Why Knitting (and Hobbies Like It) Can Make You Calmer, Sharper, and Happier

When Los Angeles-based Teri Slaven, 78, starts knitting, she immediately enters what she calls “the zone.” “I feel busy, focused, and content,” she tells SELF. For Carolyn Barnes, 33, from Tempe, Arizona, it’s crocheting. She started her new hobby after a death in her family and a stressful phase of parenthood. (Her sons were 1 and 3 at the time.) “I was grieving and really tired from motherhood,” she tells SELF. “I didn’t have anything left to give. But I knew I couldn’t give what little I had left to my phone.”

She bought a beginner’s crocheting kit, called Woobles, and although there was an initial learning curve, she recognized a sharp change in her brain right away. She was alert. “I felt a sense of purpose,” she explains.

If you’re on the hunt for a hobby that’ll potentially relieve stress, calm you down, and help you feel productive and fulfilled, knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching—any goal-directed pursuit you can do at home—might be worth looking into. Research suggests that manual tasks like these may help improve your attentiveness overall and boost your mood, for example. Other studies have found that learning new skills that require hand-eye coordination (like quilting or digital photography) seem to help combat cognitive decline in older age.

Here are all the things you may gain from this type of hobby (aside from a really sweet scarf).

1. It’ll give you a sense of control.

Ashley Matskevich, MD, a Boston-based psychiatrist, often “prescribes” these crafty types of activities for stressed-out clients. “I recommend everyone have a ‘third thing,’” she tells SELF. Work or family/relationships tend to be the first two ‘things,” but they are often largely out of your control (hence why they can be so freaking stressful). Having a goal-focused hobby returns that ultra-important sense of control, Dr. Matskevich says.

That objective could, quite literally, be anything that piques your interest. But for folks like Barnes, who are limited on time and accessibility (a.k.a. you can’t devote hours to marathon training, let alone leave the house), knitting and crocheting can be really ideal. “These activities are beneficial because they’re so dependable,” Dr. Matskevich explains. “Having something reliable, dependable, and that you’re in control of can be incredibly empowering.”

When Cara Bellucci, 31, from Philadelphia, starts knitting a new scarf or sweater, she knows she’s about to work toward a goal that’s truly hers. “I focus on improving at something that’s just for my own satisfaction,” she tells SELF. “In the end, I have tangible proof that making time for myself can lead to something meaningful and beautiful. I am asserting that I am worth the time and effort, and sometimes frustration, of a hundred little stitches.”

2. You might enter a more mindful, less stressed state.

When you’re particularly tense, there’s a lot of extra activity going on in your brain. In some cases, this might result in excess energy flowing (quite literally) to your limbs, resulting in repetitive motions like fidgeting or pacing (called psychomotor agitation). It’s a vicious cycle: “Your brain says, ‘We’re pacing and fidgeting, we must be stressed,’” Timothy Jeider, MD, a psychiatrist with Nevada Mental Health, tells SELF. Basically, knitting and crocheting can take the place of those nervous, undirected movements.