Yet again, the BBC is just catching up with The Snail of Happiness:
Why the NHS could soon prescribe home improvements and knitting
I have been highlighting the benefits of creative crafts for ages now. Knitting and crochet, amongst other activities, generate alpha brainwaves, which are beneficial for learning, making connections and generating ideas. They are associated with “alert wakefulness”.
You are never alone with a knitted Knocker
Crafting is also sociable, as evidenced by the profusion of ‘knit and natter’ or ‘stitch and bitch’ events springing up. My version was ‘cake and craft‘ (because being alert certainly enhances cake-enjoyment!) and mighty successful it was too for the year that I ran it. And even if you can’t physically get to a meeting, there are lots of sociable groups on-line… including a closed Facebook group for all the ladies knitting knockers. Social interaction involving creativity has real health benefits – both mental (mentioned in the BBC article) and physical (it has been shown to help relieve pain, for examples see this document).
If you want to know more about the subject, I suggest you check out the Stitcklinks website, which contains all sorts of fascinating information about therapeutic knitting, including references to academic papers, case studies and resources for setting up groups.
The Snail of Happiness 
nanacathy2
/ June 6, 2015Mmm, knitting is a bit hypnotic, I often feel sleepy whilst knitting. Very good for meditating though! You are a trend setter
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 6, 2015I think that means you are highly skilled… what’s known as ‘unconscious competence’.
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katechiconi
/ June 6, 2015And I find stitching reduces anxiety, hence my frequent practice of taking hand sewing kits into hospital with me. If you’ve *got* to hang around for hours wearing nothing but a backless cotton gown and some hideous compression socks, you might as well have something pretty to show for it…
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 6, 2015It’s true – I don’t do much hand stitching, but that too is supposed to reduce stress. It is mentioned specifically on the Stitchlinks website.
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claidig
/ June 6, 2015I love it. Successfully managed to get addicted to creating crochet characters by NeedleNoodles. I only stopped because I was making them so quickly, and had nowhere to put them and no use for them (yet). The reason I’ve not gotten back into it is because I’d rather I was making something of use, and currently there is none. Otherwise it’s a great way to procrastinate 😉
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 6, 2015I have a couple of boxes of crocheted stuff that I’m planning to sell. First stall will be at the International Permaculture Convergence in September 🙂
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narf77
/ June 7, 2015I think if you couple crafting with social events and generosity you have a recipe for success when it comes to happiness.
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arlingwoman
/ June 7, 2015It’s true. I received some color pens today and promptly sat down to color a postcard, which gave me immense satisfaction! So do my endeavors in felt and so does baking. I love the moon and stars wrapping you’re apparently giving your knockers-receiving ladies! What nice packages they’re getting.
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rainbowjunkiecorner
/ June 7, 2015I read that too and thought it was a great idea. I had to take an evening off knitting or crochet as my hands were hurting and I fell asleep, so you must be right about the “alert wakefulness” too!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 7, 2015I have been so busy knitting knockers recently that I realise my hands may be suffering a little… an evening or two off might be a good idea, but then I think about all those ladies in need and I don’t want to stop… and anyway, it would be such a waste of time to fall asleep!!
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anne54
/ June 8, 2015Good to know that there are such benefits to doing something I enjoy! (Pity that my fingers are telling me that I need to have more breaks more often.) thanks for the link to the site. I will check it out.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 8, 2015I’m suffering a bit at the moment from excess knitting… I’m resting from it a bit, which should give me chance to catch up with a whole bunch of your posts that I seem to have not got round to reading 😉
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