Become Your Inner Swamp Witch

Some of you are a segment of my students who take private lessons with me. You have probably been wondering where I have been and why I haven’t been scheduling any private lessons. There is a long and short answer for you.

The short answer is I’ve been busy.

The long answer is a bit more complicated than that, as it always is. Since March, life has been chaotic. My daughter has been in multiple plays which included (and continues to include) multiple rehearsals in various places. We went on vacation. Then between teaching, taking care of the family including Mr. Norman, life has been non-stop for what seems like forever. I was also teaching multiple classes at both places. It seemed like every day had something going on. Finally I just said to myself, I can’t keep up like this any more. I am no longer a spring chicken. Not even a summer Chicken. More like that chicken from the Disney movie Moana. I was cooked.

But I haven’t stopped thinking about you. I wonder about your families and how they are doing. I wonder if you finished that project you were working on so diligently. I wonder if you moved on to a more complex project or if you stopped knitting. I wonder about all the various aspects of things we have spoken about. Just because the sessions stopped doesn’t mean that I haven’t been thinking about you.

Life gets so difficult sometimes mainly because there are so many things that fill our lives that all the noise gets in the way. Grocery Shopping. Doctors Appointments. Clothes Shopping for the Kids. Rehearsals. Practices. Family gatherings. Holidays. And all the little things in between. There are days, I think, that we all stop for a moment and say “This shit is for the birds!” And then we dream about running away to a faraway place where we become a swamp witch and live off the land as well hex the local villagers. No? That’s just me? Ok cool cool cool

I talk about being a swamp witch quite often. She is my alter ego. She is whoI turn into when I say “this is for the birds” and need a moment. When I transform into a swamp witch, I usually just turn to my needles and yarn and retreat into their solace.  There is something meditative about the clicking and the rhythm that helps me reduce my stress and just melt into my couch. I don’t need a complex project or fancy yarn. I just need something for my hands to do while I allow the stress of the day to ease out of my hands and into each stitch.

I know that some of you have commented that you are not at the point in your knitting where you feel relaxed by it. With that I say, you do not need to be perfect at it. You don’t even need to make something specific. Just pick up a pair of needled and cast on 30 stitches and start knitting. It might just be a basic scarf or small lap blanket. Hell, it could be a nothing that you frog and restart into something else. The end product doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if you drop stitches or add stitches. It doesn’t matter if you forget what the pattern is and make up your own. But those 10 minutes with your needles will be the best 10 minutes of your day.

I grew up at a time where talking about your stress and anxieties weren’t something we talked about. You picked yourself up by your boot straps and kept on moving forward. (Or as I like to say, I put on my big girl panties and handle it.) When life threw you down, you just stood back up and said “Yes, sir, may I have another.” But without a doubt, with the more I have taken on over the years, the more my anxiety of being there for it all and being perfect for it all, my anxiety grows heavier on my mind. That, I know, is no bueno for me, or for anyone. So the moments that I have my knitting in my hands seem take all of that anxiety away and life becomes manageable again.

So with that I urge you, spend time with yourself. Spend time with our needles. Take a few minutes a day to tell the rest of the world to shove off. Become your inner swamp witch. This is YOU time. Time to reset. Time to melt into the comfort of your home and find peace. And perhaps in a little time, you will have a few sweaters or mittens or hats or shawls for you to enjoy.