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Projects to Knit for Your Mental Health

July 5, 2024 by Sarah White

We missed sharing these projects in May, which was Mental Health Awareness Month, but any time is a great time to think about the health benefits of knitting, which include stress relief and a way to feel in control of something.

The Breathe for Four patterns by Molly Conroy give you a chance to choose your own knitting adventure on projects that are meant to be mindful. You can make it as a scarf, cowl or shawl, using any weight of yarn you like to make them any size you want.

The stitch pattern includes a breathing pattern (thus the name): knit 4, slip 4, purl 4 aligns with inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4. (Add another hold at the end and you’re box breathing, which is great for stress relief as well as improving concentration.)

Because this style of breathing requires focus and is a little different from normal breathing, the designer recommends starting with just five minutes at a time of knitting and breathing together. As you practice more you can do it for longer periods, but make sure you’re really paying attention to your breath and connecting it to the stitch pattern as you go.

Yes, you could just knit these projects and breathe normally, but it’s a fun experiment to try to make your knitting as mindful as it can possibly be. If you try it I want to know how it goes for you!

As shown the projects were worked with DK weight yarn, but you can use whatever you have on hand and adjust the stitch counts as needed to make it work for the size you want to make. Choose a really nice yarn you’ve been saving up for something special, because knitting while you breathe is going to make this project take a long time to finish!

You can get the patterns for free on Ravelry, or if you’d rather you can download them from Hands On Knitting Center’s website.

[Photo: Molly Conroy]

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Knit a Stunning Shawl That Wears Like a Collar

I’m honestly not totally sure what to say about the Sun King shawl pattern from Ursa Major Knits other than isn’t this cool? You should probably make one. 

This modular design is worked in two parts, the “waxing” and “waning” sections. Both pieces are asymmetrical and use the same yarns in different ways to mix up the colors and make it even more interesting. 

You can choose to use two contrasting solid yarns, a solid and a gradient or two complimentary gradients for your yarns. And you can use any weight of yarn and whatever gauge you like to make shawls of different sizes. There are also a bunch of different size options (seven, in fact) that take the project from a little collar like design to something more like a scarf to a large shawl that wraps around the neck to keep you warm. 

The sample projects use fingering/lace weight yarn, but you can use whatever you have on hand to make your own beautiful version of this shawl. Using lace weight, you’ll need twice as much of one color as the other.

There are lots of yarn suggestions on the pattern page on Ravelry, and I love the color choices the designer made so much I’d definitely be tempted to use the same colors they did (there are a couple of different versions on the pattern page if you want to see how it looks in different sizes and different colors). 

I love the little diamond shapes a the edges of the pieces, which add a little more drama to the project, as if it needed more. 

I’m still not sure this boils down to anything beyond this project looks really cool and you should probably knit it, but that’s pretty much how I pick all the projects I share, so I guess that’s fine. You can check it out for yourself and grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry. 

[Photo: Ursa Major Knits]

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