Knit a Lemon to Relieve Tax Day Stress

Tax day in the United States is a pretty stressful day for some people, and the Craft Yarn Council is encouraging people to take time for some stress relief by knitting and crocheting lemons.

In particular, knitting and crocheting lemons that will be distributed outside the James A. Farley Post Office Building in Manhattan on April 18 (later than usual thanks to a holiday in D.C.) to remind people to make lemons into lemonade and spread the word about the health benefits of knitting and crochet.

Confirmed by numerous studies and reports and personal stories from knitters and crocheters around the world, and highlighted in national and international press — including a recent New York Times article titled “The Health Benefits of Knitting” and stories on Yahoo!, CNN, Daily Mail and more — the stress-busting crafts are known to reduce blood pressure, decrease anxiety and stress, boost mood, increase mindfulness, elicit the relaxation response and much more. These health benefits are what triggered the non-profit Craft Yarn Council to start a health initiative and spread awareness about the positive effects these crafts bring through its Stitch Away Stress campaign and host the NYC Lemon Drop Campaign for Stress Awareness on Tax Day.

“Upon discovering all the studies out there that prove these crafts reduce stress and boost mood and hearing so many personal stories from knitters and crocheters on the topic, we felt it was important to draw more attention to the subject and help more people who are stressed out find a way to relax and feel happier,” said Craft Yarn Council Co-Executive Director, Mary Colucci. “Since April is National Stress Awareness Month and Tax Day is historically one of the most stressful days of the year for Americans, April 18 seemed like the perfect day to stitch away stress.”

Tags attached to the lemons will direct recipients to the website www.stitchawaystress.com where they can go to learn how to knit and crochet, download the free lemon stress ball pattern to make one themselves, explore all the health benefits of knitting and crochet and more. Those waiting in line may have the chance to learn a stitch or two from the knitters and crocheters handing out the lemons as well.

The knit and crochet lemons were designed by Twinkie Chan and are super cute. Even if you don’t live in New York, you can stitch some lemons and drop them at your local post office on tax day to spread the word about the stress-busting properties of yarn craft. What a sweet idea.

[Photo via Craft Yarn Council.]

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns!

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil.

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn.

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point.

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up.

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.

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