Crafting: Productivity through relaxation

I think at many times in our lives we have all felt like life gets a little on top of us. Our brains have a million tabs open at once that don’t ever seem to close and finding something to do that is both relaxing and enjoyable seems impossible. I get you, read on to find out how crafting can help.

Picture of Zoe from Zo Jo Designs

So hello, people of the internet! I’m Zoe, an 18 year old knitter and crocheter (yep, a teenage knitter, we do exist!) and I also have a chronic illness called M.E. This means my body doesn’t produce enough energy so I spend a lot of time resting in bed and engaging in lots of quiet, brainless activity. However. One fundamental aspects of my personality is the constant need to be productive, to be doing things, ticking things off my to-do list, working towards some kind of achievement. And this, as you can imagine, often clashes with my medical need to rest. And to rest lots. 

The solution – knitting! If you ever come into contact with someone with a chronic illness you’ll find that loads of us turn to some form of crafting as a good activity to sandwich in-between sleeping or resting, and whatever tiny amounts of studying, working, socialising, etc we may or may not be able to do (depending on how ill we are) because it is the perfect definition of a low-energy activity but it can also be rewarding and fun. If you are well practiced in your chosen form of crafting (only if you’re well practiced, if you’re new you do need to concentrate or you might end up sewing something onto your sleeve by mistake), you can pass hours knitting, crocheting or sewing away without really paying much attention to what you’re doing, and a short while later you have the beginnings of a beautiful scarf, jumper or piece of embroidery in your lap, all made by you! Here I am reminded of a day a couple of years ago when I was sitting listening to some music and quietly crocheting a simple chain to tie around a cushion for my wheelchair when I look 

down and realise I had not only finished my work but had actually carried on in my relaxed, mindless state of working to make something far longer than I actually needed. “Oh. That happened,” I say to my Mum who is sitting across from me, we both laugh.

Examples of Zoe’s winter collection

Crafting helps balance this need to relax and be productive by resting your brain and achieving something simultaneously, but of course there are plenty of other benefits that can come from crafting too. Research has shown that it can boost your mental health and self-esteem, improve your focus and hand-eye coordination and even help you sleep better. Not to mention the fantastic people you can meet. The crafting community contains some of the nicest people I know.

Zoe’s handmade knitted hearts

Very recently I decided to take my passion for crafting further and turn a hobby into a little business! Two years ago I started designing my own knitting patterns (the instructions showing you how to knit something for yourself) and in January last year I uploaded my first onto a website called Ravelry (seriously, if you knit or crochet you need to know about Ravelry) and have since uploaded 3 other patterns with more in the works. I then started making crocheted hearts and stringing them up into cute little hanging decorations. When they sold well around the staff at my school, I decided to make more and (after a very long gap while I finished my A-Levels) I launched my Etsy shop last month.  While it took quite a bit of brain power to get my shop up and running, the majority of the making of the actual crochet hearts was relatively mindless and quick, making them the perfect things to sell while battling a chronic illness. I’ve included links to both my Ravelry page, Etsy shop and social media pages at the bottom of this article if you’d like to see the kinds of things I make.

So, if you’re like me and have the unavoidable urge to be busy but also are in desperate need of down time (maybe you even have your own health issues), pick a form of art or craft and try something new! You have nothing to lose and plenty to gain.

Etsy

Ravelry

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