The "More" Child

Can we say obsessed? C. is obsessed.

No, not with the Jonas brothers or whether her eyebrows are the right shape or boys.

C. is obsessed with knitting. But that’s okay. There are worse things to be obsessed with when you’re thirteen.

It all started rather gradually. C. has always been a creative, artistic, crafty kind of kid. A few years ago I showed her how to sew, use a sewing machine, embroider and ultimately how to knit. (My mom taught me these skills too. I was very crafty/artistic at C.’s age…and still am when I have the opportunity.) C. dabbled with them, but for a long time did more beading than anything else.

Then in the past year she rediscovered the fiber arts and took off.

Perhaps it came from a desire to create unique things, perhaps from frustration with being unable to find cool clothes in her size, perhaps from a fascination with vintage clothes…who knows? Anyway, she started visiting the websites ThreadBanger.com and Etsy.com and plugged into the whole hipster/DIY thing. C. tried a few projects, and soon surpassed the basic skill levels required. Knowing of her fascination with the 1940s aesthetic, I pointed her to the Dress a Day blog of TEDster lexicographer Erin McKean. C. bought a vintage dress pattern from one of the advertisers there and threw herself into sewing a dress. (It came out great, btw.) She experimented with machine embroidery, and folding, fusing and sewing plastic shopping bags into purses. She made an intriguing freeform cuff from fabric scraps. She self-designed (no pattern) and sewed a pair of cheesy-retro pattern flannel pajamas…among other things.

In the past few months C. has once again turned her attention to knitting, far surpassing my basic knit-and-purl scarf skills. She’s knitted sweaters. She’s knitted cabled hand-warmers using double-pointed needles, as well as socks. She is spending inordinate amounts of time online looking at knitting websites and blogs, and recently joined an online knitting community. She muses whether she should start this project or that, whether she should buy this yarn or that, and if so, in which color. This afternoon she dyed her own yarn with KoolAid. Where once she took a book everywhere, now she is just as likely to take her knitting.

So what to make of all this? Intuitively I felt that there must be something therapeutically positive going on. For example, I knew that knitting and other handiwork is part of the Waldorf curriculum and an integral part of Waldorf philosophy.

Googling around the Internet I learned more. I came across this UK news article, “Teenagers in Stitches: A new craze for knitting among US teens is having amazing health benefits.” In it Maureen Lasher, a co-author of Teen Knitting Club says, “People are calling it cheap therapy.” Evidently she set out to write a book with simple patterns for teens, but kept hearing stories from them about the curative, de-stressing properties of knitting. I found knitmagic.com, which led me to a selected references that included links like “A Guide for Bringing Knitting and Spinning into Elementary through High School Classrooms” by Cat Bordhi. She (?) writes that:

Knitting develops fine-motor skills, hand-eye coordination, math skills, and what Multiple Intelligences educational researcher Dr. Howard Gardner calls “Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence.” Since both hands hold needles and each hand has its own job, both sides of the brain are engaged and performing an internal rhythmic patterning that underlies the development of language skills, particularly reading, and also math. A classroom community of knitters frequently makes great strides in what Dr. Gardner calls “Interpersonal Intelligence,” as they mentor one another, share conversation while working productively, encourage one another, and enjoy the calming yet challenging task of knitting. In addition, knitting develops key habits that lead to success in academics and in careers: persistence, concentration, and collaboration.

I even turned up references to findings by the Harvard Medical School Mind/Body Institute, that the repetitive actions needed for knitting and crochet can bring the mind and body to a state called a “relaxation response” that is quite similar to what people experience with techniques such as repetitive prayer, yoga, meditation, T’ai Chi, and other relaxation disciplines.

My online “research” was supplemented by a real life encounter. I’m a member of a babysitting cooperative and at a recent meeting the host–a psychologist–was knitting and surrounded by projects in various stages of completion. Conversation naturally turned to…knitting…and its benefits. According to her, everyone in her family–she, husband, two kids–has ADD and is on medication. Knitting, she has found, helps her focus. In fact, at work she dictates her reports into a computer with voice recognition software –while knitting. (Researchers have found nerve endings in the tips of the fingers that connect directly to the area of the brain that regulates attention, she told us.)

As it turns out, C. herself confirmed my hunch in one of her high school application essays. She wrote,

Over the years I have attempted many forms of mediation, and given up just as many. So, I took up crafting. Whether sitting at the machine and listening to the sewing needle click, or sitting on the couch listening to the knitting needles click I feel calmer. The project before me acts as a mantra and I focus on it single-mindedly. I have been known to stay up until one in the morning, sewing shut the final seams. Then there is the feeling of accomplishment that comes from realizing that you have made something that is both beautiful and useful. I feel an extra burst of joy each time I’m done with one of my creations.

“I used to think that knitting without anything to do was boring because all you do is move the needles over and over,” C. wrote in a different essay, “but now I appreciate the time out it gives me.”

I contacted the blogger at www.everywhereknitting.blogspot.com. She’s interested in the phenomenon of knitters who blog (which C. is doing as well) and I posited that many knitters are highly gifted. She wrote me

It seems natural to me that someone who is skilled verbally and considered gifted would take to something like knitting. It’s mathematical and verbal at the same time; it’s solitary and social, too. The curiosity for me is that this very kinetic activity lends itself so well to describing it. Knitters learn a series of symbols and abbreviations very quickly. I think that, unlike many other crafts, you can get your hands moving and “forget” about what you’re doing so your mind is free to think or engage in converstaton or even read.

So there you have it. Tactile. Visually pleasing. Soothing. Intellectually engaging. Communal. Knitting is all these things…and as such a great outlet for a highly gifted child or teen whose “motor” naturally runs fast.