I have never been a creative person but I have always admired individuals who have artistic skills and an abundant supply of creativity. However, I set a goal to change this and joined in the craze of rediscovering knitting during COVID-19. I began to take up artsy hobbies that I had set aside and taught myself how to cast on, cast off and learn again how to maintain consistency between working my needles and tautness of the yarn. It tried to summon up ounces of patience and try not to drop stitches, make double stitches and challenge the need to unravel the whole thing and start again. This last piece was a constant battle between what I wanted my knitting to look like, the reality of what I created and not using markers as I counted my stitches.

In hindsight, I realize I spent most of my time keeping yarn in my knitting basket and rewinding balls of yarn that my cat or my child had unraveled and tangled around the chairs, coffee table and toys. In spite of this, I was finally able to accomplish and finish a handful of projects: a baby blanket, a handful of washcloths, and knitted a rag rug for my child’s room using old fabric and quilt scraps, and ragged dish towels.

While my attempts to reconnect to creative and artistic outlets was minimal, recent research throughout 2020 shows the importance that art has played and its impact in helping us manage stress, emotions and the on-going intensity that was caused during the COVID-19 pandemic. The importance of art has been even more impactful for children – helping them to process their experiences during lockdown, managing stress and emotions as a result of COVID, bringing together a sense of closeness and reconnection and begin to plan and engage in reframing what our “new normal” will be and setting future goals.