Ros Edwards is a prolific knitter who has had a bed-bound illness for the past 5 years. Ros speaks about how knitting helps her to manage chronic pain and the psychological distress of her illness. Ros also speaks about the importance of the connections she has made in the yarn community, and that she uses her yarn and pattern purchases to demonstrate her values.

View the transcript on the captivate player

Follow Ros on Instagram: @rosem0nde

Find out more about Dr Mia Hobbs, the Why I Knit Podcast and read the blog on the website

Yarns and patterns discussed in this episode:

FindYour Fade Shawl — Drea Renee Knits

Stephen West Vertices Unite PATTERNS - Westknits

Cosy memories Blanket Ravelry: Cozy Memories Blanket pattern by Shelley Dupont

Susan Lin Swoon Sweater Ravelry: SwoonSweater pattern by Susan Lin

Sea Glass Tee Wool & Pine Designs Seaglass Tee | Wool & Pine(woolandpine.com)

Sussurus pullover Issue 32: Spring2020 – Pom Pom Publishing (pompommag.com)

Somerset Yarns SomersetYarns by SomersetYarns on Etsy

Marina Skua yarn Hand-dyedBritish yarn and fibre – Marina Skua

Boskularjumper knitting pattern – Marina Skua

Telja sweater Ravelry: Telja pattern byJennifer Steingass

Myak yarn mYak Tibetan FibermYakTibetan Fibers | Ethically Sourced Yarn from the Tibetan Plateau

Home | GarnStories -hand dyed yarns

Igawa Pattern  Ravelry: Igawa pattern byJunko Okamoto

Hello, and welcome to the Why I Knit podcast. My

name is Dr. Mia Hobbs and I'm a clinical psychologist who is

passionate about knitting and its benefits for our mental

health. Each episode I interview a knitter to ask them why they

knit and how it has benefited their mental well being. This

week I'm talking to Ros Edwards. Ros is a prolific knitter who

has had a bed bound illness for the last five years. She's

turned to knitting to help manage her ME. You can find

links to Ros's Instagram and all the yarns and patterns she

mentions in the show notes.

So hi, Ros. Welcome to the podcast.

Hi.

Thanks for having me.

You're very welcome.

And your background looks beautiful. I should just tell

the listeners that you've got all your amazing colourful

shawls in the background and a lovely knitted patchwork blanket

over the chair.

Yes, that's right. It's a cosy memories blanket

which I've stolen back from my son.

just borrowing it. So I'd be really interested to hear

where your story with knitting began.

Well, it began really officially with him. And

when I was pregnant with him, I suddenly thought, so this was 12

years ago, I suddenly thought I need to knit, my mother had

always knit when we were younger. And I hadn't had any

interest in it until I became pregnant.

Do you learn as a kid at all?

No, I didn't learn from her. My granny knit us

loads as well, but didn't learn from her either. But I think

some of it must have sunk in kind of through osmosis or

something. Because once I started and I was learning

through books at the time, once I started, it all felt very

natural. And I started off with a patchwork blanket, and which I

didn't finish. I was working when I was pregnant. And I was

very, very sick. So I didn't finish it. Then I had my

beautiful boy and didn't knit again then for another six

years. At which point he said to me 'you know, all those

patchwork squares you've got that didn't make it into a

blanket. Could you make me a bear? ' Yeah, sure, I'll make

you a better so I'm going to show you although the listeners

can't hear, but this is this is a very funny bear, and a very

fluffy head.

And all made of patchwork

And it's all made of the patchwork squares. I

know, I sort of figured out how to make decreases for his ears,

but his head doesn't stand up on its own. And he's very chewed

and but his name is Bernard because everything everything

was called Bernard was my son was a baby really, for some

unknown reason. And he was Yeah, Bernard was what started it all

off. And to make Bernard I had to knit a few more squares. And

once I started knitting six years ago, again, that was it, I

caught the bug, okay,

and I presume you had to invent the pattern yourself.

I just kind of stepped in with T shirts. And so

the things together and it was very ad hoc, but yes, very, very

loved.

They you've still got him, that's amazing.

And so that's how I started. And then I think having

become a mother and gone back to work. I still was in that kind

of who am I am I am mother am I a career person. And I've always

liked wearing, not what everybody else wears so I've

always liked to be a bit individual and different to

everyone else. And I realised having started to get the bug

with the knitting that I could make things for myself that no

one else has. I think I went on to love crafts and found a very

difficult but I didn't know it was difficult at the time Katia

pattern, which was a poncho, and it kind of knit the yarn knit

itself, kind of fun colours. And so that's where I started was

right. I can make myself clothes that are different and that suit

my slightly different body that is now a mums body. And that's

how it started.

Did you start making clothes for yourself quite

quickly after because I imagine that's quite a big leap from the

patchwork blanket to then garments.

And it was a shame in a way that I had started with

that pattern because it was a tubular cast on. And it had

obviously been translated from maybe German, I don't know, but

the translation wasn't great. And so I was quick, tried and

tried and ripped and ripped. And this poncho just wasn't working

for me. So I started off with the intention of making garments

and then went to a knitting group just for one session in a

local craft shop and was Wool and Gang and We Are Knitters.

And so I can do super chunky knits. And they'll be done

really quickly. So I started knitting blankets for my niece

and nephew and for my son, and for our house, which we just

moved, which none of the furniture weren't, we'd

inherited loads. And I thought rather than pay loads of money

for new furniture, I'm just going to knit loads of blankets

and make everything look nice. Yeah, that's, that's Yeah. So

that's what I did for a good year and a half was stick with.

Yeah. Oh, lovely. So that was how you started? Yeah.

Knitting. So you said you caught the bug. When you made the

patchwork bear, Bernard, what was it about it, you think kind

of attracted you? He said kind of making stuff for yourself

that was a bit different. And then you went in with the

blankets. Was there anything about the process you

particularly enjoyed?

Yeah, I would say, I don't know what it is exactly

about it. But knitting the squares to make the bear. I

found myself if I wasn't knitting, I missed it. And

whilst at the time, I didn't have a lot of time to knit at

all. If I did have some downtime at all, I wanted there to be

knitting in my hands. And I really missed it if it wasn't

there. And I found myself, I changed jobs trying to do some

job with less responsibility. And I used to, I started taking

buses. And on the bus, I bring my knitting with me. So I could

spend 45 minutes knitting before the day began. And in lunch, I

would knit. And I found that a lot of my job was I had to do a

lot of thinking and a lot of writing. And if there was a

problem that I didn't have the answer to lunch break, do an

hours of knitting, and then all the answers would be there for

me when I returned to my desk. So I could tell that it was

doing something to my brain. That was good. But I didn't know

what it was just so that I could I could rely on the knitting to

kind of help my brain. When I was younger, I used to play the

piano and it did similar things. That I would go with a problem

and leave the piano without being such a big deal anymore.

And yeah, very similar.

So it's not just about feeling less kind of. So

it's not just about feeling calmer. It's almost like it

unlocks a different door for solutions as well.

Yeah, that's exactly how it felt. And it was

really brilliant. And I think the other I mean, the other cool

thing is, is that on the bus or at work, it draws people to

people come and say, you know, what are we doing and and that

was fun, you know, and to have people be interested in or

people always have their own stories they want to tell you

about their mom or their Auntie your granny. And it's lovely

that side of it as well.

Yeah, so kind of a different way of connecting to

people. Yeah,

exactly. Exactly. I um. I didn't find Instagram.

Until I've been knitting for two years, various people had said,

you really should go on Instagram, because I think

there's quite a lot of knitters on there. And I kind of brushed

it off because I didn't want to be on my phone too much. I was

enjoying the tactile kind of analogue, being away from my

screen. But I did go on Instagram, and I started looking

at people who were knitting shawls. And I remember thinking,

why are people knitting shawls? Like what's what is the big deal

about that? So I, but I realised that there was a community on

there people from around the world, knitting beautiful things

and sharing it and that was really fun for me. I was still

working at that point. But it was like a whole new world of

people and I've been so in a very corporate world for about

20 years and it all being about money-making and selling big

contracts. And it was lovely to find a whole community of people

that were not in that world necessarily are not talking

about that world anyway,

did it change what you knitted when you found that

community those kind of connections.

Eventually it did. And it was I remember distinctly

it was the time when Andrea Mowry's find your facial came

out. And there's quite an iconic picture of her. Taken by her

photographer, husband, I think standing in nature with her find

your age. You know, she's got her tattoos and she's, she's

beautiful. And I remember thinking, wow, this is really

cool. This is like shawls are cool. And then Stephen West

released his Vertices Unite, or he'd already released it. And I

started seeing loads of those on Instagram thinking, wow, it can

be really fun and really cool. And the colours can be very

untraditional. And that really appealed to me. So Find Your

Fade was the first show like, can I think four or five of

those? Yeah. And just just learning to play with colour and

lace and fingering weight yarn and then. Yeah.

And in terms of why you knit now, would you say the

reasons are the same? Or have they changed over time?

Well, I was signed off sick five years ago. And it

was a very stressful time, obviously, I was the main

breadwinner in the house. And we did not know how we were going

to survive. And so as time has progressed, it was a it's been a

real stress reliever and problem solver. And now that the kind of

big stressors have eased, it's a it's a great distraction from

the symptoms I experience. Yeah, so I find now that if I have

really bad pain days, I knitting, if I'm able to knit

then it's it's distracts me from the pain and I don't feel the

pain at all, if I'm able to knit and usually I am able to knit I

feel pretty lucky that despite being sick, I can still knit.

And it's amazing that you actually notice it, reducing

your pain.

Well, I especially I noticed that if I'm in so much

pain, and then normal medication isn't touching the sides, I

grabbed my knitting and start to knit. And then it just it just

is just distract distracts me. Yeah. I think having been in

such a fast paced career for 20 years, the knitting has given me

the chance to learn patience, and learn to slow down and learn

to be really, really present. Which again, when you're not

well, and there isn't a kind of end in sight with the illness.

Being present, I have found has been just incredible for my

mental health and knitting. Definitely, you know, as you're

especially now I find I lean towards more complicated

patterns, things that I have to focus on a bit more. And just

the act of counting a lace pattern, for example, can be can

really keep me in the present and you know, help that really

conscious living?

Yeah. Yeah. So that's amazing. So it feels like it's

really helpful to be able to have knitting so the projects

and feeling like I suppose when you said that it doesn't feel

like there's necessarily an end in sight in terms of your

physical health difficulties that actually having projects

that have an end, maybe that feels things to look forward to.

I'm interested in what you said about being attracted to

increasingly complicated patterns. Because I that's

something I really relate to. And I wanted to ask about

whether all knitting is equal like, or whether you need a

certain type of knitting or you choose, you've got different

projects on the go. And some days it has to be a certain

thing or sometimes times it has to be something else.

Yeah, I think that's, that's a really good

point. And I have countless works in progress. Literally, I

can't tell you how many I have to go at the moment. And one of

them is very much a stockinette sweater in the round. I've got

several brioche sweaters on the go. And those ones are for more

days when my brain isn't working as well. Or if I'm reading to my

son in bed, or we're listening to an audiobook Yeah, we you

know, those are the those are the projects that I will go to

they're more simple ones

is brioche in that category.

Yeah, it is now, especially if it's a brioche

jumper, which is just the same repeats in the round. Or two

round repeat. Okay. Yeah, I've done a few of those now. And I

love the texture that they create this, you know, that's,

that's the other thing is, you know, I've never until I started

knitting, done art, or I used to say, I don't have a creative

bone in my body.

Really? That's extraordinary!

I mean, I, I feel like if anyone can find

creativity, you know, I definitely used to feel like I

wasn't creative. I felt like I was all business, all logic, all

very left brain. Can't remember which way round it is. But okay,

yeah, I can't remember. So knitting has taught me that,

that creativity can be found. And, and that I know that I

think the colour choice as well is therapeutic in itself.

I really wanted to ask you about colour because I

associate you, you know, I first started following you, I think

probably a few years ago, and I really associate you with

somebody who knits a lot of lovely colours,

colourful. Yeah. And I've noticed that at certain

times of year, every year I graduate towards certain colour

choices. And certainly in springtime, or just before

spring, I've noticed that I've done a few sort of lilac in

green and, you know, spring type colours. And in the summer, I'm

really leaning towards the very, very bright pinks and oranges

together. Although having said that, I see, I mean, another

reason for choosing projects and colour is what I will actually

end up wearing. And as I've started knitting more garments,

I want be able to wear them with what I usually wear in a day and

I was gifted some very beautiful pyjamas last year. And I live in

bed so pyjamas is what I wear. And these pyjamas are a kind of

peachy pink colour. Yeah, so I've ended up knitting things to

go with these pyjamas because I end up wearing them. And so

that's an element of, you know, wanting the end result to fit my

need. Having said that, I love the process knit, say the

Stephen West knitalong where I can go really wild and free with

my colour choices and not think about whether I'll wear it or

not just explore colour and how it goes together in in a fabric

and yeah.

And so that's a shawl. Is that right?

Yes, yes, yes. Yes.

Different techniques in different sections. Is that

normally with Stephen West patterns?

Yeah. I mean, it's perfect. For short attention

spans these mystery knit alongs because it's a different

technique every few rows and and you don't know what's coming. So

yeah, I love his, I love his mystery knit alongs. I really

enjoy them. And I look forward to them every year. And

I guess there's a sense of community along with

that as well.

Exactly, exactly. And I mean, of all the things

that knitting has brought me that is the biggest surprise

it's the community and and especially as, as my life has

changed quite dramatically from I am a natural extrovert. So

when I was working, I was just surrounded with people all the

time. And in constant communication with all sorts of

people so suddenly not having that outlet. I have found that

I've got so that I found new and like minded people who are

really good friends now around the world who I really feel like

we're there for each other when, when personal things happen. And

that's incredible to me that the knitting community can be like

that. And the kindness and generosity of spirit has

astounded me because I've not been in a world where kindness

was a value was valued.

Do you mean the corporate world?

Exactly. Exactly. So the generosity in fact, the

cosy memories blanket, which I'm leaning against started, because

I've never heard of yarn advent calendars before. And a friend

online sent me a box of beautifully wrapped yarn, and

was like, Here you go. And I couldn't believe the time and

thought that had gone into it. And I thought, well, I've got to

make one of these blankets. Yeah, I haven't looked back.

It's not done yet. But it's, you know, it's big enough now to

kind of wrap up it and yeah, yeah, so they've just been

countless examples of that level of just quite incredible

generosity. And my mum will say that I'm a very generous soul,

myself. And I, I think when you're in the corporate

environment, you kind of tamp down on that sort of

personality. And so it's allowed me to express some of that in

return. And that's just been so joyful and meaningful. And

that can affect your mental health as well can't it,

the feeling of doing something nice for somebody else.

Definitely. And I think now, my most treasured

projects are the ones where either the yarn has been dyed by

someone who I've met in person or online. Or has been dyed by

someone who is either Black or Brown or an indigenous maker.

And, or the pattern has been designed by someone who's a

small designer who is looking to expand their business. So I've

gone from knitting the patterns by the really big, big names, I

obviously still knit Stephen West, because I will always knit

his patterns. But in general, I try to knit patterns from

designers who are less known, just in the hope that even if I

can encourage one or two people to buy a pattern from them, then

I will have helped them along the way kind of. And you know, I

won't, I won't knit any designers that like just this

summer, I test knit for a designer who has got less than

1000 followers on Instagram, and she is an exquisite designer

Susan Lin. And it had a beautiful lace yoke, and

knitting it. I had a knitted during a time when my son went

away on holiday without me for three weeks because I wasn't

well enough to go. And I was really heartbroken not to be

well enough to go on this holiday. And worrying about him

being on holiday without me. I don't think I've been that sad

ever. And it just so happened that the day or a couple of days

after he left this tes knit started. And I literally poured

all my emotions into this project. And the fact that it

was so beautifully designed, and so intuitive. And watching this

beautiful fabric grow in my fingers. It was just the

ultimate therapy for me. And I have told the designer, Susan,

this. And I wear it so fondly. Because I feel I feel like it

really kept me together. It held me together through those weeks

that he was away and I finished it just before he came back.

Oh, wow. did you do that? Because it sounds like it

kind of there was an element of coincidence that it happened to

be that pattern. But I suppose I'm interested in whether you

choose patterns specifically or project for a life event or kind

of in order to be therapeutic for you, if you see what I mean

or whether that was more of a coincidence that it happened

that way it

I think that was more of a coincidence i i had I

think I'd signed up for the test knit, before I knew I wasn't

going to be well enough to go on holiday. And so I'm just trying

to think if there are I certainly cast things on in a

kind of therapeutic. I need to cast something new one kind of

thing. And that's going to cheer me up and give me that buzz

because

of the same way as someone else might have a glass

of wine or chocolate after that kind of thing. Yeah,

exactly. I mean, I go through phases of casting

lots of things on and then I go through a phase of finishing

lots of things off, but they all get finished. Yeah, they do get

finished. In the end, and I often get people saying, Where

are you knit fast, and I'm like, Well, that was already like

three quarters done. So you get the pleasure of finishing

something that actually didn't have a lot left to go. But I, I

mean, there's another jumper that I knit in the summer before

Sam went away, where I had a really big flare of my ME. And

it manifested this time in a very, very, very sore throat,

which I don't tend to get very often anymore. And I cast on the

Sea Glass Tee by Wool and Pine designs, it had just been

released. And you the way they wrote the pattern was that you

choose two new colours for every row. It's a colour work jumper,

and fingering weight. And so you're literally choosing two

new colours, every row and I got my big basket full of all my

odds and ends. And I sped through that pattern with my

sore throat. And remember knitting the pattern or than I

remember the sore throat, but I remember it being a very, again,

a very lovely distraction. And it was just so joyful. So it

stopped me from feeling too sorry for myself. And I just

spent most of my time looking at my growing fabric thinking, Oh,

look, isn't that beautiful?

And how does it feel to wear it now?

Amazing. Amazing. Yeah, feels really good to wear

it,

like a triumph over that sore throat.

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. But I don't know, I

think there are probably, I imagine a lot of people who knit

without needing a deep meaning attached to it. And who just

knit for the joy of knitting and for the end product, whereas I

found that, for me, there is greater joy if there is

meaning. So either if I know the yarn Dyer, or they're a small

designer, or whatever it is. I like that those are my really

treasured objects that the jumper I'm wearing today is the

Sussurus pullover by Joji Locatelli. Yeah. And this was on

the cover of Pom Pom. And it was modelled by a Black woman in a

wheelchair. Yes. And I remember when the issue came out vividly.

And I can't remember if I actually cried or if I just had

tears in my eyes. And I felt really choked up for a long

time, I felt so choked up. The issue of being guest edited by

Ocean, who is another Black woman in our industry. And I

just I remember feeling grateful and relieved that there was

there was finally some more recognition being given and paid

jobs being given to Black women in our industry. And that there

was a woman in a wheelchair on the front cover of a magazine.

And it just meant the world to me. And to you know, that whole

feeling of being seen. And I don't think I'd appreciated that

I hadn't felt seen before, but I knew that I had to knit that

jumper. And I have a really dear friend who I met through

Instagram who lives in Bristol who dyes yarn, Tracy of Somerset

Yarns and she does beautiful yarn. And so I used her mohair

for the jumper. So the whole things. My mum tried the jumper

on as well. And she looked so good in it that I had to give it

to her. So I knit myself a second one and exactly the same.

Okay, so you have got that is yours. You haven't had

to borrow it back to wear it?

Yeah, I saw this mine. And yeah, so I mean, talk

about meaningful. Yeah, I, you know, when I put it on, also,

it's perfect for wearing in bed because it's so light. But it's

still warm enough to give me some warmth. So, yeah, it suits

lots of purposes.

It sounds like a big part of the knitting is you kind

of showing and using your kind of values in life through the

yarns that you buy, the pattern designers you support. Yeah,

that's a big part of what gives it meaning for you.

Yeah, for me, I do recognise that I that, that not

everybody will knit in the same way as me and that's brilliant.

You know, if your knitting that was great in my book, but it

just for me, it means you know, if there is meaning the extra

meaning then I love it even more. Yeah.

Yeah. And in terms of how it feels, it sounds also you

you kind of have that connection while you're knitting the

project. Then you can retain the connection with the garment

afterwards, and that you still get memories and reactivate

those values when you put the that jumper on.

Yeah. And I have them all stacked up on shelves

on my landing outside my bedroom. So I can see them all

really clearly when I leave my bedroom, and so it fills me up

every time I leave the room, I can see them all. And I think

when I first got signed off sick, I did have a couple of

I've had, I've had therapy several times in my life, but I

had a couple of therapy sessions on the phone. Soon after I was

diagnosed with having ME and I remember the lady saying to me,

if you can do one thing in a day, that gives you a sense of

accomplishment. And if you can try and connect with a friend

once a week, then you'll be you know, you should be okay type of

thing. Yeah. And I, I've hung on to that. And you know, even if

I'm only well enough to knit a couple of stitches or a row,

then I can I can look at it and say I did that. And that's my

sense of accomplishment ticked off for the day. Yeah. And I'm

interacting frequently with friends on Instagram. And that

is connection enough genuinely for me. So it really has given

me all I need. Yeah.

And that's, I guess one of the things when I'm using

knitting therapeutically, the thing you mentioned first about

doing something that gives you pleasure or a sense of

achievement. And I think knitting is really good for that

in that you can do with teeny tiny amount and still have made

progress towards a thing or you know, a project

And its tangilbe. Yeah, yeah. And, again, you

know, for most of my adult life until now, I'm 45 now, and I

stopped working when I was 40. So until I was 40, I hadn't ever

done anything that was really tangible, because I was selling

concepts or management programmes or oh, you know, one

thing or another, there wasn't something I could hold in my

hands and say, Look, this is what I did or what I made. So

it's a real delight for me at this age to discover it.

And is it art for you?

Yeah, no, it kind of is. I watched, I watched my

son who I believe he is, you know, he just can't stop doing

art in one form or another. It just pours out of him. And I've

never, I've never watched someone who is so natural at

wanting to do art. And so I look at him doing it. And I think

well, that's real art. Whereas knitting, I'm just following a

pattern. But having said that, I do look at my shawls all hanging

up. And I just appreciate the beauty of them. And I can feel

good that I made them. Yeah,

I guess you're choosing your materials and your

colours. And so I don't know what the official definition of

art is, but you're also sounds like for you, particularly

giving meaning. And yeah, showing your values through your

work. Yeah, that's, I guess, part of an artistic process, I

would imagine.

Yeah, I can't remember. I can't remember

somebody saying, you know, if you can hang it on your wall and

appreciate it, then it's art and really, I don't wear my shawls,

because they're so less comfortable for me to wear. My

neck gets so hot, but I do hang them on the wall and look at

them and appreciate them. So yeah, I'll take that.

I wondered about the materials actually, about

whether there was anything I don't know therapeutic or

different about different materials about the you know,

like you said about it being tangible holding in your hand.

Yeah, feels whether you've got certain, I don't know, days

where you want a certain type of thing in your hands. Like,

yeah, I would say so. Yeah. I am. I've been

knitting with sort of fingering weight mostly super Superwash

Merino, and I have a really big stash of yarn. That is that

Superwash Merino fingering weight yarn, and I love knitting

with that. It's very soft for my I got more sensitive skin now

than I used to. Having said that, I met a designer and yarn

Dyer called Marina Skua, who is on Instagram as well. And she

sources her yarn from local farms. And I bought some of her

yarn and knit a jumper called the Boskular in the spring. And

I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed knitting with non

superwash yarn well with her yarn especially yeah It was so

springy, and again, that whole kind of being present in every

stitch. Even though I was knitting in the round for a lot

of it. Every stitch I enjoyed, and I thought, wow, that I can

see why people love non superwash yarn now It didn't

feel itchy. It felt so springy. And because I've met her, and I

think she's a cool person. And I love her designs, it was her

design as well. Okay. Again, that was, you know, lots of

meaning and the fact that was, you know, local to her and local

to me because she lives locally. So I was picturing these sheep

that are not very far away from here. So yeah, definitely. But

generally speaking, I am drawn to the colour of the yarn or the

artistry in the hand dyeing first. But if it's by a person

who I either think is not promoted enough, or who I really

love, for whatever reason, then I will really enjoy knitting

with their yarn. Yeah,

yeah. i You've shared a few significant projects. And

obviously, I can could see lots behind you. And, and we met

Bernard, but I wonder if you would tell us about a

particularly significant knitting project for you. Hmm,

well, I, I would say that the Sussurus pullover

by Joji and the Swoon sweater by Susan Lin have the greatest

meaning to me that I've mentioned. But another one that

is definitely high up on my list of significant projects is my

mum and I went to Edinburgh yarn Festival in 2018, and then 2019.

And in 2018, I went with the intention of buying yarn to make

a Telja sweater by Jennifer Steingass. And we ended up at

the mYak booth and bought yarn from mYak to make this jumper

and is quite an investment. But I'd read the story again of mYak

and how mYak was born and was amazed by the project in the

Himalayas that had created this yarn. So I got the yarn. And

before I went back to Edinburgh yarn Festival, the next year, I

met the jumper and then had a photo with Paola, who runs my AK

wearing my jumper, so that was just Yeah, super significant,

super special. And again, as I was knitting it, and as I wear

it, I was thinking of the project in the Himalayas and

what mYak have done to try and get more income back into that

community. And so yeah, that's another good significant one for

me. A knitting disaster, which turned into a success, yet,

again, is quite significant. I was entered into a yarn giveaway

by a podcaster called Shannon, who does the Whiskey and Wool

podcast and I love her podcast, she is in New Jersey. And she I

learned a lot about colour and design from her because she's

been in that industry for many years. So she entered me into

this giveaway. And we won and we each won a sweaters quantity of

yarn from Garnstories. So the yarn arrived, I decided what I

was going to knit with it, which was the Igawa sweater by Junko

Okamoto. And I think I it's a fingering weight jumper and I

knit about a half of it and then ripped it back because I wasn't

happy with the shape or something, knit three quarters

of it and ripped it all the way back because I wasn't happy with

a colour pooling and then knit it again. And now I love it, but

You knit the same pattern?

Yeah, so it was weeks and weeks of knitting. And

I can remember my little brother just being absolutely amazed

that I'd somehow learnt so much patience because the Ros that he

knew of old would never have done that. I used to be go

karting skydiving, scuba diving, Formula One, etc, etc.

adrenaline junkie, absolutely. He just couldn't compute that. I

would do that. It's I think it's a good thing.

Do you think that transfers outside of knitting

that you've that patience? or Yeah,

interesting. To some extent, I still would say,

I mean, I've had to learn patience through being ill. And

knitting has helped me to learn that I think I'm an

extraordinarily patient mother. If I do say so myself

Well that's a big achievement

Well, I learned from my mum who had four I don't

know how she did it, I only have one. But yeah, I noticed myself,

because being more patient with him when I could become more

impatient. And just the reward that that brings, but I Yeah,

it's a tricky one. There's a lot of the old me that is still

there. And I'm still pretty sassy. And I still drive my

husband mad with, you know, one thing or another, as I would

have done when I was completely well,

but I guess theres a lot you have to tolerate in

terms of the limitations of what you can manage because of your

illness. Yeah, I guess. I can't actually, yeah, it's I'm sure

it's being used up in droves in that sense.

Exactly. Like, it's a surprise every day when I try

and walk. And I can't walk as I thought I was going to walk,

it's still a surprise every day. And so yeah, you have to limit

yourself, but I think I've just learnt to sort of change my

milestones, I guess. And it has taught me to be really grateful

for the smaller or all the more important things that I would

have just taken for granted. before. Yeah. So think there's

an awful lot that I am grateful for, that I would not have

discovered had I not had to slow down completely. Yeah.

And I think that you have mentioned so many things

already. But I wanted to end with this question. Which feel

free to mention something you've already said, but what's the

greatest gift that knitting has given you for the rest of your

life, I suppose.

Um I think the biggest gift is that it's the

community. And the the understanding that it's given me

of how important community is how flawed community can be, but

how even from bed, I can take an active part in, in that

community. And I gained so much from it. And I feel like I do my

best to give back to it. I think patience, as we've said,

already, is a big gift, especially for me. But also, I

think, especially it's that forcing yourself to be present.

And that is a huge gift. Because so much of life is so fast. So

being able to just focus on each stitch isagreat lesson in

general for for life. And, you know, I notice myself being more

present in the rest of my life. Thanks to knitting, I would say

yeah. So it's a lot, a lot of gifts really

I mean, it is a lot. And I think if I hadn't

been signed off sick, maybe it wouldn't be as much but because

I don't go out now. And you know, it is it is pretty much

everything. So

yeah, but I'm guessing there are actually a

lot of knitters in the knitting community who feel like it has

had a really significant role in there. Because I guess a lot of

people may be attracted to it because of finding challenges

with other hobbies or other parts of life. And there's

something that draws them to it in the first place.

Yeah, I agree. I agree. There's and I think this

the the very act of it is soothing. And so yeah, I think

when you meet other knitters, you've got that whole sense of

you know, We know something the rest of the world doesn't. This

is actually really cool and I guess

that's part of the podcast is trying to let other

people in on the secret really Yeah. knitters, you see, you

know, knitting pins about, you know, I knit because punching

people is frowned upon or things that allude to there's something

therapeutic about it, I suppose, in a roundabout way. Well, that

was my reading of those kinds of statments

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And it's something that

is, you know, I think a lot of people are either I remember

when I was working, and, you know, a lot of people work a lot

of hours, your whole identity is tied up with what you're what

you're doing your job. And when you become a parent, if you

become a parent, your whole identity is suddenly swallowed

up with, I'm a parent. And knitting gives you an outlet

that is neither of those things. So there's just for your own

joy. And I think that's really important. You know, so I don't

think of myself as a sick person. I don't really think of

myself as a knitter, either. I, you know, I'm a person who has a

passion. And you know, I've been very lucky in a lot of areas of

my life, but I love the fact that it gives people something

other than just their career, or, you know, just the fact of

being a parent, which are great things, but they, you know, it's

nice that they're not the be all and end all, I think,

yeah. And to have a way of, I think, yeah, the

expression of creativity.

Definitely. Yeah.

Yeah. Well Ros thank you so much for talking to me.

And I'm sure there'll be

such a pleasure.

people who would love to see your beautiful creations

and all your colourful shows online. Can you just tell me how

they can find you online on Instagram?

Cool. Yeah, absolutely. So I'm on Instagram

as Rosemonde. Which is what I used to get called when I went

to school in Montreal in Canada. So that's why

so that's a Rosemonde with the second o, is a zero?

Yeah. I am not on Ravelry. But I have an account

that is still there that has old projects on there, which is

again Rosemonde. But the first zero first Oh is a zero.

Just to keep us on our toes.

I don't know why I did that. I don't know why I did

that. But there we are. But Instagram is really where I And

yeah. Okay, super. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for listening to the why I knit

podcast. If you'd like to hear more about how I'm using

knitting for therapeutic benefits. Please follow me on

Instagram at knitting is therapeutic or on my website

which is therapeutic knitting. If you or anyone you know would

be a great guest on the podcast then please get in touch.