Knitting

[Judi9877]

Hi @Gwynn @Anastasia @Former-Member @Eve7 @Shaz51 @Daisydreamer and all knitters here. Thanks for the wonderful comments, forumite friends. It's much appreciated and very motivating!

@Gwynn as for the colours I've chosen for my Mental Health Recovery Blanket, initially the blanket was going to be a baby blanket for the charity I knit for so I only took 4 balls of wool into hospital with me as I wasn't sure how long my admission to the psych ward would be. However, that changed once I realised that I was going to be in hospital for longer than I thought, as my psychologist managed to get my treating team to refer me to PARCS for an extra 2 weeks after hospital due to a self harm incident occurring on the ward. I realised that I was knitting to calm myself down in hospital and that the blanket was becoming more special to me and that I couldn't give it away so I chose to keep it for myself. That meant that I could be more creative with the colours I put in the blanket and therefore, make the colours my choice of what I liked so hence, I ordered more wool from Spotlight in the colours I liked and then added them to the blanket accordingly. It's slowly getting there on the way to completion and as much as I'd like to have it completed by the end of the year, I'm not sure I'll reach that goal. What I do know is the blanket has been through a lot since I started it in terms of mental health episodes such as being in hospital with me and dealing with those issues, including changing meds to slowly getting better at PARCS and then having a relapse period and now with the stress of moving house and having episodes of me hearing voices as I've been quite stressed out lately. Basically, the blanket has had its fair share of mental health stories and I know there will be more to come before it is completed. I plan on putting it on my bed when it's finished and making sure it comes with me if I ever have another admission to either hospital or PARCS as a reminder that I can get through whatever mental health episode that brought me back into either of those treatment facilities. I hope this helps with your question in relation to colours of the blanket!

As for a detour project, I had a sudden urge to crochet a blanket so I picked up my favourite 4mm crochet hook tonight (Saturday) and started to crochet a granny square blanket for charity from some wool I purchased yesterday from Spotlight using a discount code. I found the time crocheting to be really relaxing and it helped calm me down as I was forced to focus on counting the stitches for the blanket in a mindfulness kind of way so I couldn't think of anything else but the stitches. I started the blanket in a deep purple but have now changed to red to mix up the blanket a little and to stop me from getting bored of the same colour! I'll post a photo of it in a later post once I complete some more of it if you'd like to see it?

Once again, thanks for being so kind with all the comments in relation to my knitting projects. Keep on enjoying your knitting and other crafts!

Judi9877☺️🧶💐

Judi9877

[Eve7]

Thank you once again for sharing such an inspiring post @Judi9877 

I have my knitting out right now in an attempt to bring my sh under control and it's all thanks to you and your inspiration.

I have closed myself off from the family and retreated to my bedroom and I am here with the blanket I keep returning to that is for my grandson in his footy team olours.

Later today we will be sharing our postponed Thanksgiving dinner with my other son and his family but for now I need to calm down, relax, breathe and knit away....

[Judi9877]

Hi @Eve7 

I'm so glad that you had found comfort and solace in your knitting instead of resorting to self harm. Well done forumite👍🏻⭐️! I will admit that at times of stress, I find the knitting of beanies helps settle me down as I know the pattern off by heart and it brings me comfort just doing the simple pattern of k2, p2 for 106 stitches for 10 rows as I have to be in silence when I do this part of the beanie in order to concentrate! Beanies are calming for me and I know that it's important for me to have a pair of 4.5mm knitting needles in my self care toolkit along with some wool whenever stressful times happen, which has been fairly often this past few weeks, especially this past week with the house move. See below for the beanie I just finished this morning.

For the past few hours, including last night, I've found comfort in working on a crochet blanket for charity using a 4mm crochet hook. I've just found the whole house move stressful on myself and I wasn't coping very well at all so I decided to pick up the crochet hook instead of the knitting needles for a change of activity and it has worked which is great. The whole thing of counting stitches and the movement of the crochet hook makes me feel relaxed and I can forget about what's bothering me in my daily life for a little while. It sure beats taking a tablet to help me calm down which is a bonus as at least I'm producing something of value for a charity recipient and that's what's important to me. 

I look forward to seeing what you produce with your knitting if you wish to share it here!

Judi9877☺️🧶🌸

[Shaz51]

Ohhh @Judi9877 I love the colours my friend xx 

@Gwynn , @Eve7 , @Anastasia , @Former-Member  xoxo 

[Eve7]

@Judi9877Trying to stay safe doing this

[Anastasia]

Love it @Eve7 although should be black and yellow 😜

[Eve7]

Haha @Anastasia  This gs follows the Titans!

[Anastasia]

It will be a treasure @Eve7 

You are a gem 💎 on so many levels x

[Eve7]

Aww thank you @Anastasia  I have had a lovely time this evening with Miss 4 while she wore my jewellery and my make up. I do hope you get a granddaughter one day...they are so different to boys!

[Anastasia]

That's a bit cute @Eve7 💕

I love that you've enjoyed your night with her.