Crochet as Spiritual Practice: Silence

In case you missed it, here's a summary of the four previous posts about Crochet as Spiritual Practice:

A spiritual practice is an activity that you do regularly which either pulls you into your inner space or connects you with the greater universe. Try spending 10-15 minutes each day crocheting and only focusing on the yarn and pattern in front of you, pushing other thoughts aside.

Incorporate some special breathing to help relax yourself at the start.

1. Breathe in deeply and let it out slowly

2. Count your breaths up to 10 and then start over.

3. Alternate nostril breathing. (see how here)

4. Three short breaths in, one slow breath out.

Three is a common part of many religions, faiths, and spiritualities, as well as quite pervasive in our culture. In crochet: shells of three, repeats of three stitches or rows, three loops or pull throughs for a stitch. Think about how you can incorporate 3 into your crochet practice and how it already is a part of your crocheting habits. More examples on the original post.

Remember to keep your hands and wrists happy while you work! They carry our intentions from our minds & hearts into the work.

Some suggestions: warming them up before you work; stretching before, during, and after; taking regular breaks; stopping if they hurt; giving yourself a massage before and after an especially large or difficult working.

Reflections on Silence

The silent spaces between musical notes and between the words we speak are what give them meaning.Continuous noise does not carry a message and often hurts our heads with the overload of information. Many groups recognize the importance of silence. Quaker meetings are based on the importance of silence and contemplation. Many sporting events, school days, and special events include a moment of silence.

It can be very difficult to find true silence in our world. Modern life involves many machines. Those for communication, entertainment, and convenience all make noise at us, some of them constantly. If you manage to be quiet in a room by yourself, you'll hear the fridge, a clock, cars going past, the neighbors. Many people turn to nature and solitude in order to find silence. There's nothing so loud as a pond in the evening, a forest in the morning, or a thunderstorm in summer. Winter is the quietest season, with many plants and animals resting, but even then you may hear snow crunching, owls hooting, bats flying, or trees bending and breaking.

All of these sounds can be beautiful, but our minds need some quiet time. Imagine your brain like a water bottle. It's about 1/4 full with daily thoughts, worries, and tasks. Something wonderful happens, you're excited, and you think about it. Now the bottle is half full. You learn something new, your friend has a problem, and you do the grocery shopping. Now the bottle is full. There's no room left for any more thoughts. We've all experienced that "my brain is too full to do anything else" feeling. That's when we really need to take some time to quiet the mind and release some of those thoughts. Pour them back out into the universe.

Meditation is highly useful for resting and emptying the mind. However, sitting still, being quiet, and thinking of nothing can be very difficult. It's called practice for a reason. Many people feel they don't have time for meditation. One way to help give your mind some quiet while still being productive is to use your crochet as a meditation. Concentrating on the pattern, the yarn, and the hook allows you to do something repetitive (maybe even relatively mindless), while still giving your brain down time.

Spend time this week noticing the silences around you. Take some quiet time and realize how many sounds are still happening. Practice being quiet and stilling your mind while crocheting. If possible, spend some time being quiet with other people. There's a big difference in the feeling being quiet alone, with one other person, in a small group, or in a large gathering.

Crochet as Spiritual Practice: Taking care of your hands

In case you missed it, here's a summary of the three previous posts about Crochet as Spiritual Practice:

A spiritual practice is an activity that you do regularly which either pulls you into your inner space or connects you with the greater universe. Try spending 10-15 minutes each day crocheting and only focusing on the yarn and pattern in front of you, pushing other thoughts aside.

Incorporate some special breathing to help relax yourself at the start.
1. Breathe in deeply and let it out slowly
2. Count your breaths up to 10 and then start over.
3. Alternate nostril breathing. (see how here)
4. Three short breaths in, one slow breath out.

Three is a common part of many religions, faiths, and spiritualities, as well as quite pervasive in our culture. In crochet: shells of three, repeats of three stitches or rows, three loops or pull throughs for a stitch. Think about how you can incorporate 3 into your crochet practice and how it already is a part of your crocheting habits. More examples on the original post.


On to your hands!
They are integral to crochet. Without them, you'd have taken up a different art. Our hands allow us to use the hook for shaping the yarn into something beautiful. They carry our intentions from our minds & hearts into the work.

Ways to keep your hands happy: warming them up before you work; stretching before, during, and after; taking regular breaks; stopping if they hurt; giving yourself a massage before and after an especially large or difficult working. Also, remember your wrists. They do a lot of the work, too.

Suggested Massage:
Hold your hands together to warm them up, maybe even pretend your washing them slowly. Put your left hand down flat on your knee/thigh. Using the palm of your right hand, slowly rub up from your finger tips to the back of your hand, over your wrist, and up your forearm. Repeat a few times. Use the thumb and fingers of your right hand to gently and slow rub between the bones of your hand. Then gently pretend to pull a ring off each finger. Flip your hand over and rub the plam a bit with your thumb. Let your left hand rest for a minute, then do the same things to the right hand.


This massage was adapted in part from Cindy Crandall-Frazier's book Comptemplative Crochet. It's a good read if you're interested in learning more about connecting crochet to your faith or spirituality. It includes 10 lovely patterns. My favorite pattern is for LovingKindness Wristers: show your hands some love and kindness by keeping your wrists and hands warm while you work. Here are mine, front and seam views.

Additional Stretches:
Jan 16, 2012: I just found this neat collection of stretches to help your forearms, wrists, and fingers.
Top 5 Stretches for Knitting (or Crochet) Pain

Crochet as Spiritual Practice: Mystical 3

For those just joining in, here's a summary of the two previous posts about Crochet as Spiritual Practice:

A spiritual practice is an activity that you do regularly which either pulls you into your inner space or connects you with the greater universe. Try spending 10-15 minutes each day crocheting and only focusing on the yarn and pattern in front of you, pushing other thoughts aside.

Incorporate some special breathing to help relax yourself at the start.
1. Breathe in deeply and let it out slowly
2. Count your breaths up to 10 and then start over.
3. Alternate nostril breathing. (tutorial)
4. Three short breaths in, one slow breath out.



The mystical number 3!

Three is a common part of many religions, faiths, and spiritualities, as well as quite pervasive in our culture. Here's some examples I came up with after a few minutes.
The mighty triangle! The strongest geometric shape, it's used quite often in bridge construction.
Christianity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the holy family was three people (Mary, Joseph, Jesus); Jesus rose after three days; three virtues of faith, hope, and love/charity
Many pagans: three stages of life & the Goddess (Maiden, Mother, and Crone) and her God counterpart.
Buddhism: two loving kindness meditations are three parts "may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be kind" and "may you be loved, may you be comforted, may you be whole"
Abraham is the father of three religions - Judaism, Christianity, Islam
Sports: three strikes in baseball, three periods in hockey, three-point scores in basketball and football
Ideas of mind/body/soul and head/heart/hands
Lucky (or unlucky) events come in threes
Stories: begining, middle, end; three blind mice; Goldilocks and the three bears; jack climbs the beanstalk thrice; Rumplestiltskin lets the princess guess thrice; Scrooge sees three ghosts of Christmas
Jokes are often told with threes: a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead
Sets of three are easier to learn/remember.
I'm sure there's plenty more. What are some examples you know?


In crochet, there's a variety of stitches which can incorporate 3:
shell stitches of three (common in the classic granny square)
single crochet is made of three loops (on hook, 2 yarn overs)
half-double crochet pulls through three loops
double crochet needs three pull-throughs
treble crochet gets three pull-throughs above the stich (and has two sets of three yarn overs)
the trinity stitch
multiples of three in stitches or rows for patterns

Some people chant while they stitch (such as the loving kindness series), or they may sing or hold good intentions for the recipient.


Think about how you can incorporate 3 into your crochet practice and how it already is a part of your crocheting habits.
I kinda like the idea of using the three breaths in and one breath out while I'm crocheting to help me focus. Also, since I'm crocheting for charity, I'll try saying/thinking the loving kindness meditation, one "may you" per stitch. Maybe that'll help me slow down and pay attention to what I'm doing. As always, leave a message if you've got ideas, reflections, or questions.

Brigid's Cross Square

Brigid's Cross

Using an I/9-5.50mm hook and worsted weight yarn: 10 inch square.
Gauge: 12 dc = 4 in long and 3/4 in tall.

Abbreviations:
ch = chain
dc = double crochet

Center:
In green, do 1A or 1B.
1A. Start a magic ring (phototutorial).
1B. ch 6, slst to form ring.
2. ch 2. *dc 4 in ring, ch 1* Repeat from * to * three more times for a total of 4 groups of 4dc+1ch. Slip-stitch together. Finish.

For Each of Four Rectangles:
1. With green and leaving a 12 in tail, ch 14. dc in 3rd ch from hook. dc across. (12 dc total)
2. Attach white. *ch 2 and turn. dc 12.* Repeat from * to * 7 more times. Finish with white.
You'll have 1 green row and 8 white rows.

Assembly:
Place rectangles with long green tails on outside of square. Using the tail and a yarn needle, sew the green edge of one rectangle to the long white edge of another rectangle (about 5 1/2 white rows). With the same tail, sew the second rectangle to one side of the green square (about 2 1/2 rows). I hope these photos can help you out.
As always, feel free to leave questions, comments, and suggestions.

The pieces all laid out prior to assembly. Green tails on the outside.

First two rectangles together, sewn with tail of left rectangle.

First two rectangles plus center square, sewn with tail of left rectangle.

Two rectangles and center square attached. Third rectangle being added. (Second rectangle is not attached to the square. First rectangle still has long green tail.)

Third rectangle attached to second rectangle, but flipped up to show it's not attached to the square. Secong rectangle is now attached to the square.

Lining up the fourth rectangle. Fourth rectangle's tail will attach it to third rectangle and then attach third rectangle to the square. First rectangle's tail will then finish attaching fourth rectangle to the other pieces.

When using with other squares, you may want to add a border. This is a hdc border, with (hdc, ch2, hdc) in the corners.

Brigid is a Celtic goddess of transformations, helping with healing, poetry, smithing, and finding your way. Saint Brigid is a patron of Ireland and known as an early leader of the Irish Catholic church. Here are the Wikipedia entries for Brigid's Cross and Brigid.
I created the pattern to make a lapghan for a family member having surgery. The lovely healing energy and the bright colors ought to help her feel better sooner!

Crochet as Spiritual Practice: Incorporating Breathing

For those just joining in, here's a summary of the previous post about Crochet as Spiritual Practice:
A spiritual practice is an activity that you do regularly which either pulls you into your inner space or connects you with the greater universe. Try spending 10-15 minutes each day crocheting and only focusing on the yarn and pattern in front of you, pushing other thoughts aside.


Maybe you've seen my previous post. Maybe you've even been practicing. Awesome! How'd it go?
For me, quieting my mind can be difficult. Once I get into the stitches, I can sometimes get a groove going, and that helps. So, I set myself a timer for 15 minutes and probably spent the first five trying not to think of other things. "There is no try, there is only do or do not" Yoda says, and so it is with trying not to think about stuff.

There are some things you can do to help cut down on that first five minutes of busy mind. My favorite is special breathing. Here's a few ideas:
1. Breathe in deeply and let it out slowly. Listen to your breath.
2. Count your breaths. In 1, out 2, in 3, out 4... Go up to 10 and then start over.
3. Alternate nostril breathing. Put your hand up where you can hold your nostrils closed. While holding your right nostril closed, inhale through the left nostril for a count of 4. Close both nostrils and hold for a count of two. Open your right nostril and exhale for a count of 4. Repeat twice or until you feel more relaxed.
4. Take three short breaths in, and have one slow breath out. This can easily continue while you're stitching.

Take some time to do each one this week. See what helps you relax and focus. Feel free to leave a comment with questions, suggestions, or observations. See you in a week for more Crochet as Spiritual Practice!