For people with ADD issues (like me) crafting can be therapeutic. I know I'm not the only person who thinks this (see Figure 1, a magnet I stumbled upon a month or so ago)...
Figure 1
...but I couldn't explain why until I read an article in O magazine last month called "A Stitch in Time." The writer, Meribeh Knight, talks about how sewing helped her out a depressive slump:
I may not have been able to figure out how to get from point A to point B in my professional and personal life, but I knew if I could take three yards of fabric, cut it, pin it, and sew it into a dress, then that day would be better than the one before."
This so exactly describes the way feel about knitting. Whenever I feel overwhelmed in my personal and/or professional life, I reach for a pair of knitting needles. I know that if I knit and purl over and over again, I can make a pair of mittens (or a hat or slippers or scarf, etc.) The ritual of doing it and the knowledge that I now have one thing in my life that I can control, quiets my mind.
Does that make sense?
Anyway, you can read the entire "Stitch in Time" article by clicking here. (Meribah links to it at the top of the page.) It's really wonderful, I encourage you to do so.
And PS - This might sound totally dorky, but I can't stress enough how much I love O magazine. I read every issue cover-to-cover each month and have for the past three years. I'm always enlightened by something I read inside. If you don't subscribe, you should!
UPDATE: Jackie in his Later 'Gator Mitts.
I made them for him for Christmas. You can find the pattern in the Stitch 'n Bitch Nation book.
