Stitch Away Stress: A mindful approach to 3 stitch patterns.

This week on Ask Me Monday, I teamed up with my friends at Clover Needlecrafts in support of the Craft Yarn Council‘s #StitchAwayStress initiative. Our focus is how by approaching a few simple stitch patterns in a more mindful way, you’ll be able to reap the benefits of the meditative state of knitting and crochet. Here are 3 exercises for mindful stitching.

Materials

Any yarn

Clover Takumi Bamboo Needles (for #1 & #2) — Warming bamboo is good for the soul!

Clover Amour Hook (for #3) — Cushioned handles makes for a comfortable experience.

Exercise 1:Breath in, knit out.

Rib Stitch (Knitting)

CO a multiple of 2 + 1.

Sitting comfortably and focusing on breathing in and out with each stitch, begin knitting while chanting (either in your head or out loud) as follows:

Knit 1, purl 1, knit 1, purl 1, knit 1…

Repeat until the end of the row, turn piece and resume meditation. Since we added that +1 stitch, there won’t be a break in your “knit 1, purl 1” mantra as you’ll end the right-side row with a “knit 1” and resume on the wrong-side with a “purl one”.

Exercise 2: Open Stitch, open heart.

Lace (Knitting) 

CO a multiple of 3.

Sitting comfortably and focusing on breath and an open heart, begin knitting while chanting (either in your head or out loud) as follows:

Knit 1, yarn-over, knit two together; knit 1, yarn-over, knit two together…

Repeat until the end of the row, turn piece and resume meditation.

Exercise 3:

Half-double Crochet (U.S. term)

Chain any number + 2.

Set-up row: Hdc in the 3rd ch from hook and across. Turn.

Since the construction of crochet stitches is more complex than a knit stitch, it’s helpful to focus on the individual moves within the stitch for purposes of meditation. For that purpose, I’ve written out the half-double crochet (hdc) stitch mantra in moves.

Sitting comfortably and focusing on breath, begin knitting while chanting (either in your head or out loud) as follows:

Chain 2, in next stitch: [yarn-over insert hook, yarn-over pull through 1, yarn-over pull through 3], [yarn-over insert hook, yarn-over pull through 1, yarn-over pull through 3]…

VARIATION:  [yarn-over insert hook, yarn-over pull through loop, yarn-over pull through loops], [yarn-over insert hook, yarn-over pull through loop, yarn-over pull through loops]

Breathe in; craft out.

xx, Vickie