breathe out, like one of those yoga breaths, and I think "wow, why don't I do this ALL year around?". And it's definately therapy. When you have to figure out a complicated pattern, you become so engrossed that nothing else matter. That's destressing, not the not doing nothing part, just the focus on something so completely different from everything else in life. With every stitch I feel progress, and in the end it's something MADE that can be used. It's such a high. Then after a frenzy of non-stop-knitting-every-waking-moment which lasts until about March-April, I quit cold turkey. But not this year, this summer I'm gonna knit a summer garment, and it's probably going to be in hemp! I agree, hemp is abit (if you buy the white kind) like knitting with dental floss, but without the minty fresh smell, but it's so nice! Even my beginner-knitter friends love knitting with it!

[Debi]

I concur...linen and hemp are a pain to knit with but the results after a good bath and a turn in the dryer are incomparable!

[Meredith]

Knitting is definitely yoga to me... I am home with my 7 month old and I knit to relax! What yarn are you using in that picture? I love the color!

[Chris]

ok, here's my two cents. I knit different things for different reasons. Sometimes I need to just make that particular scarf, sweater whatever, because I have to have it. That is not necessarily relaxing, but it is doing something for me. When I knit on a plain sock, or I'm just watching TV and keeping my hands busy, or I've had the shittiest day and just need to divert my mind, that's when I knit to relax. Not in the way you relax with a glass of wine and low lights with a bubble bath. But the kind of relaxing that lets me meditate on the task, on the knitting, on my hands movements and following the pattern and not having the think about the shitty day, or shitty person or situation. And in that respect it clear my mind from everything and lets me enjoy the knitting, the excitement of creating and focus on just that - so in a way, that can be meditative for me. Yoga - no. I've done yoga. And I'm not going to even compare the two. But the feeling you get after you've taken that bit of time to create something for yourself....that feeling of satisfaction, well being, happiness, whatever you want to call it? Well, it still is a mighty good feeling.

[emily]

I will have to try some linen and hemp sometime. I have been on quite the silky wool kick lately. I have a bunch of bamboo I am dying to try as well. But add linen and hemp to the list. My yoga teacher offers a Yoga Challenge class. Maybe that is more up your alley!!! Knitting and yoga are similar, I think, in that you can modify the work to fit your needs. The possibilities for what you get out of the work are vast. Neither "Yoga is simply..." or "Knitting is simply" are correct statements. Both disciplines are more complex than that.

[Angela]

I agree with you, Meredith. Knitting is relaxing not in a wine and bubble bath way, but in a meditative way. I suppose Yoga is meditative is ways, but I've never done that much of it to know. But yeah, I will definetly come home after a "shitty" day and just knit away. It's something I am doing independently and for myself, and it feels good.

I started knitting out of boredom this summer, and I wanted to try something new. I got into knitting things for my friends and family while experimenting with different stitches and methods and patterns. Now I am knitting just whatever I feel like, which is the most relaxing of all. I won't knit something with braided cables because I just want to say I can do them, I will knit a plan garter stitch purse because I want a garter stitch purse. Knitting is quite liberating in this way. It's become something I feel good about, which is theraputic and just plain fun.

[Angela]

I agree with you, Chris. Knitting is relaxing not in a wine and bubble bath way, but in a meditative way. I suppose Yoga is meditative is ways, but I've never done that much of it to know. But yeah, I will definetly come home after a "shitty" day and just knit away. It's something I am doing independently and for myself, and it feels good.

I started knitting out of boredom this summer, and I wanted to try something new. I got into knitting things for my friends and family while experimenting with different stitches and methods and patterns. Now I am knitting just whatever I feel like, which is the most relaxing of all. I won't knit something with braided cables because I just want to say I can do them, I will knit a plan garter stitch purse because I want a garter stitch purse. Knitting is quite liberating in this way. It's become something I feel good about, which is theraputic and just plain fun.

[Beak Knits]

I agree that both can be relaxing in a focused kind of way, but I have never found myself saying to the children..."Just one more pose!"

[Lynae]

I guess I am in the minority. I KNOW that knitting relaxes me. I usually come home from work, make dinner, do homework with the kids, bathe them and then put them to bed.

Then I knit. I can feel the stress of the day leave my back and shoulders. Unless I am worried about something, then knitting helps me work through the worry.

I usually knit from about 8pm until about 10pm. Not alot of time, but enough to change my mood.

Now, YOGA? Holy crap, I am not very flexible, so I find it really difficult...not relaxing in any way.

[Elizabeth M.]

Maybe if all you made was garter stitch scarves, you would get the knitting=relaxation connection. Or is that bored?

[Lizbon]

Oh, I hate it when people come out with those A=B statements. A does not equal B. Knitting is knitting and yoga is yoga.

It's like saying "Pink is the new black." Pink and black have nothing in common, apart from sharing some real estate on our retinas.

It's as if the only way some people can make room for something new in their consciousness(es) is to pretend it's just like something they already know.

Knitting is yoga, and yoga is aerobics, and Olivia Newton-John is Cyndi Lauper, and Cyndi Lauper is Blondie, and blond is black, and black is the new pink, and I need a cocktail. And it's only 10am.

[graylagran]

i'm with you on the linen and hemp love. a couple of summers ago i knitted three hemp 'terrific tanks' from lanaknits. i wore a bandaid across my finger, as the hemp wore a groove into my skin. i whined and cried each time i knitted one of those, but it didn't stop me from casting on for the next one. they are very soft and have wonderful drape. i bought some of her finer wt. hemp for a circular knitted cap sleeve top.
this is what i have to say about the yoga comment ... i agree with lizbon.

[Cyndie]

Hey Wendy - Just saw your pattern in the Kits section on kpixie.com - congratulations! I finished Essential Stripe a couple of weeks ago, and I'm almost done with "Something Red". Great patterns!!

[Angela]

Knitting is yoga? No, but for me they're complementary: knitting makes my upper back and shoulders tighten (unlike Lynae), and sometimes my fingers briefly go numb; yoga stretches those muscles so I can knit some more.

[Meredith]

One more comment on the "Knitting is yoga" thing. Are you a bad mommy if you find yourself saying "Just one more row and I am done"... then 15 minutes later you've done 5 more rows??? Maybe knitting is more of an addiction??? ha ha

[Debbie]

Knitting, to me, is getting into the zone. With my job I've got so many things going on at once and giving, giving , giving. Knitting, however, is solitary and I have to keep my mind focused on only one thing, knitting. I absolutely love knitting now.