Whoo! Well one thing about ALL OF THIS SNOW - it's giving me time to catch up on some of my New Year to-do's and now also - to do a bit of blogging!
I try to pick a word every year to keep me focused and this year the word is Mindfulness. I have been trying to incorporate meditation and various methods of mindfulness into my life for the past couple of years and I'm really going to try and kick it up a notch this year.
While doing some reading about mindful living I realized that a lot of the crafting I do can really be a mindfulness exercise. I've found a few articles that I think are pretty interesting on that topic so I thought I'd share some things here over the year in case anyone else is interested.
This Mind Body Green article reports that neuroscience studies have found that knitting and crafting is the new yoga and that knitters are calmer and happier people. Scientific affirmation! I definitely find that the groove I get into with knitting or crocheting, once I've got the pattern established, lets me check out a little and just relax.
(Pretty Cute Knitting Print from VisualizeUs)
Sewing on the other hand...I still do not find it relaxing although I do find it fun. On that note, my other big goal for the year is to combine a few different techniques I want to learn into one or two big sewing projects for the year. I'm anxious to learn to do some fashion sketching to plan out some patterns of my own. I also want to sew a few things myself and try some couture techniques - we'll see how this plays out. I'll post my efforts here and share any good resources I come across.
I hope everyone else's New Year is starting off well and that your crafting is well under way!