stephani stephenson on wed 7 mar 07
David
congratulations on all your progress. it is tough yet
so rewarding trying to change life habits. you go!
in grad school we had a grad seminar where we met at
someone's home and we knit. the prof was the h ead of
the sculpture dep't and he loved to knit..so he came
up with the idea.
Every week there would be articles or readings on a
topic. one person would read aloud to the group while
everyone knit. then we would discuss the topics and
the readings , while we knit.
not only did we learn or improve our knitting but the
best thing about it was...as the fingers flew, the
brain seemd to kick into gear.
as you know, sometimes grad seminars in topics such as
aesthetics can get pretty full of BS. people are often
self conscious, or trying to be intellectual...the
conversations can become contrived, confessional ,
ego driven , etc.
but our discussions were stimulating, exploratory,
fun, lively, wide ranging, completely unself
conscious..we explored topics with gusto and the
conversation seemed to lead us to more discoveries,
understanding, etc than any others i remember...and it
was enjoyable.
what we were knitting had nothing to do with an art
project. it was the activity. by occupying part of the
brain, the activity seemed to free up the rest of the
brain .
by the way ..i was the only one who did not know how
to knit. i have never had much aptitude for small
detailed work so the best advice i got was to get the
biggest pair of needles i could find. so i did and
also some big knobby yarn. i had a rather ungainly
style but i eventually knit a big tunic style sweater
thing, which a subsequent boyfriend even wore proudly.
i continued to knit for a few years though i haven't
now for a number of years.
it is a great way to occupy ones hands, pass the time
and still leave the mind free to converse or think.
best wishes
Stephani Stephenson
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