Another Thing I Love About Crochet: It is Relaxing

If I had a nickel for every time someone said to me, "I just don't have the patience to crochet," I would, hmm, let's see now..., well, I would have a pretty big sack full of nickles.
These folks usually follow that statement up with something like, "I just can't sit still long enough to  crochet." And my answer to that is that I can only sit still if I have some crochet work in my hands. I feel all fiddly if I sit down to watch a movie or something and I don't have a crochet project to work on; I just don't know what to do with my hands.
Yes, it can be frustrating and difficult to sit still and crochet when you are just learning. Everything that is worth learning takes some time and effort. But if you keep at it (and it usually doesn't take very long) there will come a glorious moment when you will "get it," and the stitches start to flow easily. You won't  have to concentrate on every single movement, your hands relax, and crochet becomes the joy, the relaxing activity that has saved my sanity on more than one occasion.

When my children were small, I looked forward to the moments I could slip away to my favorite chair and add a few stitches to what ever project I had going; often it was the only time I had for myself during the day. The repetitive motion of crocheting the familiar stitches seemed to sooth my nerves, and the stress of the day would melt away.
When my mother was sick, I sat by her bed and crocheted. I would have lost my mind if I didn't have something to work on during that stressful time. I made easy projects; baby blankets and afghans with easy stitch patterns that I didn't have to think about. I could stop in the middle of a row or even in the middle of a stitch, get up and tend to Mama, and then pick my work back up. Sometimes she would look over at me, and seeing what I was doing, she would begin to make the motions of crocheting, too (of course, she had no hook or thread in her hands.) A nurse came in one afternoon, and seeing Mama's hands moving asked   if she was okay; she thought she was agitated about something. "She is just crocheting," I told her, holding up my own hook and yarn. The nurse laughed, and said, "Make something pretty for me, Mrs. Loftis!"
But it seems to me that when my hands are busy my mind can be still, or at least drift a little. When I crochet, I feel peaceful and calm. It is the most relaxing thing I know of, and that is one of the reasons I love crochet.