During our summer vacation at the beach I tried to knit unplugged for 20-30 minutes a day. I'm going to be completely honest with you, the first time I knit un-plugged, the kids were napping. I was on the deck looking and listening to the ocean. Within 15 minutes of knitting I fell asleep while knitting! I woke up instantly and put the needles down and put myself to bed. I was so relaxed that I had a 2 hour nap! I never nap! I was more successful the rest of the week. I was actually able to stay awake and knit. Here’s what I noticed about myself when knitting unplugged. I’m a tight knitter when Knitflixing, well I’m a REALLY tight knitter when I knit unplugged! I felt very calm and relaxed each time however I knit so tightly you could hardly tell I was relaxed. I found that in the beginning of the week I would think of something I wanted to do later and I would get up and write it down or distract myself from knitting by suddenly needing more coffee or wine. However, by the end of the week I was able to knit away without creating distractions for myself. I enjoyed it so much that I’m continuing to do this at home a couple of times a week.

This day in age most people are addicted to technology, some knitters included. As noted in the “Netflix and Chill? More like Netflix and Knit” article on August 24, 2016 in the Boston Globe. Knitters LOVE to knit while watching TV and Netflix, myself included. In fact, there is not one knitter that I know of that can watch TV/Netflix without knitting. Knitting while watching TV/Netflix, knitting while waiting for your kids at their various extra curricular activities, or while waiting in doctors offices is part of why we love to knit so much. We can actually make something quite beautiful while we are waiting for our kids, doctors, or watching TV. However, when is the last time you knit outside with no distractions and nothing to do but knit?

Knitting, other handcrafts, and reading books (real books not reading from your tablet or e-reader) can really help people to unwind and disconnect at the end of the day. When you disconnect you de-stress -- ok maybe not the first couple of times you unplug. However when you become comfortable un-plugging for a bit each day you may even find that one day when you leave your house without your cell phone or tablet you don’t get heart palpitations or race home to get it. You feel free!!

Ok so the challenge is to sit down without distractions. Put the kiddos to bed, shut the ringer off on your phone and leave it in another room with your computer, tablets and e-readers and TV. If you can, sit outside. If not, find a comfy chair, pour yourself a nice glass of wine or tea or any other beverage you prefer and knit for 20-30 min. How do you feel? Are you stressed because you don’t know if you got a new email or you aren’t notified anytime someone does something on Facebook? Or, do you feel relaxed and calm? Try this a couple of times and see how you feel at the end of the week. Are you not as attached to your phone, tablet, or tv? Or, did you go through withdrawal and can’t wait to have a night Knitflixing?

I would love to know how you feel after knitting unplugged!