What strategies do you use to increase comfort in your daily life?

Last November, my husband started concurrent radiation and chemotherapy in preparation for stomach cancer surgery. For him, it meant sickness, discomfort, and an absolute need for calm and rest. I was talking to a beautiful friend of mine who is my declutter muse and queen of all that’s craft. She gave me a desire to retry learning the art of crochet and I decided to attempt a lap blanket for my husband. She sent me a YouTube link and I spent the next 76 days during chemotherapy visits, radiation visits, exercise physiology visits, and a ten-day stay in hospital post surgery donating my time to a gorgeous, textured baby blanket altered in size to become a hubby recovery lap blanket.

If anyone wants to try this blanket, I will pop the link below:

The beauty of YouTube was the ability to slow the speed down to 25% to enable me to learn the stitches and technique. My dear old Nan had tried to teach me 24 years prior but I never got the hang of it. Since that time, technology has meant that there are so many more resources available to learn crafting techniques and I often google now to learn more stitches.

I would YouTube to keep me focused and occupied at hospital but then I found I could actually sit down and watch TV for longer periods of time.

I haven’t been very good at sitting still for a long time. ADHD and anxiety never helped and my time at university also gave me guilt about watching TV when I should have been studying instead. I ended up finishing the blanket just after Steve left hospital 76 days after I cast on my first chain stitch and it was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.

Hubby was to start immunotherapy to keep him cancer free but I was also trying to take back my life post trauma. I reenrolled into the CPA program and decided to return to doing some knitting patterns as my Nan had successfully taught me to knit 24 years prior and I had taught myself a lot of different stitches afterwards. My daughter and I had met some beautiful ladies at a knitting and crocheting group and whilst she came along with her cross stitching at first, she decided soon after that the ladies knitting was inspirational and she started knitting herself.

The ladies had all said I needed to start a project for myself so I started a cardigan with some wool I’d found on Facebook marketplace and an old pattern I’d found in an op-shop.

Before I could finish my cardigan, a gorgeous lady from knitting invited me to her church and shared a an email from an English church for a communal knit pattern. I started with the Lent knit-a-long shawl with some beautiful lace design and finished it on World Yarn Shop Day in Penrith, NSW.

I had also knitted another one as a gift for my neighbour but I was able to finish that before my own one.

I had always said I would only do one project at a time as I’d spent a lot of time on a prior project a few years ago and never finished it.

The 2021 knit was a vest for my husband but as he went through stomach cancer and associated treatment, he lost a lot of weight and the vest would have been far too large for him. I repurposed the wool into his blanket and I’m glad I did because it was wonderful and could just be thrown into a washing machine if it got dirty as it was made of acrylic.

I still haven’t gone back to the lace cardigan for myself but I did decide to knit hubby his own cardigan as he was diagnosed with metastatic cancer from the stomach cancer and I wanted to make him something he could wear before he passes. I have also found it helps me to sit and study for my CPA exam. The ability to sit for longer periods of time is aided by having something to do with my hands. I am so close to finishing his cardigan and then I will decide to either go back to my cardigan or I will pick another project from my to-be-done list.

I still have to tidy my lounge room before I allow myself to sit but I’ve always done that even before I would study. To set the space you’re creating or studying in makes it conducive to keeping your mind focused on your task. An untidy area will make one feel that they exist in chaos and the brain doesn’t sit well with chaos.

I find comfort in knitting and it’s given me more that just purpose and creativity. It’s given me a bond with my daughter where we share our craft and I am so glad I found myself surrounded by fellow crafters. It’s good to be part of something greater than me. Plus, we got to go to Old Parliament House for World Wide Knitting in Public Day and that was an absolute highlight of our year.

Knitting makes me a happier person who is creative and feels quite clever. It gives me comfort through all the trauma. Art is therapeutic in itself so I will keep practicing my art with the aim to find comfort in the darkness of cancer and caring.