This is the longest project I have done to date. Actually, it will probably be even longer as I still haven’t finished it and probably won’t until I’m old and grey.

Since I learnt how to knit with my lovely neighbour Jennie (hello Jennie if you are reading!), I have always wanted to make a blanket. It was something that I always craved when I was younger, a handmade blanket by grandma. Unfortunately, my grandma is more of a sewer than a knitter and my mum only knows how to crochet lazy daises. So it turned to me to make my own knitted blanket.

I first started knitted the squares during the first year of university. There was a lot of time socialising but also a lot of time spent alone in my room. I started knitting in my free time but also anywhere and everywhere I went. I remember knitting in bars and at a bus stop, which is easier than you think. I know, its a little sad, but I was so determined!

• 

I didn’t really pick it up again until the beginning of this university year, especially since socialising was now basically none existent.

Over the years, I have somehow accumulated a rather big wool collection without actually knitting with any of it, so it was the perfect project to use it all up.

Through the process of knitting and sewing the blanket together, I actually discovered that it was quite good for my mental health too. I found myself using knitting as a detox from my textile course and regularly spent my Sunday afternoons knitting and actually relaxing. Of course as the semester went on, lots of work piled up and so my knitting project was at a standstill yet again.

• 

However, this Christmas, my determination returned and as a result, piles of knitted squares decorated surfaces around the house. I sewed the blanket together during those random days between Christmas and New Years. It was the perfect task to do while catching up on all of the Christmas TV releases.

As I joke with all of my friends, I am being a little bit of a grandma with doing this project. But mentally, this has been the best project as it has provided me with the much needed respite from the world.

A craft can help you not only be creative, but also can help you forget about the world for a little while. So as you go into the New Year (more like this new lockdown), maybe think about taking up hobby that you can do physically, but more importantly, help you mentally.