Stitch Away Stress - special blog post issue

Hi everyone,

This blog post is a special

Stitch Away Stress Issue

I am a great believer in how therapeutic crafting can be & I'll tell you why.

In the Tsunami of 2004, I was on honeymoon in Phuket & got caught up in all the panic, shock & of course - Sea in Tsunami mode.

To cut a  long story short, something hit my ankle when I was knee deep in sea water.  I will never know what the item was, but I now have a neuroma on my nerve as it damaged my nerve just above my right ankle.

On coming home, various tests were done, but it took 3 years until I had my first operation.  They cut the damaged nerve and buried the ending into my bone.  This operation lasted 6 years.

Unfortunately it "popped out" so I had to have another op in 2013.  This time they buried the damaged nerver into my muscle.  This op lasted 6 months & I am now on the waiting list for a third time lucky op this summer.

The moral of this story is that distraction can help with pain and stress.

At a recent pain clinic I learnt what I already knew.  Distractions can focus your mind on something other than your pain or stress.

I am on more tablets a day than I care to take, but I have the "If I do nothing I am in pain, if I do something I am in pain" attitude, so I do as much as I can without being silly & getting to the exrutiating pain stage.

Needless to say my Crochet helps me a lot.

So crafting is not only a distraction - it's creative too!

More at the end of the post so carry on reading.

Just look at what one of my classes made the other week.....

It was a simply lesson in pattern reading & increasing / decreasing.

However they all went home with a lovely heart

The results from my sock workshop at Sparrow UK speak for themselves

One pupil chose to make a plain top on a mono colour pair

And another added a scalloped edge to her pink & blue socks

The sizes range from UK 2 to UK 6 !

This is a photo of my Crochet on the Go.  I was a passenger in my husbands car on a long journey, so I took my Hexagon a day blanket alont with me & worked around 10 hexi's

My lovely owly pupil AR has gone Teddy Mad.  Remember my last blog post where one class made teddies together?  Well AR has made a few more.

So Cute and Adorable

The photo's here are not very good, so apologies in advance and my thanks to hubby for holding this up for the photo session!

I have made my Great Nephew to be an Elephant Mobile

Its from a pattern by Robyn Chachula

So Cute

And now for the good bit!

When Life give you Lemons......

Please click on the picture to be taken to the Craft Council website

It has both a crochet & knitting pattern for these FAB stress busting lemons.

A Few Fun Facts 

·  85% of 3,100+ people recently surveyed by CYC reported reduced stress from knitting    

   and crochet

·  90% of 4,000+ people recently surveyed by Wool and the Gang reported decreased 

   anxiety from knitting

·  Needlecrafting is recognized by major news outlets like Yahoo! as an effective alternative

   therapy to prescription drugs

http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/

How these crafts can improve your mood, mind and body

http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/health

Hope you have a stress free week!

Happy Hooking x