And so to the knitting

Soooo, bet you've all been wondering whether I actually did any knitting after threatening to. Well, yes, yes I did. And I kinda liked it, so I did some more. Weird thing is, although as a kid I never got the hang of it, this time round I didn't even have to wait for my mom to teach me, I just picked up the book my husband bought me - The Cool Girl's Guide to Knitting, by Nicki Trench, and jumped in. My mom has since had to help with quite a number of things, but I can, nonetheless, knit. And I taught my husband!

In the last few weeks, I have knitted a scarf for Husband, a scarf for me, a cardigan for my best friend's baby (hope she isn't reading this since I haven't given it to her yet!) and I am halfway through a bunny from Kate Gilbert's awesome pattern. Now, chances are I will never get to taking pictures of all this, so I visited Flickr and voila:

This is how my bunny currently looks:

prebunny, originally uploaded by sassydotnet.

This is more-or-less how he will look when I give him to my nephew on his birthday.
(But in variegated blue)

brown bunny, originally uploaded by pinprick.

Now why on earth can I suddenly knit? Methinks it's for the same reason I can suddenly catch a ball - the yoga. More specifically, the improved proprioception as a result of the yoga. I like to say that this means my brain and my body are finally on speaking terms!

According to Wikipedia, proprioception

is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body. Unlike the six exteroceptive senses (sight, taste, smell, touch, hearing, and balance) by which we perceive the outside world, proprioception is an interoceptive sense that provides feedback solely on the status of the body internally. It is the sense that indicates whether the body is moving with required effort, as well as where the various parts of the body are located in relation to each other.

Improved proprioception makes you feel more 'in your body', more embodied. And it means that anything requiring co-ordination between brain and body gets easier, including driving, dancing, asana, knitting...

My knitting isn't perfect. In fact, that cardigan is a little wonky. But I made it, by hand, with love. And that gives it value. Just like my asana practice is often a little wonky, but I come to it with enthusiasm and faith. And that gives it value.

To paraphrase Arundhati Roy in her 2003 talk, Come September, doing just one thing makes your brain grow in one direction like some tumour. I think I am at risk of a yoga tumour, so now I can expand in other directions.