More Thoughts on Fiber Arts and Health Benefits

Hey dear friends!

I had a question about the book I reviewed on the previous post by Betsan Corkhill, Knit for Health and Wellness that prompted me to share a bit more information that can apply to cross stitching as well.  Excellent question!

 As a lover of cross stitch myself as well as knitting now for the past 5 years, there is a website that the author promotes called Stitchlinks and Stitchlinksplus. I'm still reading through these and they have good information as well as the book. There is great information about the topic and she mentions that this applies to other needlecrafts as well.

click on this:

http://www.stitchlinks.com/quotes_and_comments.html

and look at the bottom of the list where cross stitching is mentioned.

Personally, I do believe that the book is helpful for anyone in the fiberarts, However, if you do not knit at all or not interested you may want to explore Stitchlinks site and also go to Amazon and click on the book to read the first part of the book.
Similarities of both include:

the portability of the craft
picking out and choosing colors, textures
choosing to stitch/knit in groups or alone
the ability to make things for others to pay it forward
switching between projects
the process of creating
the movement of our hands/fingers
the effects of all fiber arts on our mental and physical health
and many more

Also click HERE   and in particular  HERE to find that cross stitching is including as well as crochet or other needlearts to the health benefits.

I love to watch both knitting and cross stitching podcasts on You Tube. I mentioned Kristy Glass as she interviews alot of people and she is just soooooo good at it. She also loves fiberarts and can personally testify that knitting in her life and crocheting has helped her with a particular medical event that happened a few years ago.

I think we are all so fortunate to find that crafters of fiber are generally very caring at heart. I have found this to be true with few exceptions.

Even though I knew that even in World War II, the military used knitting or stitching with soldiers who were recovering or coping with PTSD, I was intrigued by this book with anything medical because that is my career.

I personally know for a fact that cross stitching helped me cope with some pretty severe life incidents in the past and I still love it. 5 years ago when I learned through a Crafsty.com class how to knit and still learn many new things on You Tube, I have knitted through extremely stressful situations and found it to be calming.

If you click on the website for comments about cross stitching, I think we all can relate to how helpful sitting down to our particular craft can be.

Here is a quote amongst many on the site as an example:

Found an old cross stitch kit i'd started before daughter was born and found that by concentrating on this i could find some relief from pain. Started stitching to give as presents to friends and family and found it gave me back a feeling of self worth.


I  hope your week has been peaceful. My physical therapy on Wednesday showed much improvement my PT said since the prior Thursday. I go three days a week. Pretty sore on the day and night after but in the long run, I'm keeping a positive attitude that some things just take time to heal.
This morning I went in for my session of PT, still pretty doggone sore but the therapist measured my progress and said even in the last 2 days, I have progressed even better.  I think that starting yoga again has helped overall and exercising 3 times a day now as required for rehab has got me looking forward to incorporating exercise in my daily life again.

I had to stop and think. Hmmmmmm  I wonder if that 4 hours of knitting yesterday helped?????  :)

Tonight, I'm in pain but I know that it will get better and some pain is necessary to reach the long term goal.
So on PT nights, I rest and watch podcasts, pray and go to bed hoping each day gets better.
Monday I have another post surgical followup.

As far as what I'm working on in knitting right now and for the past 5 weeks, I'm 3/4's finished. It's a pretty special piece for me and will share it in the future.

As far as cross stitching, I'm getting Mr. Darcy this weekend to put my floor stand up again and go through some WIPs I've had for quite some time. I enjoy both knitting and cross stitching so I wish some days had 40 hours instead of 24!!  I do know that at some point I will be selling all 40ct linen due to my vision loss with glaucoma. I feel best to stitch with 28 or 32 linen.

Thank you to all for being so kind.

Till later,
Jennifer