1. Knitting and crochet are low cost hobbies – all you need to get started is your yarn, hook or needles.
2. Your project is fully portable. It’s lightweight and requires no electricity so you can do it anywhere….in the pub, on the train, down the beach.
3. Knitting and crochet can give you an amazing sense of achievement and satisfaction to make you feel GOOD!
4. The craft stimulates both sides of your brain: left – technical, right – creative. Designing your own pattern or adapting an old one can be a real Maths challenge!
5. The rhythmical, repetitive movements have a calming effect on your mind. It can help bring a sense of order to your world when all around you is manic! You can to find out more about the amazing health benefits by checking out Betsan’s research on the Stitchlinks website.
6. Knitting and crochet keeps your hands busy and can help break habits like smoking or over-eating.
7. You can wear, look at, use or give away your creation as a gift – it will be one of a kind and completely unique…embrace your dropped stitches!
8. Knitting and crochet is a craft that reaches across generations, cultures and genders. It can be a great vehicle for social contact – I’m always amazing how many tips and tricks you can pick up from someone.
9. Learning the craft develops key life skills such as patience, perseverance and the knowledge that goals can be reached and mistakes can be undone.
10. It’s a great way to leave your ‘mark on the world’ – by helping someone to learn a skill is shared, by making something special a traditional heirloom gift will be created and treasured for all time.
thestitchsharer 
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Yes I find that knitting helps me relax to, love it with a brew watching tv..cant think of a better way to relax!
Love this list and agree with all of the points! They are such great crafts! ❤
This is a great list and I found myself nodding at all of them! I learned to crochet because I was off work ill and was bored silly. I was on really strong pain killers and couldn’t concentrate on the small stitches of cross-stitch and I’ve never had much patience for knitting so in an afternoon of desperation I asked my Mum to show me how to crochet. She only knows the basics but thanks to her and some very good tutorial videos on YouTube I’ve taken to it like a duck to water and am designing my own stuff now. I absolutely LOVE it and it has been a constant activity for me for the past two years or so. It has been on holiday with me in our caravan, in hospital with me, in my sick bed at home, out in the garden on sunny days and even with me in the car on the way to visit my Gran where I was finishing off the border to her lap blanket whilst beetling down the M6! I have got involved with some of the old ladies from church who do handicrafts too and we quite often have a sit and a chat over our projects which is as you say, a great way to cross that generational gap. It has literally been a lifesaver for me because it has got me through some extremely dark times when depression was threatening to take me over the edge. That sense of achievement, even with a single granny square, is tremendous.
Happy stitching my friend!!
I hope you are feeling better now – it’s amazing how a few crochet and knitting stitches can help us get you through difficult times in your life. When life starts to spiral I find it helps to give me a little bit of structure and ‘me’ time back.