Knitting for Comfort and Solace

Something bad happened to a good friend of mine this week.
He is hurting, and I am hurting for him.

Our knitting can be a great comfort to us when we are troubled.
I needed the help of knitting this week and, as usual, it came through for me.

I decided to work on something soft that was not too difficult. My mind and heart were troubled enough without taxing either one with something too complicated.

I chose my twisted rib scarf pattern made from Sylph yarn that I got from Art Fibers. It is part 76% silk, 19% kid mohair and 5% wool. Very soft.

Here is a picture from the Art Fibers site. This shows the yarn -- not the pattern. It is just about this color, too.



There is something in knitting that helps us get through difficult times.
Maybe it is the repetition of the stitches, caressing the soft fiber, or looking at the pretty color.
Or perhaps it is the fact that we have some control what is happening beneath our fingers when the world seems to be spinning out of control.
Whatever it is, something in the process is healing.

Another wonderful thing about knitting is that if you make a bad mistake, you get a do-over. This is not always so in life.

My friend is beating himself up for not reacting faster when his home burned down so that he could have saved his beloved two cats. No matter what we say to him, he is in anguish, and he cannot go back and redo it.

Most of the time knitting lets us fix even our bad mistakes. We can TINK (knit backwards) or FROG (rip it, rip it). Knitting gives us solace because we know that at least we can go back and redo that part of our life if we want to.

I am going to knit my friend something warm and cozy for when he gets his new home. I know I will find some peace as I work on this.
I hope and pray that it will give the same kind of comfort and solace to him.





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