People outside of the knitting world often have a rather narrow view of knitters, assuming they must all be old ladies with cats and purple hats perhaps?
Knitting used to be male dominated until the ladies took over so spectacularly, alienating boys and men from one of the most creative, relaxing and practical crafts on the planet.
Studies have shown knitting can help patients recovering from trauma and calm symptoms of certain forms of dementia. Injured soldiers from the first world war were encouraged to knit as a form of therapy. More recently, research has shown that knitting also helps improve numeric and literacy skills.
Although a relatively inexpensive hobby, knitting has, for whatever reasons, been sidelined over the years but, as knitting groups start forming and more 'celebs' (even royalty I've heard) are taking up the sticks, knitting is creeping up the popular hobbies lists!
Yet another bonus is that knitting can burn 100 calories an hour - and isn't compatible with eating greasy or sticky snacks. Learning this simple craft will bring benefits to your whole family and beyond.
Start simple and make a blanket of squares or try an Ekokid doll designed for beginner knitters.
The picture above is part of a cover/blanket I made. I used 3 colours and knitted different pictures on squares, some I left plain but knitted in garter or blanket stitch. I'll be working out the graphs soon to put in a downloadable so you can try your hand at making a family hand-crafted heirloom - us knitters have no limits. :-)
Happy Knitting!
Linda x
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