Was there slow, slow? I'm talking about snow knitting not slow knitting. What am I doing? Ha ha ha!
I can just imagine all the snow!
Hi and welcome to Knit With Hannah. I'm Hannah. I'm here with knitting natter to help you learn
to knit the easy way. We are talking slow knitting today. Did you know there was slow knitting? Could
you knit at different paces? A lot of people talk about knitting more quickly and they get
frustrated(!) that it's not going fast enough. I can understand that. Just, I want to get to the
next stripe! Argh why aren't these rows moving faster? Sometimes it can feel especially if
you're using a really thin needle that actually no progress has been made. There's actually a
book about slow knitting. I didn't realise this until I planned this and I started exploring
a bit and thought "oh that's interesting there's actually a book about slow knitting.
I haven't explored that," so I don't know what I'm talking about in comparison to what is in the book.
So if you've read it then you'll have even more insight into whether we're talking about two
different, completely different things, or whether we're right on the same page. I don't know.
When it comes to slow knitting the idea is that you enjoy the process.
This is where I've come from to give it that name. Process, enjoy the journey, love the actual
act of knitting rather than feel "I want to get to the end point." If we always have that end point
on our mind and we're constantly thinking about where we're going, it can be really helpful because
it can motivate us to keep there, you know, to keep that vision in mind, but it can also be
kind of frustrating to think "I'm not there yet. I'm not even a third of the way through yet," but
in some respects that is half glass empty rather than half glass full. Now "wow I've done a third.
That means I can definitely do the next two thirds," so it does feel that's just got to shift slightly
into saying "not only can I do the next two thirds because I've got a third of the way through
but so I'm going to really enjoy the next two thirds as well." Absolutely relish the process
of those next two thirds of the project. So let's talk about the three different ways
you can explore slow knitting. So of course we all know this word. The first one of course is
'mindfulness'. Stay in the moment, appreciate and have gratitude for every single stitch.
You can really slow this down by looking at every stitch and seeing that every
stitch; they might be identical, you might be moving across a row and it's lace knitting,
and the stitch has to happen one-at-a- time because you need to take so much care.
The mindfulness when you're knitting, that kind of project, can actually be really, really appreciated.
We can see and feel the beauty of the yarn as well, and I really love the material of the needles.
That's what mindfulness can give you is just being in the moment, seeing the moment
and being there for every single stitch. So, slowing down the knitting in a practical sense can help in
quite a few ways as well - can help you improve your stitch. It might help you focus on your
stitches so that you can embrace next challenges. If you want to move on in your knitting if you've
never done cabling or lace knitting, for example, it might be that by slowing the knitting down
those new challenges become easier and you can improve your skills perhaps if
you're slowing the knitting down. Do you also make fewer mistakes?
Maybe. So this is the kind of thing that I like knitting with a slower pace.
It's the more complicated Fair Isle. It's the knit; this is the, this is a couple of scrunchie
patterns. I actually haven't put them in the shop yet. If you want them, let me know, and I will,
but it's typing the patterns up and, you know, taking photographs and things, but I love
giving myself these challenges. I created these patterns and i was testing them out and I thought
"I have to really be aware of where the stitches are going and whether I'm making mistakes." I
can't zoom ahead 20 rows and think "oh no! I got the colour wrong! It's all out of step!" I
have to be really aware of every stitch and that's when i switch off all distractions
and I absolutely love the process. So that's something that you can do.
Also, when you're slowing your knitting down and improving those skills, the understanding of the
stitches improves too, which means that you're likely to make fewer mistakes simply because
the stitch is so much better understood. The actual movements that you make to create the stitch
you understand better, so you might notice a mistake much more quickly
like only two stitches along, or even as you are making this stitch: "oh no that's wrong.
Let me change it so that it works better." So the differences you can have
as you're slowing your knitting down and the improvements you can make can actually be quite
dramatic. Now this is the third big reason I would encourage you to do slow knitting.
it's much easier to relax, and that's what we want from knitting in a big way. Knitting is
not the final piece, it's the process, it's the journey, and knitting can be a big big relaxant.
You know: "let's have a bath. Oh I know what. I'll get my knitting out." It's easier to relax if the
knitting is slower, if you haven't got that "oh I've got to knit, I've got to knit, I've got
to knit every stitch, I've got to really do this quickly!" You haven't got that pace, the urgency,
and it's going to be so easy to relax. That I hope is a really good synopsis of the
three things, the three reasons why slow knitting can be so, so helpful.
Mindfulness: everybody understands these days what mindfulness is and why we do it. It's being in the
present moment, it's living in the now. Definitely, you'll improve your knitting skills because you'll
understand and stitch better, you'll see what you're doing, and you'll make fewer mistakes.
And the other one is that it's easier to relax. it is so much easier to relax if you're not
knitting with an urgency, with a pace where you want to get to the next step, and you're
not even focusing on what you're doing now. You're going to make fewer mistakes. Just that gives you
stress. You make a mistake, it can be stressful, especially if you're not expecting it or you
don't see it happen. So slowing your knitting down can really do that; it can help you relax with your
knitting. You will realise if you've been watching my channel at any point for any time that I talk
slowly, I live slowly. I'm very very happy to be that slightly slower pace. Some of you I know
will go "talk more quickly Hannah, for goodness sake!" Well there's a settings and you can turn the speed
of the video up if it annoys you that's fine, but others I know have watched these videos and gone
"oh thank you for being a slower talker Hannah. It's so calming." So that's how i live my life because
I've discovered that living this way is so much better for my health, for my temper(!) I've got a real
fire in my belly and it can really be, I mean, that's how I've built this business. I, the
passion can be there in a big, big way, but if I don't tend to it and calm it down, pfff! It can burst.
My whole body can be in flames like the Mockingjay in the Hunger Games!
The Confident Knitter is kind of infused with those ideas
along with lots of different things that will help you become more confident as a knitter,
and become more confident, therefore, in the rest of your life too, because low
self-confidence just happens in the world around us. There might be just things knocking you back
and by knitting in a different way and by building the confidence as a knitter it just
kind of filters out into the rest of your life too. It's 30 days. It's like a little mini podcast.
It's between 5 and 15 minutes. Every single day you listen to it, there might be tasks to do,
there might be a worksheet that can really just help you dive into what you're thinking about,
and every day you're going to just get a new idea and you can ponder it, think about it, knit with
it. I'll talk about all sorts of different parts of knitting all the way through it,
but it is, it's just got that essence of let's slow it down, let's find the self-confidence
and the confidence as a knitter. So it's 30 days to calm and collected knitting.
i must say I am not the bespoke that you need to follow. I am not perfect at this. My word, my fire
does rise in my belly sometimes. I knit ferociously sometimes, so don't think just because I'm sitting
here talking about it that I get it 100%. There are times when I have to stop myself and say "OK,
let's just take that lesson, it's feedback, and move on." Go and sit on the waitlist. The waitlist link
is below. That will mean that you get the email when it's ready to go. It will open on the 17th,
Thursday next week, so do go and have a look at that, get on the wait list as well. I will be here
next week as always with another video. Bye for now. Thanks for joining me today. Happy knitting.