You lose the will to live! Okay, I’m being dramatic here, but some of it is true. I haven’t knit a single thing in the last four months, and I have felt listless and disengaged most of that time. It’s the longest I have gone without knitting since I started 4 years ago. I can feel the withdrawal symptoms. In the past, I have told you about the advantages of knitting, here and here. Today, I will tell you what happens when you stop knitting, especially if you are someone who loved to knit. Think it is the same thing? It’s not. Allow me to explain by exhibiting my life.

Exhibit 1 – Excessive phone time

I don’t know if I have mentioned this before, but I started knitting in the first place because I have extremely fidgety hands. Even if I try, I can’t focus on just one thing at a time. So if I am watching tv or listening to an audiobook, I’ll either do a newspaper crossword, or a jigsaw puzzle, or—and this is the worst—play a game on my phone simultaneously. My dear iPhone has been kind enough to inform me that last week my total screen time was 60 hours and 30 mins, out of which I devoted 12 hours and 3 minutes to mobile games. In the first week of October, I set a record with 23 hours and 40 mins spent on games.

Previously, this time, that I’m devoting (wasting?) to the altar of mobile games, was spent on knitting. I would either be knitting a gauge swatch or trying a new technique or knitting a gift for myself or my loved ones. My hands would remain productively engaged, and a beautiful knitted product would emerge at the end, thanks to the same hands. Other than setting a new high score on this mobile game I play, I don’t think I have much else to show for the time I spent playing it. In the words of Chandler Bing – could there be a bigger loss than this?

Exhibit 2 – Increase in outflow of money

You might wonder what knitting has to do with this. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you. Previously, whenever I got an itch for online shopping, I would open the website of one of the many yarn stores selling their wares online. In the absence of knitting, I have turned to clothes and home decor stores. Now, in India, wool/yarn is still cheap, so the most expensive yarn will probably cost you no more than 500 rupees a skein. But this is on the higher side; on average, yarn costs something between 80-150 rupees per skein. Clothes—the kind I like, at least—cost nothing less than 1500-2000 per piece. And this is on the lower side. Even one instance of shopping itch these days ends up making me at least 5000-6000 rupees poorer.

As much as I want to help the nation’s economy by buying more goods, it’s high time I started thinking about the health of my own household’s economy because not knitting is turning out to be pretty darn expensive!

Exhibit 3 – No knitting means no writing

If it’s been 4 months since I last knit something, it has also been over 2 months since I wrote this blog. I’m in a writing drought where I lack both the creativity and the desire to write. For those who became associated with One Knit at a Time at a later stage, let me tell you, I started writing only because of knitting. I wanted to share my thoughts, ideas, techniques, and designs with all those who shared my interest in knitting. Before that, I had not written a single word in my life, beyond that which was required for my academic and professional pursuits. Let’s say creative writing was not something I did, nor ever thought I could do. Writing about knitting gave me courage; the lack of knitting has made me a wuss. The wuss-ness (is that a word?) shows most strongly in the case of writing.

You might think that the connection I am making between knitting and writing is too facile, but what does it mean that today, after such a long time, I picked up my needles to knit something and ended up writing this post as well?

Time to find your mojo again

I am not saying that if you feel restless or lack the initiative to do things you liked to do earlier, you should start knitting as well and all your problems will be solved. In your case, maybe it’s some other activity that made you feel the way knitting makes me feel. It could be anything that gave your life purpose and meaning. What I’m saying, instead, is that if you’re feeling down and fatigued, and can’t put your finger on what could be wrong, then probe deeper. Maybe the answer to your problem is as simple as mine, and if it is, then it’s time to pick up your needles, or your gardening shears, or your baking mitts, or your dancing shoes again. It’s time you found your mojo again, the way I have.

~P

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