[HN Gopher] Crochet: A little hook to improve attention?
___________________________________________________________________
Crochet: A little hook to improve attention?
Author : JPLeRouzic
Score : 65 points
Date : 2022-12-21 10:06 UTC (12 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.medrxiv.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.medrxiv.org)
| juhanakristian wrote:
| This really interesting. As it happens I just got into knitting
| and I'm working on my first beanie. I find it really relaxing and
| at the you get something you can use yourself or give as a gift.
| JustSomeNobody wrote:
| I keep a 10 ft piece of 550 next to my desk and tie knots during
| meetings. It helps me concentrate on the meeting (I tie the ones
| I know, not ones I'm trying to learn). I have actually been
| wanting to learn how to knit.
| grogenaut wrote:
| Lots of great YouTube videos on casting on and making hats or
| scarfs. Get some larger needles and go to town. Happy to
| provide more pointers. I personally love picking up crafts,
| which it in of itself is a skill, that and dealing with
| failure.
| User23 wrote:
| Knitting is arguably a species of knot-tying.
|
| I recall hearing once that Dirac was watching a woman knitting
| and applied knot theory to deduce the existence of the purl
| stitch. He told her about it and she was amused[1].
| Another time, Dirac was watching Anya Kapitza knitting while he
| was talking physics with Peter Kapitza. A couple of hours after
| he left, Dirac rushed back, very excited. "You know, Anya," he
| said, "watching the way you were making this sweater I got
| interested in the topological aspect of the problem. I found
| that there is another way of doing it and that there are only
| two possible ways. One is the one you were using; another is
| like that. . . . " And he demonstrated the other way, using his
| long fingers. His newly discovered "other way," Anya informed
| him, is well known to women and is none other than "purling."
|
| [1] http://www.dirac.ch/PaulDirac.html
| tcmb wrote:
| Ram Dass tells this story where there is a 70 year old woman in
| the audience in one of his lectures on life, the universe and
| everything, and the woman nods at everything he says. When he
| asks her, 'how do you know all this, what brings you into this
| state of consciousness', she replies 'I crochet'.
|
| https://youtu.be/P2kmM078z78?t=2428
| grogenaut wrote:
| Not quite the same deal but years ago to break myself of being a
| keyboard tyrant while pair programming, but mainly cause I have a
| large head and couldn't buy tools, I started knitting. This was
| 05 so as a large male in the Midwest I got some shit for it, but
| I covered that by knitting everyone a custom hat and squares to
| block out our physical kanban board lanes. You can't grab the
| keyboard quickly when knitting so it completely broke me of it
| and had me much better at being able to talk through things.
|
| These days for meetings I'll sometimes sit back and leatherwork.
| Finished a nice duffle recently. Really helps me pay attention to
| listening and not start 3 side convos on slack.
|
| Also helps me watch TV without reading garbage on my phone over
| and over. Overall I find it like being in a flow state for half
| your brain like meditation or tig welding.
| chrisBob wrote:
| You know what they say: "The best way to deal with sexist
| bullies at work is to knit them a hat"
| JPLeRouzic wrote:
| Thanks for the stories!
| prohobo wrote:
| How do you semi-mindlessly do leatherwork?
| grogenaut wrote:
| Hand stitching long runs with pre-pricked holes takes little
| attention. And you don't need to look at the screen to listen
| or talk. I often look away when talking and thinking hard.
| You do it by feel.
| dtgriscom wrote:
| Different part of the brain?
| bluGill wrote:
| My grandpa took up knitting in the 1950s. He was a chemist (all
| he did was make vinegar which is enough to make him a chemist,
| but doesn't actually need much education) who often had to sit
| around waiting for tanks to fill. (20,000 gallons of water into
| a tank). He couldn't leave the room the tanks were in for
| hours, but there was nothing to do, so he started knitting.
|
| He used to knit sweaters for the bulldog on the mac trucks
| making deliveries at the plant.
| lliamander wrote:
| Having worked remotely for several years now, keeping one's
| attention during meetings is a constant challenge.
|
| Going for walks, or doing chores like dishes and laundry
| definitely help. It makes sense that handicrafts like crochet,
| knitting, etc., also help. I'd be interested to hear in general
| how people cope with paying attention during meetings.
| phaedryx wrote:
| For a bit of anecdata, I was diagnosed with ADHD in the past
| year. I asked around on some forums and somebody suggested
| knitting. I've tried it and I've found it helps me with my
| fidgety hands and helps me focus. I work remote and it is
| especially helpful for me during long, audio-only meetings.
|
| I just finished knitting myself a winter scarf.
| walthamstow wrote:
| How did you get started?
| angry_moose wrote:
| My suggestion:
|
| The first step is casting on. This gets the first row of
| stitches on the needle and no matter what you have to start
| here. There's a ton of variations of it, but this is a nice
| basic cast-on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vm6oaYzHyA
|
| Cast on ~20 or so stitches and learn the knit stitch:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Egp4NRhlMDg
|
| Do this for a few inches until you can repeatedly go up and
| down without dropping/missing stitches and your work looks
| uniform. You'll probably have to pull it out and start over a
| few times. Also, about 98% of mistakes will either be dropped
| stitches, or things that can be fixed by intentionally
| dropping stitches and picking them back up correctly so this
| is a useful skill to work on here:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9obiqiTAGNw
|
| Then, do a basic 2-color scarf with the knit stitch:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsmHWRIo2UI
|
| At this point, you'll have the basics down and a ton of
| muscle memory built up which lets you get more creative. A
| 1x1 Knit/Purl scarf would get you into purling (the
| "reversed" knit stitch, useful for patterning), or I jumped
| straight to socks which teaches knit/purl ribbing and some
| basic shaping.
| krumpet wrote:
| As with anything, just dive in. There are loads of free
| patterns available online and an equal number of tutorials on
| YouTube. You can get cheap yarn / hooks from Joanns or
| Michaels or you can order online.
|
| You're going to make mistakes, get frustrated, have to start
| over again, etc, etc, but that just means you're learning and
| are ahead of everyone who still hasn't started.
| TomK32 wrote:
| Besides youtube videos for the few basics you need for
| crochet, ravelry.com is a fantastic community and also has
| plenty of patterns. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#c
| raft=crochet&pa=pho...
| jtr1 wrote:
| I also have ADHD and also recently got into knitting. I'm
| curious if you've run into trouble keeping count at all? I find
| my biggest struggle is getting into a rhythm only to find I've
| dropped out added a bunch of stitches after it's too late
| janeerie wrote:
| Do you mean that you are forgetting to increase/decrease at
| the right points? As mentioned, stitch markers will help, as
| will a good row counter.
|
| Of course, you will still have to remember to increase your
| row counter at the end of each row. I have a row counter I
| keep hung around my neck, so it's easily accessible. A
| physical row counter (as opposed to an app) is better for
| this. I really like this cheapo one:
| https://www.amazon.com/Clover-Knitting-Stitch-Counter-
| Kacha-...
| TomK32 wrote:
| Why not switch to crochet? I find it easier and redoing a few
| lines isn't as much of a hassle as with knitting.
| krumpet wrote:
| Two ways. You can either use a stitch marker or you can count
| your stitches as you go (in all fairness, this does take a
| bit of trial and error to get good at). If you go over, just
| pull those stitches out. Not a big deal.
|
| The first afghan I crocheted, I probably pulled out as many
| stitches as I successfully created. But, that's how you
| learn.
| janeerie wrote:
| It also depends what projects you choose. Colorwork
| generally requires counting and keeping careful track, but
| there are plenty of projects where you can get away with
| just stitch markers and occasionally glancing at the
| pattern.
| appletrotter wrote:
| This is affirming, I crocheted in a few of my lectures at
| college. Felt like it helped.
| tcmb wrote:
| Would be interesting what other activities work in the same way.
| This is about crochet, and people here are commenting that
| knitting works for them. I think doodling is also fairly common,
| isn't it?
|
| Anything that can be done on semi-auto mode, so that it captures
| the remaining attention that is left when focusing on something
| else, so that the mind doesn't wander but is fully captivated.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2022-12-21 23:01 UTC)