During regular times OR stressful times, nothing is as important as self-care—if you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be able to keep going to help other people. Even if you can only spare only a few minutes a day, it’s enough to recharge your batteries to handle what life throws at you! We’ve gathered together what the WeCrochet staff have been doing to practice self-care over the past few weeks.
Kerry, Outreach Coordinator:
Baking, books, and bold color … for me, self care is about distraction. It’s the opportunity to escape overthinking that I find soothing and restorative. I feel comforted when trying a new recipe. I love getting lost in the pages of a good story. And I truly can’t get enough of brightly colored yarns when I’m stressed. There’s just something about finding the perfect combination of shades and tones and making them work together that makes my jaw unclench, my shoulders come down from me ears, and my heart beat normally.
Sara, Brand Director:
I haven’t been doing the greatest job with self-care lately, so the focus on self-care this month is coming at the most perfect time! Eating healthy, exercising, checking in with my loved-ones, and making sure I get plenty of crochet time helps me feel better physically, mentally, and emotionally. I love working on projects where I can experiment and feel creative. I especially love working with lace (a lot of Curio crochet thread) and tapestry crochet (a lot of colors in Palette). I’m using this time to write down the patterns for some of my favorite projects. It’s helping me feel caught up AND helping me feel creative!
Producer Sarah, Digital Content Creator:
When home, every day I try something new. Whether that is a new stitch or mastering a stitch with my eyes closed, I like discovering new techniques and skills. My personal tip for self-care is practicing patience. What feels good to me is learning so I make sure to do a little of that each day. That means I have a lot of WIPs and hobbies which might seem counterproductive. I make sure to be kind to the process and let my learning and curiosity take me where it takes me. Currently my go-to knitting and crochet project is the 7×9 block for Warm Up America. I’ve been playing with different yarns, needles, hooks and stitches to reach the desired size.
Heather, Marketing Coordinator:
Lately I’ve been “doodling” in crochet, which means improvising projects using whatever yarn and stitches I want, without an end goal in mind. Calling it a “doodle” helps my brain disengage from the expectation that I’m going to have a perfect final product, and allows me to have fun with yarn, wherever it takes me. Sometimes my doodles turn into finished projects, and sometimes they don’t, but this method of crochet definitely helps me tap into the “play” side of my brain, which allows me to relax and unwind.
Check out WeCrochet Podcast Episode 9, “Enter the Unicorn-Verse,” to hear more about crochet doodling.
How our Crochet Community is practicing self-care:
We hit Instagram to see how you are doing self-care. Here are a few ideas from our crochet community, from the #TogetherWeCrochet hashtag:
Take a silly challenge: Take the #SwimmingInYarn challenge to cheer yourself up! Post a photo of yourself swimming in yarn on social media!
Bust your stash: Dive into your stash to make a dent in your yarn collection! Nicole Chase is making the Rainbow Garden Throw, which is a great pattern for using up scrap yarn.
Join a crochet along: Looking for a distraction? Join our Bobble Diamonds Throw CAL, like @alvaliente2!
Start a big project: Take this time to bite off a bigger project, whether it’s a pretty bag like this one, the Malia Shoulder bag, an afghan, or just a project you’ve been thinking about. Time to jump in!
Share a pattern: Even if you’ve never done it before, now is a great time to share your patterns. If you’re so inclined, write down instructions for your favorite project and share with the community.
Noorain over at Noor’s Knits has these self-care ideas:
- Take a social media break
- Color
- Physical boundaries – find a place to be alone for a few minutes
- Dress Up
- Put on your favorite TV show and crochet!
What are some of your favorite ways of practicing self-care? Let us know in the comments or on social media with the hashtags #StitchAwayStress and #TogetherWeCrochet. And join the community at the Facebook group WeCrochet Family.
