Creativity begets creativity. I found this out myself as a hunkered down to finish writing my dissertation and found, surprisingly, that my love of knitting resurged with a vengeance. As I knit, I thought of new ideas for my writing, and as I was writing, I craved knitting.

And I do mean “crave,” as in the sense of addiction. Which probably means that I was getting something else from these processes that my body innately knew that I needed.

What could this something else be? This started me thinking about the similarities between writing and knitting.

Both writing and knitting bring order from chaos. Writing brings structure to the cacophony of words, creating new meanings and new insights. Knitting brings structure to a tangle of yarn, creating a new garment where none existed before. This process of bringing something new into the word, not unlike childbirth, can also bring with it a sense of achievement.

Both writing and knitting are rhythmic. Like the ocean waves, which are comforting in their incessant rhythm and predictability, so are both writing and knitting. Writing, especially when approached from the vantage of freewriting (letting go of that critical left brain and just writing what comes to mind) can give the emotional right brain the floor, letting the writer fall into a rhythm of literary creation, and even creative problem-solving.

Similarly, knitting, once the knitter gets past that first row of sometimes-stressful cast-ons, can enable the knitter to fall into a comfortable rhythm of creation.

“There’s lots of skill to knitting, certainly, but if you ask me, a lot of it is all about the muscle memory,” said Georgia, the protagonist in Kate Jacobs’ novel, The Friday Night Knitting Club. “One day you’ll just find your fingers making the moves and your brain will go to this deliciously soothing place, and all the knots in your brain will unwind just as your fingers make knot after knot after knot in the yarn.” (p. 161).

And yes, I think, this is the key link between writing and knitting: As the person does something creative, she also becomes undone, in a positive sense. As she makes “knot after knot after knot” or writes word after word after word, she sees, unfolding before her, a new, never-before-existing creation, and this process of creation causes her to relax into a positive, meditative state in which:

• Mental clarity increases.
• Stress and tension decrease.
• Immune system functions improve.
• A sense of peace & harmony settles onto the person.

So this is what my dual cravings for writing and knitting were trying to tell me: I needed to relax and let go. Which, I suppose, shouldn’t have been too surprising.

This could work for you too.

The next time you’re feeling a little unsettled (stressed, overwhelmed, frazzled, whacked), pick up that pen or those needles and write a line or knit a row. You may find that creativity begets creativity, which can also beget that sometimes elusive peace of mind.

Pictured: This is a “Seascape Shrug” that I designed based upon a basic shrug pattern of designer/store owner Jeanne Shrader, using, in part, custom-dyed yarn from her store in Kill Devil Hills, NC, Knitting Addiction. I incorporated a mesh stitch pattern with the basic stockinet stitch, as well as incorporated some crocheted edgings and vintage accent buttons from my grandmother.