Okay maybe I am just a little bit biased, but knitters and crocheters are awesome people. As in some of the nicest, smartest people you will ever meet kind of awesome. For a decade now we have all heard the phrase knitting is the new yoga/therapy/zen. Today I am going to give you 5 solid reasons why I find this to be true and why I will always knit/crochet/spin until you have to pry my needles out of my cold dead hands.

Working both sides of your brain. Whether you are working a complex cable chart or freeform crochet, there is a significant amount of both right brain and left brain work involved in every king of knitting and crocheting project. Algebra math to get a good fit is no joke. Working with color and texture for a desired aesthetic is my favorite kind of creative. To me knitters and crocheters are truly renaissance thinkers.

Patience is a knitter’s virtue. You absolutely have to be patient to knit. There is no way around it. You are literally touching every inch of your yarn to form a garment. Even if you are a fast knitter, this is not a short cut to whatever it is you want to make. The is especially true for anyone who has knitted anything by fussy British designers.

Bravely trying new ideas risk free. One of the biggest fears of using any new art supply is the fear of messing up and throwing good money down the drain over a bad creative decision. Ask any quilter, and you will find horror stories of how one misjudged cut will ruin yards of fabric. Every week I thank my luck stars that yarn can be unraveled and repurposed. Having that safety net of knowing you can reclaim yarn from knitting gone awry makes me a whole lot braver about trying new things. Sure I can get whiny about losing an afternoon of knitting to a bad knitting idea, but as my professional knitting friend Marilyn says, that just means I get to spend more time doing something I absolutely love.

Getting in touch with your personal style. I love rainbow colored yarn…so pretty, like unicorns and magic. But when it comes to a sweater, I think rainbow yarn would make me look like a clown vomited on me. In the end you have to want to wear what you make, so getting clear about what you love to wear and investing knitting time in something you will love to wear is more important that you may think.

It is a community like no other craft community. A couple of years ago, on my trip to Taos, there was a misunderstanding about my Air BnB room and there were a couple of ladies in my casita. It was tense as we were hashing out a solution. That is until I asked “Hey are you here for the fiber fair?” all of a sudden tensions melted and there was a secret understanding and camaraderie that I know you guys are so familiar with. When I worked at the craft book company, we all saw how the knitters and crocheters had a close knit (pun intended) community that was unlike any other discipline in our lineup. I have watched knitters around the globe as a community challenge each other to be better knitters and designers by sharing inspirations, tips and encouragement.  I can honestly say if it we not for the knitting community as a whole, I would not be the knitter I am today.

So my question for you, why do you nit? What is it about knitting that makes you a better person? Leave me some comment love below, shoot me an email, or head over to the FB page and leave a comment there. And while you are at it, join the UrbanGypZ Fiberart Collective, it is free and FULL of amazing inspiration for so many creative fiber peeps.