"Stitching Up" Your Mind
Updated: Apr 23
For a young Shefali Khullar, fiber crafts like knitting and crochet were hobbies she associated with her late grandma, who always had yarn lying around her house while Khullar was growing up. Now, as a busy Oakland University (OU) sophomore majoring in social work, crochet has become an integral part of Khullar’s self care, even prompting her to create the all-new Crochet Club on campus.
“When I get really overwhelmed or really anxious, it's just a thing I can do when I take a break,” Khullar, whose favorite things to crochet are plushies, said. “I can just be like, ‘okay, I can do this fun thing, no pressure.’”
There’s merit to the idea that fiber crafts are beneficial to the mind. According to nurse Betty Houtman from the Anxiety Resource Center, the repetitiveness of hand movements during the act of crocheting releases more serotonin, which improves mood and increases one’s sense of calmness, allowing the mind to focus on something else.
“New neuropathways can be created and strengthened by learning new skills and movements,” Houtman explained. “As they become stronger with use, we ‘change our minds’ to become quieter and more relaxed.”
For Raquel Pena-Aguilera, also a social work major at OU, crochet speaks to what she has been learning in her degree.
“In social work, we talk a lot about burnout, and self-care as social workers,” Pena-Aguilera said. “I think crochet is a really good thing that can help kind of focus, leave the outside world.”
In another study done by a group of Italian researchers, crochet was found to increase attention. For Khullar who has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), crochet has been a game changer.
“Obviously with my ADHD, [crochet] is something to just get dopamine from without scrolling on Instagram for hours and hours,” said Khullar.
Khullar also mentioned that a lot of people with ADHD give up on things if they aren’t good at it right away, but crochet has shown her just the opposite.
“One thing that changed [for me] is that crochet made the threshold for learning things easier, I can be like ‘I learned this, I learned crocheting, I can learn other things,’” said Khullar. “I'm less hesitant to just try something new and do it.”
For OU nursing major Danni Vagts, crochet has forced her to be more attentive in order to count stitches, essentially creating the perfect headspace for self care.
“I feel like crocheting kind of forces me to build in time for myself, time for self-care, because that's something that I want to do,” Vagts said. “Especially if I'm working on a project, I'm always like, ‘okay, no, I need to build in time in my day to work on that.’”
In addition to being relaxing and brain-strengthening, making something with your own two hands brings with it a special kind of pride. In a survey with more than 8,000 respondents, over 75% said they crochet for the sense of accomplishment it brings them, with over 74% saying that crochet made them feel more useful.
“I feel like being able to make stuff, like my own clothes and give gifts, it makes me kind of appreciate a lot more,” Pena-Aguilera said. “It’s a sense of fulfillment.”
Another benefit to fiber crafts? Despite it being a solitary activity, it doesn’t have to be, as crochet has served as common ground to connect with others.
“There's community in it, obviously, we’ve got a club,” Vagts said. “I've met a lot of people who crochet or knit, and we're able to just meet and do those things together.”
Though the club just started, it has been a hit so far, according to their founder.
“I thought I would have to facilitate a lot more, but a bunch of nice people came and just hung out and crocheted together,” Khullar said. “I hope I can make a lot of friends with this because I'm not great at making friends otherwise, and I hope it does become a community for people.”
Comments