It Takes Balls to Save the World (and Yourself)

Knitting is good for you!

There are many studies about how it can reduce stress and lower your heart rate and blood pressure, but did you know that studies have also shown that it increases cognitive function and lowers the rate of brain decay in older people! It’s true! Google it!

For me I find that keeping my hands busy relaxes my minds and help me focus. Its especially good in situations where I feel uneasy or bored, like Lacrosse training where I feel freezing and don’t want to waste the time just sitting there.

Knitting allows me to feel useful and busy, it helps me not think about how cold I am, and it also helps to make friends! I sit there and stitch away and other people come up and ask me what I am doing and I can engage them in conversation.

Now I am not the only person who takes their craft to sport, I sit with likeminded ladies whom I might never have talked to before getting my needles out and we chat about all sorts of things, it’s really good that way.

It also helps me develop patience, there is huge satisfaction in completing a project, it releases all sorts of happiness endorphins into your blood stream, try it! It feels great!

It’s an even better feeling when you are making something for someone else, making a little gift for a friend of a warm scarf or beanie or some cute little mittens is showing them that you really care. You put love into every stitch and spent time thinking about them.

I recently made a little cardigan for a friend’s new baby and it was lovely how touched they were by the gift. It was a cute little jacket like the ones that the royal family put on their babies, something timeless and classic that makes babies look like the treasures they are. They were amazed that someone that they are only just getting to know spent so much time and effort for them

I started crocheting when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, I was in hospital for months and going out my brain with boredom and wanting to spend the time creating something for my baby that was really special.

Since having had two prem babies I now knit and crochet hats for the NICU where they spent so much time.

A prem baby hat is the perfect project for beginners as they are simple and quick to make, so perfect for me as I am too easily bored for big projects.

They also only take a small amount of wool and give a sense of giving back that makes me feel really good.

My babies were too small for their own clothes and the only thing that they could wear were hats. It made me feel more connected to have something that was mine, that were theirs, and it made me feel more connected to my babies.

I like to imagine the little hats that I am making on the heads of those tiny babies like mine and imagine a mother taking it home and holding it to absorb its scent before tenderly washing it.

It helps me heal my own wounds. Handmade gifts keep hearts warm and keep people knowing that they are cared for. It can make all the difference to someone who needs to remember that care, to remind them they are not alone.

You don’t need to spend a lot on money on knitting if you don’t want to, a ball of yarn only costs as little as $2 from Cheap as Chips and I can make 6 little hats from one ball. You can also buy your knitting needles there, crochet hooks, scissors and Birch knitting accessory kits for much cheaper than the craft stores!

If you can’t knit or crochet get down to Cheap as Chips for all the supplies you need and log on to YouTube for some easy tutorials, within a few days you can do what I do and work away at a little hat without even thinking about how to do it.

Take a look at some of the amazing things you can do to contribute to your community trough crochet and knitting, from beanies for the homeless to poppies for Anzac Day, woolen breasts for women who have had mastectomies and pouches for tiny kangaroos to sleep in! And don’t forget the health benefits for you too!

Hop down to Cheap as Chips and invest a couple of dollars and save yourself and the world, one stitch at a time. It really does take balls to save the world!