The calming art of crocheting

author: destiny kaus | production manager

credit: Alícia Roselló Gené via flickr

A chill lil’ way of crafting that help take away your stress

Are you stressed out with the amount of schoolwork you need to complete? Are you bashing your head against a wall trying to come up with the perfect thesis statement? Are you drinking copious amounts of alcohol to try to numb your anxiety over an exam? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, it sounds like you need to de-stress. And, what better what to do that than by learning the calming art of crocheting?

Nevada Smith, a third-year student at the University of Regina studying Psychology, holds herself to high standards with school, work, and softball. Thus, she sometimes gets mucho stressed out.

“I hold myself to a pretty high standard in anything that I do,” states Smith. “[It’s] just how I’ve always been. When things are starting to get overwhelming, it pretty much kick starts my stress because I’ll start to worry that I can’t do the things that I want to accomplish for myself.”

Now, you may ask, what’s one of the ways that Smith de-stresses? You guessed it! She crochets!

Smith says, “[Crocheting] takes my mind off of everything. It’s simple enough that I can just grab my stuff and work on a project, but it’s challenging enough that I have to focus on it and can’t keep worrying about other things.”

Surprisingly, Smith actually only started crocheting last winter.

“My roommate actually taught me how to crochet,” states Smith. “She is amazing at it. She can make dolls and characters and honestly probably anything you gave her a pattern for! I thought it was a fun and useful thing to be able to do, so I had her teach me.”

Preach it sister! Crocheting is definitely useful to Smith. Not only does it give her an outlet to create affordable, special, homemade gifts for loved ones, but it also helps her calm down when she feels overwhelmed.

“It gives me a break from studying, working, and just from how hectic my life can get at times,” says Smith. “I also love that in the end, I have a finished product! It’s great that I can relax and do it, but having a cute new pair of mitts in the end is an awesome bonus.”

So, if you’re feeling stressed, why not follow Smith’s example and learn the art of crocheting? It can’t hurt! You can simultaneously create some badass mitts, scarfs, or blankets and de-stress at the same time. But, if crocheting frustrates you to the point where you want to stab yourself in the eye with your crochet needles (or whatever the heck those things are called) or burn up all your yarn in a fit of rage, there are other options.

“I think there’s all kinds of art that can help de-stress!” exclaims Smith. “Some of my friends go to music – playing it and composing. I actually like the colouring pages and books as well. They are fun to do, and they take focus to complete, so they take you away from the stress for a bit.”

I wholeheartedly agree with Smith. Immersing yourself in different forms of art can take your mind off school for a bit, relax your schoolwork-beaten brain, and help you re-focus. Just remember to go back to your schoolwork after you’ve taken a crochet break. ‘Cause if you spend too much time crocheting, you’ll slack off and probably just flunk out of university…and that would suck.