The Analogue Knitter, And The Dopamine Fast.

The Joy Of Going Analogue

“The Dopamine Fast” became a fad in Silicon Valley way back in the late 20-teens, after Californian Psychiatrist, Dr Cameron Sepah, created the catch phrase that highlighted our addiction to feel-better-quick-fixes. The concept has been misunderstood (you cannot fast from a natural brain chemical response), and the core tenet has been lost; that we should practice mindfulness regularly, get out in nature more, connect with people around us, and get off our freaking screens. But what (I hear you ask), has this got to do with knitting? Well, this week I was called ‘The Analogue Knitter’ by someone on Instagram, and it got me thinking. 

Back in 2022, Lenstore Hub published an article claiming that the average person in the UK scrolls the length of the Eiffel Tower each day, and in December 2024 The Guardian wrote about how doom-scrolling is shrinking our grey matter. In the Journal of Integrative Neuroscience (2022), a peer reviewed research paper linked screen time in the early years of brain development to early onset dementia. You get the point… screens aren’t great, and it is understandable that the idea of a “Digital Detox”, or “Dopamine Fast”, can sound very appealing, especially when it’s whipped up on Tick-Tock and the science is left to fester in the backwaters of academia. Why would we want to understand brain chemistry when the platforms we get our news from prefer us to have an attention span that is smaller than a goldfish (or is that also a myth?!).

A Creative Brian

Dopamine is often named ‘The Pleasure Hormone’, as we feel it when we get a jolt of pleasure from something; this reward loop keeps us doing something that makes us feel great. The irony of this hormone based neurotransmitter is that it can increase both when we use our phones too much, or meditate. 

There is little doubt that integrating mindfulness into our day-to-day activities is a better use of dopamine than wearing out our thumb pads as we scroll on our phones, and it won’t rot our brains as it increases grey matter instead of diminishing it. All of this is why, as a knitter, I have chosen to step away from screens when I knit. 

I have turned off all the notifications, and my ring tone is on silent, to the point where my brothers joke that lighting the beacons of Gondor would get my attention quicker than a WhatsApp message. But I am human and live with a phone, and so I know all too well how easy it is for me to pick up my device and swipe my way through an hour of my life; that block of plastic and rare earth minerals is just too tempting. However, my knitting makes me feel better. 

I am an analogue knitter and proud of it! I do not use Ravelry, Knit Companion, or a row tracker app. I purchase patterns through the designers' websites that I follow on Instagram, or I ask my local yarn shops to email the patterns if they are only on Ravelry (which supports our LYSs in the process), and I print them off, meaning I follow paper patterns. The reasons I do this are personal to me, but I hope that they spark some food for thought for you too. 

Less Screens, More Brain.

Our hands and minds are connected.

There are two fantastic bi-products of getting creative (away from a screen) on a regular basis; you calm down whilst your brain thickens up! 

Grey matter in your frontal cortex is stimulated when you create, and it has been shown that when you do it regularly that area of the brain ‘thickens’ (a bit like growing muscles getting stronger). The same is true for the hippocampus part of your brain, where memory and learning happen. These areas love knitting, especially when we challenge ourselves with new techniques, patterns, maths, problems to solve, and colour! It’s like a mental gym session as our brains love working things out and succeeding, which gives us the dopamine hit that keeps us coming back for more. (It’s pretty cool, really!)

Knitting also helps us calm down and feel better when we are feeling low (apart from when we are doing Italian bind-offs or frogging a whole sweater). Our breathing and heart rate drop to a steady, calm state, and the rhythmic, repetitive movement allows us to mindfully become present so that we can tune into a less chaotic thought process, with many saying that it helps to lift them out of depression.

For me, myself, and I, the idea that my brain can come to a quiet spot whilst I listen to gentle music of an audiobook whilst I knit is a wonderful way to spend my evenings. My stress is reduced, I am able to let my brain work away at things I need to process, and there is very little I need to worry about whilst I am enjoying my time with Finchley next to me on the sofa. The fact I get a thicker brain (in the best possible way!!) is a total bonus. 

People Power.

Cozy knitting at the pub with friends.

I love Instagram! It is the only social media I have, and it’s where I meet wonderful gentlefolk of the knitting community, see fresh inspiration, and generally have a grand old time sending anti-Trump and hobbit videos to my mates. However, you will never hear me say that it is better to be on the app than knitting with people. 

I knit with friends three or four times a week here in Falmouth; either at the pub with non-knitters, at the bookshop café with other makers, or at my regular knit-group on a Tuesday. (Last night, I even took my knitting to a sewing group I go to so that I could finish a sleeve!) Building a community through, and with, my knitting is the most precious part of my life. Indeed, The Knitted Wardrobe has changed my life, enabling me to step away from a career that was killing me slowly through diagnosed burn-out. 

Knitting will build your circle of friends and help combat the sense of loneliness that is becoming an epidemic in the western world. The connection with people in your local area is the healthiest part of being human; we need each other.

Peace On Paper

Books will always be part of my life.

For me, the whole point of knitting is to gain a sense of peace. Peace is hard fought for, and is taken easily, and my screens are the silent attackers. 

Reading is another quirky way to get the results of brain thickening through dopamine hits. I read paper books, rather than screens that tell me what percentage of the way through I am, or notify me when I haven’t read in three days. My books just sit there waiting for my attention and my old ticket stubs act as pretty good visual markers of how far I have until I finish the book.

Writing… it’s the same. More paper, more peace, slower breathing, slower heart rate, higher dopamine hits, thicker brain. 

So why would I have a screen on when I am knitting? Of course I print my patterns out, tally my rows and doodle on the edges, and then fold them into my project bags to spill coffee on them later on at the bookshop. 

Ravelry gave me panic attacks. 

All-the-things on all-the-needles.

My relationship with Ravelry needs a bit of explaining, and it is not an overly dramatic statement to say that it gave me panic attacks. 

I first logged on to Ravelry around 2014, and at first I thought it was the best thing to ever happen to knitting! However, I realised after a few years that I’d purchase patterns that I would never knit, and  I felt pressure from all the groups as well as the never ending ques of projects and stash. There were days when I felt bad for not knitting because I had projects that were backing up, which was the antithesis of why I started knitting. I looked in my closet and realised that I had lost my own sense of style, as I was only looking at the popular patterns that came up on the first page and knitting them for my older blogs and Instagram pages. Over the years, I realised that Ravelry was slowly eroding my love for knitting, as I felt as if I was knitting just to keep up with everyone else, rather than knitting for the pleasure of it.

Eventually I came off Ravelry when I realised that it is designed to keep you on the site, and companies only create platforms like that to make more money. If something is free to use, you are the one that is being used.

My Dopamine Fix

It’s pretty obvious that I am a dopamine chaser, just not in the way the tech companies want me to experience it. I love getting some regular dopamine fixes through my knitting, and I get a nerdy kick out of the fact that my brain is getting ticker and juicier every time I do it! 

I am fascinated that the simple act of knitting without a screen, or a Ravelry account, made someone want to label me as an analogue knitter. 

I know what my brain likes; PEACE. That doesn’t make me any better than anyone else, it just means I know how I roll. Neither does it mean that I live a low dopamine lifestyle, it means that I have found a healthy, constantly high, dopamine lifestyle based on mindfulness, creativity, and human connection.

I would encourage you to go down the rabbit hole and read the science on how our brains work, how our bodies react to different stimuli, and what is actually healthy. Dopamine is healthy, we just need to get it in better ways than scrolling on apps that are built to make us more addicted than heroin addicts. 

Until next time, may your needles bring you joy and your frogging be rare. 

Love, Jenny x

The Mindful Wardrobe: Creating Space For Our Creative Makes

Creating A Home With Awareness.

Welcome to 'The Mindful Wardrobe’ series. It's been rummaging around my mind for a while. As I share it with you I hope it will create a space where we can open our wardrobe doors, take a breath, and enjoy some reflection whilst we look at our knitting and sewing projects. The series is a gentle focus on our knitting and sewing projects, mood boards, and where we source our materials, to a rounded chat about sustainable fashion and how we care for our world.

The aim is not simply on what we can gain from our daily meditative knitting and stitching sessions, but how we can powerfully harness a mindful process of creating to help engage with change.

‘Mindfulness’ is a term that was bandied around a lot when I was in the wellbeing and physical rehab world. In all honesty, I got to the point where I became a little disillusioned with it all; someone was always selling something to enable people to slow down and make space. I started to talk about it less and less when I treated my clients as I didn’t want them to think it was yet another thing that they had to put their money into. The concept of pausing, talking a breath, and allowing our mind and body to connect and slow down in harmony is something I feel should be a basic, instinctual, human state - we have a right to be at peace. 

It is with this caveat that I rather hesitatingly start this new blog series; I can assure you that I am not about to try and sell something to you. 

What Is Mindfulness?

Taking time to breathe.

Mindfulness is a practice of reflection in our bodies, our minds, and our hearts. I used to term it the ‘pause-and-breathe’ moments in the day; those times when you are in a grocery queue where you can pause, breathe, and check in with body and mind to align yourself. Mindfulness is nothing more, or less, than being aware of your present state. 

You can broaden this practice out in ways that make sense for you. Personally, I make a point of creating time to breathe with intention each day, and journaling is a powerful tool in my arsenal to help me reflect on the past so that I can focus on positive movement towards my future. Many of my therapy clients used yoga as a useful tool for their own healing, as well as walking and structured meditation. But you get the idea… find some time, be with yourself, gently reflect and enjoy a little peace. You do you, and you don’t have to spend a fortune doing it. 

In this blog series, we are taking mindfulness one step further to see if we can offer breath and peace to the wider world around us.

The Economics Of Mindless Fashion

Fashion and Mindfulness.

We will get to our wardrobes in a moment, but I want to set out the two concepts that we will be returning to, before we begin this series. Consider this our compass setting as we roll out the map before us.

It is worth noting that ‘Mindfulness’ on its own is set to become a billion dollar business by 2027, in a wellness industry that is with trillions. (Yes - that’s Trillions with a T.) 

The fast fashion industry is worth billions also, with Shein alone worth between $66-$100 billion in 2023 according to Mackinsey. If we add every other form of fast fashion, we get another ‘Big T’ heading up the numbers.

Both of these industries, fashion and wellbeing, arguably take advantage of our basic needs for health and clothing on an industrial scale, but we can get into those topics at a later date. Waste, over consumption, debt, slave labour, water pollution… The list is endless. But my point here is that to presume that our wardrobes and our peace of mind are not linked is to be blind to the economic structures of the world that we live in; leggings for a yoga class is the easiest example I can think of.

Inner Development

Taking Time To Stop, Think, And Create.

The term ‘Inner Development’ may seem a little heavy handed for a knitting and sewing blog, but it is the name given to a process that can be used when thinking about human development, or in our case, mindful making. It’s a framework backed by the UN, and if you are keen to learn more, I would encourage you to follow the link below. I learned about this during a masterclass for Sustainable Fashion at Falmouth University, and I thank them for offering this to everyone! 

Inner Development Framework

When we are knitting and sewing at home, embracing Inner Development is a great way of seeing how we can start to turn the tide towards a more sustainable way of life in our own homes, and how that can enable change in our communities: 

1. Being - Our relationship to ourselves

2. Thinking - Our cognitive skills

3. Relating - Caring for those in our world

4. Collaborating - Our social networks 

5. Acting - Enabling Change

(As I look back at my work in rehab for physical trauma, I also think the World Health Organisation’s ICF framework could also be applied to this subject, but that is a whole other tangent!)

We shall be using Inner Development for our series, referring back to it time and again as we grow in our understanding of how we can mindfully create and embrace change for the better. So, let’s start! 

Mindfully Opening The Door

Opening The Wardrobe Door.

Our wardrobes are an eclectic array of rainbows. Different colours, textures, styles, and designers are reflected there. Every time we get dressed in the morning we choose to dress in a way that reflects how we feel and where we are going. Fashion can also be seen as showing off our economic and political stances to those we meet or pass in the streets. Our wardrobes are never ‘just clothes’.

Before we delve into the series, I want to encourage you to download the pdf and take it to where you house your clothes; your bedroom, dressing room, laundry room, and just sit in that space. 

Opening My Wardrobe Door pdf.

David Hockney was once asked when he knew his paintings were finished, and he said that it was when he could sit with them for an hour and not fiddle with something on the canvas. As you sit there with your clothes, what makes you want to get up and ‘sort it out’? What irritates you? What makes you happy? Is it a colour, a texture, a style? Also, what do you feel is missing?! Is there a red dress that needs to be added, or a sweater that you’ve always hankered after? Is there a spot where a lightweight cardigan could go? What colours do you want to see added to your sock draw?

Other questions could be:

• What does a ‘core closet’ look like for you? 

• What does colour mean for your wardrobe?

• How can you plan our projects in a mindful and meaningful way? 

• Is there a community of makers and creators near you that you can join to help you make your wardrobe? 

All of this gives you data and information to build on later. Take note, write it down, and then just close the door. Allow these note-ings to settle in you for a while; let them be and then see how they evolve. Take note of thoughts that occur later on when you are out for a walk, and embrace time; there is no rush to the next thing we need to do.

The only thing I would encourage you to do is pause, take a deep breathe, and offer thanks for the clothes that you do have, and for the space that they are in.

Let’s Travel Together!

Let's Enjoy Our Mindful Wardrobe.

We have set our compass, and the map has been laid out in front of us, and one thing I am sure of is that we will probably get a little lost in the middle of the series. At the end of this trip together, and what I wish is for, is that these blogs to help us define our wardrobes in ways that reflect our true selves.

“Align Your Wardrobe With Your Values” is the call from Sew Liberated, and I believe this to be a rallying call that we can start to get behind. Even though it will mean different things to each of us, our making and creating can build communities that can help nurture our world in a better way.