Knitting, it’s safe to say, is a pretty significant part of my writing procedure on any given day. I’ve heard that it causes the same sort of alpha waves as transcendental meditation, but I can’t respond to that. I do know that after 30 minutes to an hour with the relaxing tik-tik-tik of the needles, I am much better able to focus on my writing that day.
Obviously, I can’t recommend it to everyone – I’ve seen other people for whom the miracle of two-stick magic is an exercise in profanity and frustration. For me, it’s a mental time-out that helps break up my day between the writing I have to do for my day job, and the writing I do in the evenings.
Beyond just serving as a transition, the time I spend knitting helps me hone in and focus on what I have to write each evening. While I’m plugging away on a row, working through the iterations of pattern that are required, my sub-conscious strips down and digests what I have to do next in the story, or helps winnow out unusual problems that the plot had been having, and devising creative solutions for them.
Strange, I suppose, that I haven’t included a knitter in any of my stories so far. Then again, despite the write what you know adage, I’ve only ever included one writer in my stories as well. Maybe my next hero or heroine needs a little needle-based me-time.
Tags: knitting, my methods, writing
