Knitting Brings Peace to Cynthia
Knitting is very much part of Cynthia Mulholland’s lifestyle and it would be a very rare day that she isn’t tapping those knitting needles for at least three or four hours.
And she is not alone, especially since the covid lockdown.
Hundreds of people have taken up the hobby in recent months but there was already a growing trend of crafters keen to create.
You only have to look at the numbers that attended the annual Fibre Fest in Singleton.
This three-day event attracted 1500 people on the Sunday alone. It has been cancelled for 2020 because of covid and Cynthia says one of the local businesses that may miss the event the most will be Singleton’s Royal Hotel.
“We had a night of knitting at the pub last year and suddenly the pub was full of 100 people, sitting around knitting in amongst the patrons,” Cynthia said adding that the world of crafting is on an upward trend.
The health benefits are widely recognised and it is not just the dexterity required in hooking the yarn.
“It is the mindfulness, the benefits to your mental health, I feel like I enter a moment of zen, I am suddenly relaxed, the world’s problems become a lot smaller, you become instantly calm,” Cynthia said.
As a child, Cynthia said her mother tried to teach her to knit many times and was just about to give up.
“I came home from school and announced I wanted to knit, mum took me to buy some wool and I have been knitting ever since.”
You have to remember this was during the 1980s, in the golden era of Ken Done, padded shoulders and the television show Dallas.
“Everyone was making their own clothes, I had friends who were all creative, sensational sewers, we were all making and wearing our own clothes,” Cynthia said.
Nowadays it is people in their late 20s and early 30s who are starting to take to crafting.
For Cynthia, it is her go-to thing and she always has a few projects on the go.
She teaches knitting, makes commissioned items and operates her own wool store which is perhaps a dangerous thing.
The fibres have never been more diverse.
“Gone are the scratchy old school jumpers we use to wear, we have linen, silk, cotton, bamboo and natural fibres, everything really,” Cynthia said.
So, if you are looking for a new challenge, something to take you to your ‘zen’ maybe give knitting a try.