Hello, and welcome to the Why I Knit podcast. My name is Dr. Mia Hobbs and I'm a clinical psychologist who is passionate about knitting and its benefits for our mental health. Each episode I interview a knitter to ask them why they knit and how it has benefited their mental well being. This week I'm talking to Ros Edwards. Ros is a prolific knitter who has had a bed bound illness for the last five years. She's
turned to knitting to help manage her ME. You can find links to Ros's Instagram and all the yarns and patterns she mentions in the show notes. So hi, Ros. Welcome to the podcast.
Hi. Thanks for having me.
You're very welcome. And your background looks beautiful. I should just tell the listeners that you've got all your amazing colourful shawls in the background and a lovely knitted patchwork blanket over the chair.
Yes, that's right. It's a cosy memories blanket which I've stolen back from my son.
just borrowing it. So I'd be really interested to hear where your story with knitting began.
Well, it began really officially with him. And when I was pregnant with him, I suddenly thought, so this was 12 years ago, I suddenly thought I need to knit, my mother had always knit when we were younger. And I hadn't had any interest in it until I became pregnant.
Do you learn as a kid at all?
No, I didn't learn from her. My granny knit us loads as well, but didn't learn from her either. But I think some of it must have sunk in kind of through osmosis or something. Because once I started and I was learning through books at the time, once I started, it all felt very natural. And I started off with a patchwork blanket, and which I didn't finish. I was working when I was pregnant. And I was
very, very sick. So I didn't finish it. Then I had my beautiful boy and didn't knit again then for another six years. At which point he said to me 'you know, all those patchwork squares you've got that didn't make it into a blanket. Could you make me a bear? ' Yeah, sure, I'll make you a better so I'm going to show you although the listeners can't hear, but this is this is a very funny bear, and a very fluffy head.
And all made of patchwork
And it's all made of the patchwork squares. I know, I sort of figured out how to make decreases for his ears, but his head doesn't stand up on its own. And he's very chewed and but his name is Bernard because everything everything was called Bernard was my son was a baby really, for some unknown reason. And he was Yeah, Bernard was what started it all off. And to make Bernard I had to knit a few more squares. And once I started knitting six years ago, again, that was it, I caught the bug, okay,
and I presume you had to invent the pattern yourself.
I just kind of stepped in with T shirts. And so the things together and it was very ad hoc, but yes, very, very loved.
They you've still got him, that's amazing.
And so that's how I started. And then I think having become a mother and gone back to work. I still was in that kind of who am I am I am mother am I a career person. And I've always liked wearing, not what everybody else wears so I've always liked to be a bit individual and different to everyone else. And I realised having started to get the bug with the knitting that I could make things for myself that no
one else has. I think I went on to love crafts and found a very difficult but I didn't know it was difficult at the time Katia pattern, which was a poncho, and it kind of knit the yarn knit itself, kind of fun colours. And so that's where I started was right. I can make myself clothes that are different and that suit my slightly different body that is now a mums body. And that's how it started.
Did you start making clothes for yourself quite quickly after because I imagine that's quite a big leap from the patchwork blanket to then garments.
And it was a shame in a way that I had started with that pattern because it was a tubular cast on. And it had obviously been translated from maybe German, I don't know, but the translation wasn't great. And so I was quick, tried and tried and ripped and ripped. And this poncho just wasn't working for me. So I started off with the intention of making garments and then went to a knitting group just for one session in a local craft shop and was Wool and Gang and We Are Knitters.
And so I can do super chunky knits. And they'll be done really quickly. So I started knitting blankets for my niece and nephew and for my son, and for our house, which we just moved, which none of the furniture weren't, we'd inherited loads. And I thought rather than pay loads of money for new furniture, I'm just going to knit loads of blankets and make everything look nice. Yeah, that's, that's Yeah. So that's what I did for a good year and a half was stick with.
Yeah. Oh, lovely. So that was how you started? Yeah. Knitting. So you said you caught the bug. When you made the patchwork bear, Bernard, what was it about it, you think kind of attracted you? He said kind of making stuff for yourself that was a bit different. And then you went in with the blankets. Was there anything about the process you particularly enjoyed?
Yeah, I would say, I don't know what it is exactly about it. But knitting the squares to make the bear. I found myself if I wasn't knitting, I missed it. And whilst at the time, I didn't have a lot of time to knit at all. If I did have some downtime at all, I wanted there to be knitting in my hands. And I really missed it if it wasn't there. And I found myself, I changed jobs trying to do some job with less responsibility. And I used to, I started taking
buses. And on the bus, I bring my knitting with me. So I could spend 45 minutes knitting before the day began. And in lunch, I would knit. And I found that a lot of my job was I had to do a lot of thinking and a lot of writing. And if there was a problem that I didn't have the answer to lunch break, do an hours of knitting, and then all the answers would be there for me when I returned to my desk. So I could tell that it was
doing something to my brain. That was good. But I didn't know what it was just so that I could I could rely on the knitting to kind of help my brain. When I was younger, I used to play the piano and it did similar things. That I would go with a problem and leave the piano without being such a big deal anymore. And yeah, very similar.
So it's not just about feeling less kind of. So it's not just about feeling calmer. It's almost like it unlocks a different door for solutions as well.
Yeah, that's exactly how it felt. And it was really brilliant. And I think the other I mean, the other cool thing is, is that on the bus or at work, it draws people to people come and say, you know, what are we doing and and that was fun, you know, and to have people be interested in or people always have their own stories they want to tell you about their mom or their Auntie your granny. And it's lovely that side of it as well.
Yeah, so kind of a different way of connecting to people. Yeah,
exactly. Exactly. I um. I didn't find Instagram. Until I've been knitting for two years, various people had said, you really should go on Instagram, because I think there's quite a lot of knitters on there. And I kind of brushed it off because I didn't want to be on my phone too much. I was enjoying the tactile kind of analogue, being away from my screen. But I did go on Instagram, and I started looking at people who were knitting shawls. And I remember thinking,
why are people knitting shawls? Like what's what is the big deal about that? So I, but I realised that there was a community on there people from around the world, knitting beautiful things and sharing it and that was really fun for me. I was still working at that point. But it was like a whole new world of people and I've been so in a very corporate world for about 20 years and it all being about money-making and selling big
contracts. And it was lovely to find a whole community of people that were not in that world necessarily are not talking about that world anyway,
did it change what you knitted when you found that community those kind of connections.
Eventually it did. And it was I remember distinctly it was the time when Andrea Mowry's find your facial came out. And there's quite an iconic picture of her. Taken by her photographer, husband, I think standing in nature with her find your age. You know, she's got her tattoos and she's, she's beautiful. And I remember thinking, wow, this is really cool. This is like shawls are cool. And then Stephen West
released his Vertices Unite, or he'd already released it. And I started seeing loads of those on Instagram thinking, wow, it can be really fun and really cool. And the colours can be very untraditional. And that really appealed to me. So Find Your Fade was the first show like, can I think four or five of those? Yeah. And just just learning to play with colour and lace and fingering weight yarn and then. Yeah.
And in terms of why you knit now, would you say the reasons are the same? Or have they changed over time?
Well, I was signed off sick five years ago. And it was a very stressful time, obviously, I was the main breadwinner in the house. And we did not know how we were going to survive. And so as time has progressed, it was a it's been a real stress reliever and problem solver. And now that the kind of big stressors have eased, it's a it's a great distraction from
the symptoms I experience. Yeah, so I find now that if I have really bad pain days, I knitting, if I'm able to knit then it's it's distracts me from the pain and I don't feel the pain at all, if I'm able to knit and usually I am able to knit I feel pretty lucky that despite being sick, I can still knit.
And it's amazing that you actually notice it, reducing your pain.
Well, I especially I noticed that if I'm in so much pain, and then normal medication isn't touching the sides, I grabbed my knitting and start to knit. And then it just it just is just distract distracts me. Yeah. I think having been in such a fast paced career for 20 years, the knitting has given me the chance to learn patience, and learn to slow down and learn to be really, really present. Which again, when you're not well, and there isn't a kind of end in sight with the illness.
Being present, I have found has been just incredible for my mental health and knitting. Definitely, you know, as you're especially now I find I lean towards more complicated patterns, things that I have to focus on a bit more. And just the act of counting a lace pattern, for example, can be can really keep me in the present and you know, help that really conscious living?
Yeah. Yeah. So that's amazing. So it feels like it's really helpful to be able to have knitting so the projects and feeling like I suppose when you said that it doesn't feel like there's necessarily an end in sight in terms of your physical health difficulties that actually having projects that have an end, maybe that feels things to look forward to. I'm interested in what you said about being attracted to
increasingly complicated patterns. Because I that's something I really relate to. And I wanted to ask about whether all knitting is equal like, or whether you need a certain type of knitting or you choose, you've got different projects on the go. And some days it has to be a certain thing or sometimes times it has to be something else.
Yeah, I think that's, that's a really good point. And I have countless works in progress. Literally, I can't tell you how many I have to go at the moment. And one of them is very much a stockinette sweater in the round. I've got several brioche sweaters on the go. And those ones are for more
days when my brain isn't working as well. Or if I'm reading to my son in bed, or we're listening to an audiobook Yeah, we you know, those are the those are the projects that I will go to they're more simple ones
is brioche in that category.
Yeah, it is now, especially if it's a brioche jumper, which is just the same repeats in the round. Or two round repeat. Okay. Yeah, I've done a few of those now. And I love the texture that they create this, you know, that's, that's the other thing is, you know, I've never until I started knitting, done art, or I used to say, I don't have a creative bone in my body.
Really? That's extraordinary!
I mean, I, I feel like if anyone can find creativity, you know, I definitely used to feel like I wasn't creative. I felt like I was all business, all logic, all very left brain. Can't remember which way round it is. But okay, yeah, I can't remember. So knitting has taught me that, that creativity can be found. And, and that I know that I think the colour choice as well is therapeutic in itself.
I really wanted to ask you about colour because I associate you, you know, I first started following you, I think probably a few years ago, and I really associate you with somebody who knits a lot of lovely colours,
colourful. Yeah. And I've noticed that at certain times of year, every year I graduate towards certain colour choices. And certainly in springtime, or just before spring, I've noticed that I've done a few sort of lilac in green and, you know, spring type colours. And in the summer, I'm really leaning towards the very, very bright pinks and oranges together. Although having said that, I see, I mean, another reason for choosing projects and colour is what I will actually
end up wearing. And as I've started knitting more garments, I want be able to wear them with what I usually wear in a day and I was gifted some very beautiful pyjamas last year. And I live in bed so pyjamas is what I wear. And these pyjamas are a kind of peachy pink colour. Yeah, so I've ended up knitting things to go with these pyjamas because I end up wearing them. And so that's an element of, you know, wanting the end result to fit my
need. Having said that, I love the process knit, say the Stephen West knitalong where I can go really wild and free with my colour choices and not think about whether I'll wear it or not just explore colour and how it goes together in in a fabric and yeah.
And so that's a shawl. Is that right?
Yes, yes, yes. Yes.
Different techniques in different sections. Is that normally with Stephen West patterns?
Yeah. I mean, it's perfect. For short attention spans these mystery knit alongs because it's a different technique every few rows and and you don't know what's coming. So yeah, I love his, I love his mystery knit alongs. I really enjoy them. And I look forward to them every year. And
I guess there's a sense of community along with that as well.
Exactly, exactly. And I mean, of all the things that knitting has brought me that is the biggest surprise it's the community and and especially as, as my life has changed quite dramatically from I am a natural extrovert. So when I was working, I was just surrounded with people all the time. And in constant communication with all sorts of
people so suddenly not having that outlet. I have found that I've got so that I found new and like minded people who are really good friends now around the world who I really feel like we're there for each other when, when personal things happen. And that's incredible to me that the knitting community can be like that. And the kindness and generosity of spirit has astounded me because I've not been in a world where kindness was a value was valued.
Do you mean the corporate world?
Exactly. Exactly. So the generosity in fact, the cosy memories blanket, which I'm leaning against started, because I've never heard of yarn advent calendars before. And a friend online sent me a box of beautifully wrapped yarn, and was like, Here you go. And I couldn't believe the time and thought that had gone into it. And I thought, well, I've got to make one of these blankets. Yeah, I haven't looked back.
It's not done yet. But it's, you know, it's big enough now to kind of wrap up it and yeah, yeah, so they've just been countless examples of that level of just quite incredible generosity. And my mum will say that I'm a very generous soul, myself. And I, I think when you're in the corporate environment, you kind of tamp down on that sort of personality. And so it's allowed me to express some of that in return. And that's just been so joyful and meaningful. And
that can affect your mental health as well can't it, the feeling of doing something nice for somebody else.
Definitely. And I think now, my most treasured projects are the ones where either the yarn has been dyed by someone who I've met in person or online. Or has been dyed by someone who is either Black or Brown or an indigenous maker. And, or the pattern has been designed by someone who's a small designer who is looking to expand their business. So I've gone from knitting the patterns by the really big, big names, I obviously still knit Stephen West, because I will always knit
his patterns. But in general, I try to knit patterns from designers who are less known, just in the hope that even if I can encourage one or two people to buy a pattern from them, then I will have helped them along the way kind of. And you know, I won't, I won't knit any designers that like just this summer, I test knit for a designer who has got less than 1000 followers on Instagram, and she is an exquisite designer Susan Lin. And it had a beautiful lace yoke, and
knitting it. I had a knitted during a time when my son went away on holiday without me for three weeks because I wasn't well enough to go. And I was really heartbroken not to be well enough to go on this holiday. And worrying about him being on holiday without me. I don't think I've been that sad ever. And it just so happened that the day or a couple of days after he left this tes knit started. And I literally poured all my emotions into this project. And the fact that it
was so beautifully designed, and so intuitive. And watching this beautiful fabric grow in my fingers. It was just the ultimate therapy for me. And I have told the designer, Susan, this. And I wear it so fondly. Because I feel I feel like it really kept me together. It held me together through those weeks that he was away and I finished it just before he came back.
Oh, wow. did you do that? Because it sounds like it kind of there was an element of coincidence that it happened to be that pattern. But I suppose I'm interested in whether you choose patterns specifically or project for a life event or kind of in order to be therapeutic for you, if you see what I mean or whether that was more of a coincidence that it happened that way it
I think that was more of a coincidence i i had I think I'd signed up for the test knit, before I knew I wasn't going to be well enough to go on holiday. And so I'm just trying to think if there are I certainly cast things on in a kind of therapeutic. I need to cast something new one kind of thing. And that's going to cheer me up and give me that buzz because
of the same way as someone else might have a glass of wine or chocolate after that kind of thing. Yeah,
exactly. I mean, I go through phases of casting lots of things on and then I go through a phase of finishing lots of things off, but they all get finished. Yeah, they do get finished. In the end, and I often get people saying, Where are you knit fast, and I'm like, Well, that was already like three quarters done. So you get the pleasure of finishing something that actually didn't have a lot left to go. But I, I mean, there's another jumper that I knit in the summer before
Sam went away, where I had a really big flare of my ME. And it manifested this time in a very, very, very sore throat, which I don't tend to get very often anymore. And I cast on the Sea Glass Tee by Wool and Pine designs, it had just been released. And you the way they wrote the pattern was that you choose two new colours for every row. It's a colour work jumper, and fingering weight. And so you're literally choosing two new colours, every row and I got my big basket full of all my
odds and ends. And I sped through that pattern with my sore throat. And remember knitting the pattern or than I remember the sore throat, but I remember it being a very, again, a very lovely distraction. And it was just so joyful. So it stopped me from feeling too sorry for myself. And I just spent most of my time looking at my growing fabric thinking, Oh, look, isn't that beautiful?
And how does it feel to wear it now?
Amazing. Amazing. Yeah, feels really good to wear it,
like a triumph over that sore throat.
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. But I don't know, I think there are probably, I imagine a lot of people who knit without needing a deep meaning attached to it. And who just knit for the joy of knitting and for the end product, whereas I found that, for me, there is greater joy if there is meaning. So either if I know the yarn Dyer, or they're a small designer, or whatever it is. I like that those are my really treasured objects that the jumper I'm wearing today is the
Sussurus pullover by Joji Locatelli. Yeah. And this was on the cover of Pom Pom. And it was modelled by a Black woman in a wheelchair. Yes. And I remember when the issue came out vividly. And I can't remember if I actually cried or if I just had tears in my eyes. And I felt really choked up for a long time, I felt so choked up. The issue of being guest edited by
Ocean, who is another Black woman in our industry. And I just I remember feeling grateful and relieved that there was there was finally some more recognition being given and paid jobs being given to Black women in our industry. And that there was a woman in a wheelchair on the front cover of a magazine. And it just meant the world to me. And to you know, that whole feeling of being seen. And I don't think I'd appreciated that I hadn't felt seen before, but I knew that I had to knit that
jumper. And I have a really dear friend who I met through Instagram who lives in Bristol who dyes yarn, Tracy of Somerset Yarns and she does beautiful yarn. And so I used her mohair for the jumper. So the whole things. My mum tried the jumper on as well. And she looked so good in it that I had to give it to her. So I knit myself a second one and exactly the same.
Okay, so you have got that is yours. You haven't had to borrow it back to wear it?
Yeah, I saw this mine. And yeah, so I mean, talk about meaningful. Yeah, I, you know, when I put it on, also, it's perfect for wearing in bed because it's so light. But it's still warm enough to give me some warmth. So, yeah, it suits lots of purposes.
It sounds like a big part of the knitting is you kind of showing and using your kind of values in life through the yarns that you buy, the pattern designers you support. Yeah, that's a big part of what gives it meaning for you.
Yeah, for me, I do recognise that I that, that not everybody will knit in the same way as me and that's brilliant. You know, if your knitting that was great in my book, but it just for me, it means you know, if there is meaning the extra meaning then I love it even more. Yeah.
Yeah. And in terms of how it feels, it sounds also you you kind of have that connection while you're knitting the project. Then you can retain the connection with the garment afterwards, and that you still get memories and reactivate those values when you put the that jumper on.
Yeah. And I have them all stacked up on shelves on my landing outside my bedroom. So I can see them all really clearly when I leave my bedroom, and so it fills me up every time I leave the room, I can see them all. And I think when I first got signed off sick, I did have a couple of I've had, I've had therapy several times in my life, but I
had a couple of therapy sessions on the phone. Soon after I was diagnosed with having ME and I remember the lady saying to me, if you can do one thing in a day, that gives you a sense of accomplishment. And if you can try and connect with a friend once a week, then you'll be you know, you should be okay type of thing. Yeah. And I, I've hung on to that. And you know, even if I'm only well enough to knit a couple of stitches or a row, then I can I can look at it and say I did that. And that's my
sense of accomplishment ticked off for the day. Yeah. And I'm interacting frequently with friends on Instagram. And that is connection enough genuinely for me. So it really has given me all I need. Yeah.
And that's, I guess one of the things when I'm using knitting therapeutically, the thing you mentioned first about doing something that gives you pleasure or a sense of achievement. And I think knitting is really good for that in that you can do with teeny tiny amount and still have made progress towards a thing or you know, a project
And its tangilbe. Yeah, yeah. And, again, you know, for most of my adult life until now, I'm 45 now, and I stopped working when I was 40. So until I was 40, I hadn't ever done anything that was really tangible, because I was selling concepts or management programmes or oh, you know, one thing or another, there wasn't something I could hold in my hands and say, Look, this is what I did or what I made. So it's a real delight for me at this age to discover it.
And is it art for you?
Yeah, no, it kind of is. I watched, I watched my son who I believe he is, you know, he just can't stop doing art in one form or another. It just pours out of him. And I've never, I've never watched someone who is so natural at wanting to do art. And so I look at him doing it. And I think well, that's real art. Whereas knitting, I'm just following a pattern. But having said that, I do look at my shawls all hanging up. And I just appreciate the beauty of them. And I can feel
good that I made them. Yeah,
I guess you're choosing your materials and your colours. And so I don't know what the official definition of art is, but you're also sounds like for you, particularly giving meaning. And yeah, showing your values through your work. Yeah, that's, I guess, part of an artistic process, I would imagine.
Yeah, I can't remember. I can't remember somebody saying, you know, if you can hang it on your wall and appreciate it, then it's art and really, I don't wear my shawls, because they're so less comfortable for me to wear. My neck gets so hot, but I do hang them on the wall and look at them and appreciate them. So yeah, I'll take that.
I wondered about the materials actually, about whether there was anything I don't know therapeutic or different about different materials about the you know, like you said about it being tangible holding in your hand. Yeah, feels whether you've got certain, I don't know, days where you want a certain type of thing in your hands. Like,
yeah, I would say so. Yeah. I am. I've been knitting with sort of fingering weight mostly super Superwash Merino, and I have a really big stash of yarn. That is that Superwash Merino fingering weight yarn, and I love knitting with that. It's very soft for my I got more sensitive skin now than I used to. Having said that, I met a designer and yarn Dyer called Marina Skua, who is on Instagram as well. And she sources her yarn from local farms. And I bought some of her
yarn and knit a jumper called the Boskular in the spring. And I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed knitting with non superwash yarn well with her yarn especially yeah It was so springy, and again, that whole kind of being present in every stitch. Even though I was knitting in the round for a lot of it. Every stitch I enjoyed, and I thought, wow, that I can see why people love non superwash yarn now It didn't feel itchy. It felt so springy. And because I've met her, and I
think she's a cool person. And I love her designs, it was her design as well. Okay. Again, that was, you know, lots of meaning and the fact that was, you know, local to her and local to me because she lives locally. So I was picturing these sheep that are not very far away from here. So yeah, definitely. But generally speaking, I am drawn to the colour of the yarn or the
artistry in the hand dyeing first. But if it's by a person who I either think is not promoted enough, or who I really love, for whatever reason, then I will really enjoy knitting with their yarn. Yeah,
yeah. i You've shared a few significant projects. And obviously, I can could see lots behind you. And, and we met Bernard, but I wonder if you would tell us about a particularly significant knitting project for you. Hmm,
well, I, I would say that the Sussurus pullover by Joji and the Swoon sweater by Susan Lin have the greatest meaning to me that I've mentioned. But another one that is definitely high up on my list of significant projects is my mum and I went to Edinburgh yarn Festival in 2018, and then 2019. And in 2018, I went with the intention of buying yarn to make a Telja sweater by Jennifer Steingass. And we ended up at the mYak booth and bought yarn from mYak to make this jumper
and is quite an investment. But I'd read the story again of mYak and how mYak was born and was amazed by the project in the Himalayas that had created this yarn. So I got the yarn. And before I went back to Edinburgh yarn Festival, the next year, I met the jumper and then had a photo with Paola, who runs my AK wearing my jumper, so that was just Yeah, super significant,
super special. And again, as I was knitting it, and as I wear it, I was thinking of the project in the Himalayas and what mYak have done to try and get more income back into that community. And so yeah, that's another good significant one for me. A knitting disaster, which turned into a success, yet, again, is quite significant. I was entered into a yarn giveaway by a podcaster called Shannon, who does the Whiskey and Wool
podcast and I love her podcast, she is in New Jersey. And she I learned a lot about colour and design from her because she's been in that industry for many years. So she entered me into this giveaway. And we won and we each won a sweaters quantity of yarn from Garnstories. So the yarn arrived, I decided what I was going to knit with it, which was the Igawa sweater by Junko
Okamoto. And I think I it's a fingering weight jumper and I knit about a half of it and then ripped it back because I wasn't happy with the shape or something, knit three quarters of it and ripped it all the way back because I wasn't happy with a colour pooling and then knit it again. And now I love it, but
You knit the same pattern?
Yeah, so it was weeks and weeks of knitting. And I can remember my little brother just being absolutely amazed that I'd somehow learnt so much patience because the Ros that he knew of old would never have done that. I used to be go karting skydiving, scuba diving, Formula One, etc, etc. adrenaline junkie, absolutely. He just couldn't compute that. I would do that. It's I think it's a good thing.
Do you think that transfers outside of knitting that you've that patience? or Yeah,
interesting. To some extent, I still would say, I mean, I've had to learn patience through being ill. And knitting has helped me to learn that I think I'm an extraordinarily patient mother. If I do say so myself
Well that's a big achievement
Well, I learned from my mum who had four I don't know how she did it, I only have one. But yeah, I noticed myself, because being more patient with him when I could become more impatient. And just the reward that that brings, but I Yeah, it's a tricky one. There's a lot of the old me that is still there. And I'm still pretty sassy. And I still drive my husband mad with, you know, one thing or another, as I would have done when I was completely well,
but I guess theres a lot you have to tolerate in terms of the limitations of what you can manage because of your illness. Yeah, I guess. I can't actually, yeah, it's I'm sure it's being used up in droves in that sense.
Exactly. Like, it's a surprise every day when I try and walk. And I can't walk as I thought I was going to walk, it's still a surprise every day. And so yeah, you have to limit yourself, but I think I've just learnt to sort of change my milestones, I guess. And it has taught me to be really grateful for the smaller or all the more important things that I would have just taken for granted. before. Yeah. So think there's an awful lot that I am grateful for, that I would not have
discovered had I not had to slow down completely. Yeah.
And I think that you have mentioned so many things already. But I wanted to end with this question. Which feel free to mention something you've already said, but what's the greatest gift that knitting has given you for the rest of your life, I suppose.
Um I think the biggest gift is that it's the community. And the the understanding that it's given me of how important community is how flawed community can be, but how even from bed, I can take an active part in, in that community. And I gained so much from it. And I feel like I do my best to give back to it. I think patience, as we've said, already, is a big gift, especially for me. But also, I think, especially it's that forcing yourself to be present.
And that is a huge gift. Because so much of life is so fast. So being able to just focus on each stitch isagreat lesson in general for for life. And, you know, I notice myself being more present in the rest of my life. Thanks to knitting, I would say
yeah. So it's a lot, a lot of gifts really
I mean, it is a lot. And I think if I hadn't been signed off sick, maybe it wouldn't be as much but because I don't go out now. And you know, it is it is pretty much everything. So
yeah, but I'm guessing there are actually a lot of knitters in the knitting community who feel like it has had a really significant role in there. Because I guess a lot of people may be attracted to it because of finding challenges with other hobbies or other parts of life. And there's something that draws them to it in the first place.
Yeah, I agree. I agree. There's and I think this the the very act of it is soothing. And so yeah, I think when you meet other knitters, you've got that whole sense of you know, We know something the rest of the world doesn't. This is actually really cool and I guess
that's part of the podcast is trying to let other people in on the secret really Yeah. knitters, you see, you know, knitting pins about, you know, I knit because punching people is frowned upon or things that allude to there's something therapeutic about it, I suppose, in a roundabout way. Well, that was my reading of those kinds of statments
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And it's something that is, you know, I think a lot of people are either I remember when I was working, and, you know, a lot of people work a lot of hours, your whole identity is tied up with what you're what you're doing your job. And when you become a parent, if you become a parent, your whole identity is suddenly swallowed up with, I'm a parent. And knitting gives you an outlet that is neither of those things. So there's just for your own
joy. And I think that's really important. You know, so I don't think of myself as a sick person. I don't really think of myself as a knitter, either. I, you know, I'm a person who has a passion. And you know, I've been very lucky in a lot of areas of my life, but I love the fact that it gives people something other than just their career, or, you know, just the fact of being a parent, which are great things, but they, you know, it's nice that they're not the be all and end all, I think,
yeah. And to have a way of, I think, yeah, the expression of creativity.
Definitely. Yeah.
Yeah. Well Ros thank you so much for talking to me. And I'm sure there'll be
such a pleasure.
people who would love to see your beautiful creations and all your colourful shows online. Can you just tell me how they can find you online on Instagram?
Cool. Yeah, absolutely. So I'm on Instagram as Rosemonde. Which is what I used to get called when I went to school in Montreal in Canada. So that's why
so that's a Rosemonde with the second o, is a zero?
Yeah. I am not on Ravelry. But I have an account that is still there that has old projects on there, which is again Rosemonde. But the first zero first Oh is a zero.
Just to keep us on our toes.
I don't know why I did that. I don't know why I did that. But there we are. But Instagram is really where I And
yeah. Okay, super. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for listening to the why I knit podcast. If you'd like to hear more about how I'm using knitting for therapeutic benefits. Please follow me on Instagram at knitting is therapeutic or on my website which is therapeutic knitting. If you or anyone you know would be a great guest on the podcast then please get in touch.