Knitting and Fibro

 

My grandmother taught me to crochet when I was maybe 7 or 8. I didn't know anyone who knit growing up. Then, I moved to China and nearly froze to death my first winter and decided I needed to learn to knit socks. Youtube knitting videos weren't what they are now back in 2001 and I had a single booklet on how to knit socks and that was it, but I managed to teach myself to knit through the back loop.

Chinese knitters would snatch my knitting out of my hands and tell me I was doing it wrong and "show" me the right way by knitting several rows as fast as they could. I started telling them that I knit the American way so they would leave me alone and then I'd rip out their knitting and do it my way. 

Later, a kindly Canadian took very sweetly observing me knitting my first sock inside out delicately declared that there was nothing wrong with what I was doing, but if I wanted to knit my sock with the cable on the outside, I might want to consider knitting through the front loop instead. And then, she oh-so-slowly knit a row on the baby sweater  she was working on and demonstrated the difference between the front and back loop. Ann, if you ever read this, you are amazing!

With fibro, one of the first problems I paid attention to was the stiffness in my hands. As the pain got worse, I worried that I might lose the ability to knit, and crochet, and cross-stitch, and embroider, and sew. Then, I decided that if that happened, I'd just take up finger painting so I could do something creative and colorful with my hands. My hands have been more stiff than usual recently, and I've been doing more mosaic work than knitting as a result.

If I do knitting first thing in the morning, it tends to loosen my fingers up and I have less pain during the day. However, if I start out by typing, my hands are too sore to knit later in the day. 

I find that my Chiaogoo red lace circulars are the easiest to hold and I'm gradually building a set of interchangeables. They are lightweight and the steel warms up nicely in my hands. 

The other thing about knitting with fibro is that it can be relaxing. At times, I've kept a simple knitting- in-the-round project by the bed to pick up when I wake up during the night. A simple project relaxes my muscles and my brain. I'd love to do more complex projects, but I find it terribly hard to concentrate on a pattern most days. Still, I consider knitting a part of my therapy. One thing I'd like to do more of is knit more charity projects. 

I'm starting to design knitting projects and many of my design ideas are for things that would be of use to those of us with chronic illness. I'm also working out how to make patterns easier for knitting when fibro fog is making concentrating difficult.

Knitting, crochet, or other creative skills can be so useful to those with chronic illnesses. They can relieve the tension and frustration caused by pain. They can help us to make our homes cozier and more cheerful. And, they can help us to feel useful when we make something to help someone else.