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Friday 7 October 2011

What NEED is French Knitting fulling for me?

I am finding this quite a tough question to answer, as ultimately it is physical relaxation while keeping my mind occupied by the rhythm of knitting. As this feels like a productive way to spend my time.

So relaxation, why do i need to relax...
Many reasons, maybe because i have done too much on my feet through out the day, pushed my body too hard at the gym, had a full day of class and study, have a lot going on personally and emotionally. So i guess all these things get me physically or cognitively/emotionally stressed enough to NEED to relax, in this case by French Knitting.

In a bit more depth..

I have been doing more reflection on my need to for French knitting. I have established that i actually use French knitting as a self-help technique for me to deal with my daily pain. French knitting is relaxing because of the repetitive motion and flow of the activity. Ergonomics of French knitting push me to sit in a relaxed position, often with my feet up to recover. I really enjoyed and related to Jungersen's work about her weaving. Jungersen spoke about how her weaving is like a ‘thread’ that links her to her balance of academic occupational therapy work and her creativity. This therefore, represents the weaving of her professional and personal self. I feel in a similar way. I use French knitting as a pain self-help technique; I feel it is the occupational therapist in me, balancing with my creative personal self.
so ultimately French knitting is my self-help technique to deal with my daily pain through relaxation and creativity.

Creativity i have established is my second need as, I have a need to express my creativity as it holds a very significant sense of self. My creativity has always been something that makes me different to everybody else, very individualistic. Because of this I like to have an art or craft project on the go, which gives me self worth and self-satisfaction with progress and completion.

References:
Jungersen, K. (1994, April). Te Whare Pora (The house of weaving): Reflections on weaving and occupational therapy. Occupation, 2(1), 34-41.

1 comment:

  1. Hey Rachael, I'm doing knitting and finding the need was really hard for me too. There are so many different needs. I agree about having a productive way to spend time. I really enjoyed reading your blog, it would be great to have more stories about your french knitting :)

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