Crochet as a Mindfulness Tracker

I am not going to sew my own clothes, but I also didn’t want to totally stop crochet. I just needed a more narrow focus for the year. If you know crochet and knitting you have probably heard of a temperature blanket. This is a project that lasts the whole year and each day you crochet a row in a color that corresponds to the temperature that day.

By Anne Heerdt

I have several loves, and many projects.

I like to sew, crochet, cook, hike and of course meditate. In 2022 I crocheted hats, several types of octopus toys and some fun “yarn bombs” (public yarn displays without necessarily having permission). Crochet has been so soothing at times, creatively challenging at others and darn frustrating on occasion. It has been a primary activity for me for a long time.

Meditation has also been a main activity since college.

During the years of raising kids and working sometimes multiple jobs, it has been a flexible practice. I practiced baby rocking meditation, stop light mini-meditation, running meditation, OMG is it Metallica meditation, outdoor meditation, and then sitting meditation. In 2023 I get to do a lot of meditation as part of a teacher training program.

With the focus on more meditation and study I realized I might need to pare down all my other projects. I am not going to sew my own clothes, but I also didn’t want to totally stop crochet. I just needed a more narrow focus for the year.

If you know crochet and knitting you have probably heard of a temperature blanket. This is a project that lasts the whole year and each day you crochet a row in a color that corresponds to the temperature that day. There are also year long projects people do based on their moods, and my daughter found one project where a person tracked their poop.

That last one is not for me.

However I thought about how this could support my more disciplined focus on practice. The meditation crochet blanket project was born. I picked three colors of purple that would correspond to meditating 15, 30 or 45 minutes a session. I chose a gold color to represent days I am on retreat, and a rose color to show when I have sangha time.

The basic format is a granny square per day. I use the center to show if I had sangha time, retreat time or gray if neither of those was that day. Then I have two rounds for 2 sessions of meditation per day. If I only do one session then I use gray as a “quiet color.”

Tracking meditation, like tracking weight or exercise or food, has some real benefits.

There is also a risk of getting into comparing and judging that can make it a negative experience. I knew I needed a plan to make this a positive experience rather than one that developed into those negative mind states.

There is a joy in challenging ourselves. I watch the kids on the playground who try those monkey bars day after day, and enjoy it even when they fall. That is the same joy I wanted to bring into challenging my practice.

The first part of my plan was to choose a method of tracking I really enjoyed and would want to do anyway. I crochet almost every day already, so a 10 minute granny square is about right. I do have a simple tracking system so I can do a few days at once instead of staying up just to crochet a square.

Some ideas if you choose to track your practice are to color a square in a pattern or on a calendar, use a piece of fabric as part of a quilt, weaving or create an embroidery pattern. There are also apps that track your meditation, and I love getting up to many days in a row.

The next important part was to have a color or way of tracking a “quiet time” that was not bringing in a judging mind. I found a soft gray that worked well with the other colors for the times I didn’t meditate. I can see if there is a lot of gray, but it is still a color that looks good with the overall blanket.

Planning ahead for a sick day reduced some of my stress. Along with that I planned for short meditation times. I wanted to say I would meditate at least 30 minutes every time, but honestly some days are two 15 minute sessions. The plan is to track it rather than set myself up to be discouraged. I can imagine a project where one tracking color is 5 or 10 minutes.

The goal for me was to be consistent and aware of my practice.

The benefit (in 17 days so far) is that I push a little to do even a short meditation. I know that over the last two years it has been easy to say I need sleep more than practice. Now I ask myself if I really am too tired to do just a 15 minute meditation, or if scrolling on social media until bed is worth having a gray square for the day.

There is a lot more accountability to my practice, and I am enjoying it. I realize process, which is my balance to going into a judging or comparing mindset. I also remember those kids on the monkey bars, and how they challenge themselves with joy.

Sharing has been a nice bonus. If you are interested in following my progress then please find my Instagram. If you want directions on how to do the project then reach out there or Facebook and I would be happy to share the directions!

Anne Heerdt (she/her) is a meditator, crochet artist, avid cook, mom to three and grandmother to two now! She has been meditating since college, in 1985. She is excited to start the MMTCP program in 2023 to become a certified mindfulness teacher. If you want to follow her progress on the blanket find her on Instagram.