Aesthetics, Spirituality, Health

The other day I made my brother a hat, that in my opinion was really, really ugly.  The colours didn't go together well, and the textures of the different yarns didn't mix well, but he liked it.  My preference is to just have one colour when making a hat, but if you must have two, they should match well.  The pattern was plain and simple, and I find a more complex pattern to be more desirable and aesthetically pleasing.

When it comes to knitting, a general rule is that the finished item must fit to the pattern to be aesthetically pleasing.  I know that my brother didn't care what type of hat I made him, it was the fact that I had made him a hat that was important.  For some people, it is important to make a gift that will fit the aesthetic preferences of the person they are giving it to.  When I make a hat for my mum, I'll make a fancier pattern in a colour she likes.

Knitting seems more appropriate from an aesthetic viewpoint in a cooler climate.  There is something really strange about someone wearing a warm jumper on a hot day.  It just looks wrong.

Knitting has a link to my relationship with my family and ancestors. I connect with my past and my sense of being a woman when I knit. Since I perceive knitting as a very womanly task, something that I could do for my family in the present and in the future. I think of all those woman who have knitted for various reasons in the past. I feel connected to my culture and ancestors. Knitting is a part of the history and culture of New Zealand and celebrates our Anglo-celtic heritage (Nicholson, 1998). Since I have a large helping of Anglo-Celtic heritage I like to think of all of those women up my family tree who have knitted and wonder what it meant to them. I am carrying on a tradition of our family and I hope to be able to pass it on down the family tree.

Knitted clothes are normally made of natural wool, which keeps you very warm. This is good for your health! 

Nicholson, H. (1998). The loving stitch: A history of knitting and spinning in New Zealand. Auckland, NZ: Auckland University Press. 

Affordances

Every activity that we do has the potential to lead on to other activities. For example if I am knitting a hat and run out of wool I may then go shopping. Or if I was knitting a hat and someone came past and asked me what I was knitting the activity of knitting and I chatted to them. In both these examples the knitting has preceded and allowed for the following activity, shopping and chatting respectively. This is my understanding of the term affordance

There are three parts to affordance; communication properties, action properties and moral properties.

Communication properties: This refers to the ability of the activity to lend itself to communication. Communication is an important part of being human. It allows us to connect with others and express ourselves. I'll tell you about the communication to do with knitting:

In order to center myself I'll start with a particular instance. Last Friday I brought my knitting into polytech to do while listening to lectures. The obvious way that my knitting aided communication in this setting was through people asking me what I was knitting. It also helped me to concentrate on what I was hearing. Other times when I knit I knit with friends and we discuss our knitting. Or we might have conversations about anything else, just knitting helps to facilitate the conversation. I sometimes ask other people for patterns and that is a good way of beginning a communication. When I make something for someone else I am communication my love and affection for that person. Such as making a hat for Mum or booties for my niece. Sometimes when I knit, I can afterward look at something I've knitted and remember what I was thinking about and what was happening around me at the time of knitting. This communicates my memories to myself.

 Carmen Sylvia, the queen of Romania (as cited in Nicholson, 1998)  said
 "We get into a kind of fever with doing nothing. A very wise country clergyman allowed the women to knit during his sermons; never had a preacher more attentive listeners: not one of them dropped of to sleep as overworked  women are apt to do when they for once sit down. They grow drowsy and can't keep their eyes open. Allow them to knit and they will be able to tell you almost every word they have heard."

This is exactly what I mean. Knitting assists in the retention of information and helps the listener focus their mind. It certainly helps me not to get distracted. 

Action properties: This refers to other activities or actions that the task enables or encourages.
This is also the story of the activity, so beginning (what happened before), middle (the activity) and end (what  happens afterward). 

Here is one story: I planned to knit with my friend on Sunday so I made sure that when I left home I had everything that I needed. I had already bought the wool and arranged with my friend to provide the pattern and the needles. Before we could start knitting my friend had to wind up her wool. this got knotted so we did a bit of knot untying. Then we selected the needles and pattern and got underway. The family was watching a movie so once I got the hang of my knitting I was able to watch that too.

Moral properties: This is the right or wrong way of doing something as the person doing it sees it.

Following the pattern is one thing that is important to me. If I drop a stitch or miss something out then either un-knit back till I can redo it or un-pull the entire thing and start again. I don't think knitting is of as good a quality when you use acrylic yarn instead of wool.people use different techniques to knit. I was taught to cast on in a completely different way than my friend and each of us does it our own way and would find it strange to do it any other way. I also used to know a lady who held her needles in a weird way. Even watching her my Mum and I couldn't figure out how she was actually knitting with her needles going in those directions.   


Reference:
Nicholson, H. (1998). The loving stitch: A history of knitting and spinning in New Zealand. Auckland, NZ: Auckland University Press.

Yay! Getting started!

So I have finally bought some wool and found a pattern online. I'm knitting a hat for my mother. This will be the second hat I have knitted for her. Here is the story behind mummy's hats:

My mother rang me one day and we were discussing the hat that I was knitting for myself. She told me that the hat she had been wearing for the last 22 years was finally giving up the ghost, and could I knit her a new one. So I duly knitted her a dark blue mohair hat and sent it off to her. Meanwhile she had managed to use elastic and fix her old one satisfactorily so now she had two hats. My mother has a small cleaning job once a week for an elderly gentleman. One day she was cleaning and the weather was warming up so she removed her hat (the 22yr old one) and put it with her things. She left in quite a hurry that day as she needed to get to university for a class. When she got there she searched for her hat but it was nowhere to be found. Realising that she must have left it at work she thought "I'll get it next week" (conveniently she had another hat that someone had kindly knitted for her :) ). The following week on arriving at work she asked "Did I leave my hat here last week?" This was at first met by a blank stare then a sheepish look "I'm sorry. But I may be guilty of a grave indiscretion. Was that your hat? I saw an old raggy hat on my driveway and got annoyed that someone had thrown their rubbish into my yard so picked it up and I threw it in the rubbish!". Needless to say this was followed by a very amusing telephone call and a request for a second hat.

So the hat I'm knitting now is that hat. It will be red and here is the pattern I'm using.

Ergonomics

Ergonomics is important to ensure that the task and environment fit the person. Throughusing ergonomics the activity can be altered as necessary to suit the client and be appropriate for the environment. Therapists need to  "constantly make slight invisible adjustments to an activity to adapt to the needs of those taking part and ensure that it continues to work for it's intended purpose" (Caulton & Dickson, 2007).

So in class we looked at the three parts of ergonomics; person, activity and environment. Here is a summary of my knitting under the three headings.

Person

• I am a young knitter.
• Knitting is a preferred activity for me.
• I have a certain level of competence but am still learning new skills.
• I am able to knit while doing other things, eg. chatting or watching TV.
• I need enough personal space to spread out wool and move knitting needles.
• I have not got a large budget for knitting.
• I find knitting relaxing.               

Activity

• Knitting has an internal rhythm caused by counting eg. knit one...purl one......
• Knitting has an external rhythm eg. clicking needles and repetitive movements. 
• Patterns guide the process.
• Different levels of engagement are required for different difficulties of pattern.
• Wool, yarn needles and patterns all cost money which is a restriction.

Environment

• To knit the social environment needs to be appropriate and supportive.
• Knitting is culturally appropriate for me as my mother, sisters, grandmothers and some friends knit.  
• The environment must be free from too much distraction eg. deep conversations or really engaging TV.
• The environment can encourage knitting eg. knitting with friends, knitting in winter.

Those are a basic outline of my ergonomics, if I think of anything else I'll add it in.


        

Reference:

Caulton, R & Dickson, R. (2007). What's going on? Finding an explanation for what we do. In J. Creek & A. Lawson-Porter (Eds.) Contemporary issues in occupational therapy. Chichester: John-Wiley & Sons Ltd

All About Knitting!

What is knitting like?

This is a hard question. At the most basic and practical level knitting is a process of using two sticks to twist yarn into a predetermined design. Sounds straightforward. But, when you get into it, knitting is not that simple. First there are many different ways to hold the needles. Then different ways to cast on. There are two main stitch types purl and knit and these are put together to create different patterns. Sometimes you knit into the front of the stitch and sometimes into the back. putting the wool around the needle, slipping a stitch across, knitting two or more stitches together or making new stitches all contribute to making interesting and novel patterns. Knitting can be for practical purposes, like knitting a jersey for warmth or for purely artistic reasons like knitting a pretty jersey for a show or competition.  

What does it mean to me?

Well..........I love knitting mainly because it keeps my hands busy while I'm doing other things like watching TV or talking to my friends. It is relaxing for me.  I also like the challenge of trying a new pattern and the sense of achievement that comes from the finished product. I enjoy being creative with colours and textures. Making things for other people is fun and I frequently give things that I've made away.

How can knitting be used in OT practice?

Knitting can be used as a therapeutic tool. People can have a chat while knitting and it gives them something to discuss. Having made something can give clients a sense of achievement. If clients find knitting meaningful to them it can be very useful to encourage increased engagement in meaningful occupation.

Practical Considerations

I have definitely got enough time to knit for two hours a week. I am going to start with a hat for my mother. i'm really looking forward to starting it too!