Over the break, I taught myself to knit a hat. It was a bit of a strange decision — certainly, I’d knit before, but only scarves, and I stopped about halfway through middle school. I’m not really sure what inspired me to start again over this winter break. But I did, and I taught myself to knit a hat.
I think my family members would likely tell you that’s about all I did over break. Anytime I had a moment of free time or if I was just sitting with my hands idle, I’d grab my knitting and return to the somewhat onerous process of teaching myself. It was fun, some of the time, and frustrating the rest of the time but by the end of break, I’d accomplished my goal. I’d made myself a hat.
Returning to school, I brought yarn, needles and some patterns I’d like to try in the future, but I’ve found a bit of a roadblock. It seems that between class, homework and extracurriculars, I had very little free time (which, I suppose, I sort of already knew). What I didn’t realize is that when I do have free time, I very rarely want to use it to knit. I’d much rather marathon a new Netflix show or scroll through Buzzfeed when I have down time. Even after only two weeks of the semester, I can already feel myself slipping into these habits.
Still, I find myself missing the act of knitting. There was something calming about it that I don’t get when I’m just mindlessly watching television or taking Buzzfeed quizzes. There’s something nice about the rhythm you can find when you’re knitting, and it keeps my mind a bit more active than just watching Netflix does. Plus, at the end of day, I think I have just a little bit more to show from an hour spent knitting than I do from an hour spent scrolling through the Internet.
I suppose all of this is really just to say that I think that I personally, and possibly college students in general, can find better uses for our time than simply binging on Netflix. Certainly, this shouldn’t mean we never marathon an entire season in one night but maybe we can find hobbies that we can do while we watch them.
I’ve started to wonder if the way I use my free time is actually making me more relaxed or if I just end up feeling guilty for the time I spend doing nothing on the Internet. I think, perhaps, if I turn to more “useful” crafts, I might be able to get more out of my free time and end up feeling more relaxed as well.
