Knitting to Quit (smoking that is!)

General Knitting
1

Anyone else use knitting to quit smoking?

I have been a half-pack a day smoker for 5-6 years now. Had a bad cold last week that really knocked me on my butt. I realized after a couple days sick that I hadn’t smoked at all. Decided to take it as an opportunity and ride with it.
Nabbed some niccotine gum and my knitting, and I have only had 2 cigs since last Thursday!

You can’t smoke while you are knitting! Hands are full, and you need to focus. I have ADHD and need something to keep my mind and hands occupied non-stop, knitting is the PERFECT solution!

Anyone else?

2

Congratulations! Anything you can do to quit is good! :hug: (I don’t smoke, but my DH did so I know quitting is very hard!)

3

Keep it up! That’s great news. You’ll end up free of cigarettes and have lots of lovely knitted pieces. All the best!

4

I sympathize. I’m trying to cut down and hopefully quit. If it helps, think about all the yarn you could buy if you didn’t buy cigarettes. Maybe a visit to Knitpicks’ yarn section would be a good motivator.

5

Yep! That is exactly my line of thought. I bought myself a new pair of needles and some new yarn last night, I spent what I would normaly spend every Friday on cigs.

PM me if you want to quit together, extra support is always good!

6

Good for you!! I keep up the good work :thumbsup:

7

[FONT=Century Gothic]How funny that you posted this right as I’m quitting smoking too lol.

I’m trying to use knitting to quit smoking, but it’s actually more of a motivation. What I absolutely hate is when I’m working with a light colored yarn, and I forget to wash my hands after I’ve smoked, and 9 or 10 rows down I start to notice a pesky little nicotine stain on my yarn. I have to generally wash all of my projects after I’m done with them, because I knit for charity, and not only do I not want my stuff to have residual nicotine stains on them, but I also don’t want to donate a whole bunch of smelly items (my apartment complex actually requires that we all smoke INDOORS because of the layout of the apartment, so all of my things smell like smoke, regardless). I know that a lot of homeless people smoke, but I prefer to leave it up to them to make their clothes smell like cigarettes if that’s what they want lol.[/FONT]

[FONT=Century Gothic]Anyways, we’re in it together!!![/FONT]
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Also, here’s a good tip: when I was in the hospital as a minor, they obviously wouldn’t let me smoke. To counteract the withdrawals, they gave me 6 - 10 B complex vitamins a day. It was a little much, but if you take 2 B-Complex, it will help with the headaches and also the fatigue.[/FONT] [FONT=Century Gothic]You’ll still have physical cravings, but at least you won’t be doubled over in pain while falling asleep standing up lol.[/FONT]

8

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OMG how doubly funny! I asked my boyfriend the other day, “So, if I really quit, can I get a few skeins of this cashmere/wool blend from knitpicks.com?”

$6 something for a skein of the above mentioned yarn…[/FONT]

9

How much are cigarettes these days? (I haven’t smoked since 1973) I guess I could google that…
just wait…I’ll check…hmmm…:??

…well, it’s hard to find…but this is what I saw for the State in which I live, and this was published in 2009:

[COLOR=Navy]May 4, 2009 [B]…[/B] A pack of premium [I]cigarettes[/I] in [I]Washington[/I] now [I]costs[/I] at least[B] $7,[/B] which adds up to more than $2500 a year for pack-a-day smokers[B]…[/B][/COLOR]

Well what’s my point already, you ask? I want you to go get yourself a piggie bank…and on every other day, instead of giving your cigarette money to Safeway, put $7 in your piggie bank. You smoke 1/2 pack a day? $3.50 a day by 2009 Washington State prices. Put that money in the piggie bank and call it your [B]KNITTING & YARN FUND! [/B]

Use your smoking money to purchase quality yarn! Yarn that you wouldn’t purchase anyways. Or, purchase a set of Addi CLICKS interchangeables! Or, purchase the full set of BOTH KnitPicks OPTIONS and Harmony’s! Use your smoker money for a luxury knitting item! A wooden swift and ball winder! A professional blocking board! A new Namaste knitting bag!

Every time you use your new Addi CLICKS, or wooden swift & ball winder, or any LUXURY knitting item…think to yourself: “This could have gone up in [B]smoke!”[/B]

If you are just 1/2 pack-a-day smoker, [B][COLOR=Blue]you will collect $105 in your YARN FUND each and every month! [/COLOR][/B] ($1,260 per year!) With that kind of [B] knitting cash stash,[/B] you could really [B]go hog wild[/B] at next year’s Stitches, with classes and yarn!

[B]I didn’t mention [/B]anything about the [B]health benefits[/B] of a non-smoking life. You know all that. Wish my mother had realized the benefits. She died at age 46 of smoker’s lung cancer. It was ugly.

And best wishes to you and your resolve to quit smoking! :thumbsup: Your family will bless you for doing it for them, if not for yourself!

Now go get that piggie bank set up!

10

I never smoked really, but knitting cured me of my lifelong nail biting habit.

11

I say never give up trying, even if this isn’t your time to quit. Eventually, it will be if you really want it. I tried at least once a year for many years unsuccessfully. [B]January 2011 made 2 years smoke-free for me!![/B] I smoked for about 17 years, at least a pack a day. I quit using the prescription drug Chantix. It worked better than any other method I have ever tried and it didn’t pump more nicotine into me while trying to quit the stuff. It does have side effects, but if you can afford it, it is worth it in the long term to deal with it. It worked so well for me that mentally I shut down to cigarette smoke. It actually makes me sick to stomach to even smell cigarettes now. I hear people say they quit 10+ yrs ago and still have cravings…NOT ME. I will never touch a cigarette again. You can do it!!!

12

Breezed,
I am so glad that you have quit smoking. I am a non smoker child of a smoking parent. My oldest child was born with kidney disease and birthdefects after I had to breathe 2nd hand smoke for the entire 9 months I was pregnant( I was in the US Navy at that time). I worked in an offoce where every one but me and one other girl, were chain smokers. My son is now almost 35 aand has had a kidney transplant to save his life. His birth defects were corrected before he started school.When he is clean shaven he looks like he is maybe 15 or 16 years old. Young female children under 13 years old are always asking him to go out with them. My son always says no, I am not a pediphile . When he was in his early 20’s a eleven year old girl wanted to go out with him, he said no. She went and complained to her mother that my son would not go out with her. Her mother came to talk to me and I said my son is an adult , he does not date children. She did n;t belive he was an adult, I asked would she like to see his birth certificate. She then believed that he was as old as I said he was.

13

So glad that you’re trying to quit smoking…I only smoked for 5 years in my twenties, but it took me another five years to quit, once I started…toughest thing I ever did.

but I didn’t like the way I smelled when smoking; ciggy smoke infused all my clothes, hair, furniture…and how expensive! So many better ways to spend money. Chewing gum helped a lot, but staying away from my favorite cuppa coffee too…to break an addiction I always need to break other things that go with it…

when I gave up alcohol, I even had to drop a few friends who loved to hang out in bars. That was very very tough.

but today, I feel cleaner and healthier for it, and my hair smells great!

14

You are so right. Every time I changed a negative lifestyle habit, I had to give up several things. It’s typically the environment that enables it to continue and makes it harder to give. I had to give up coffee for a while too when I quit smoking but now I can have my coffee and it has no relation to smoking anymore. And I also decided not to drink any alcohol, even in small quantities, and I had to give up a few friends along the way. They just weren’t supportive and didn’t try to understand I wasn’t condemning others, I was making a healthier choice for MY body. They didn’t get it so I said cya.

15

Oh my…my GP prescribed me Champix (same drug, different licensed name over here) to get me off cigs before a scheduled operation last year. Using will-power alone was failing me and patches actually burn me…literally within 20 mins of putting patch on I have a red square of burned skin underneath.:pout:

However…it just didn’t work for me…on cigarettes anyway…continued to smoke like a trooper all the way through the course…absolute no side-effects from smoking whilst on Champix at all.:shrug:
However…after we gave up on Champix as a fix for my smoking habit…it took me about 6 weeks before I could even so much as sniff a cup of coffee :teehee: :teehee: :teehee:

Hubby stopped about 3 weeks ago,and I’m so proud of him :muah: . I’ve tried and failed to give-up on the last 3 Mondays…but I’ve 6 cigarettes left in my pack today, and my van won’t start due to an annoying electrical fault…so no chance of getting in to town tonight or tomorrow for any more. So, maybe if I can get through tonight & tomorrow…I’ll be on my way!:blooby:

My medical care team gave me the green light last week for us to start a family:sun: :woot: …after we’ve been told for what feels like too long that we weren’t allowed…and that is my newest motivation for stopping the ghastly, stinky things!:angelgrin: Crossed Fingers

But knitting does seem to be a great distraction from smoking - definitely the more I knit the less I smoke :cheering: :pray:

16

I taught myself to knit with the help of this website and a book almost 5 1/2 years ago to help me quit smoking and I am proud to say I have been smoke free ever since!:happydance:

17

Noseysheep, that is fantastic!!! Baby-makin time is the perfect excuse to quit!

Just knit up a storm! Every free second, knit baby blankets and sweaters and booties and hats and toys! Everything you could possibly knit for a baby! You HAVE to quit for the bambino!

Oh that is so awesome!!:cheering:

18

I’ve been trying to quit for about a year now, and have started back up twice. I’m about to give up on quiting, I don’t think it’s the right time for me. Good luck in ya’lls attempts though. :slight_smile:

19

I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who can’t quite manage to quit. The best advice I’ve been given is to just keep trying and it WILL click sooner or later! Best of luck to you, too!

20

crazykntter83, never say you’re giving up. Just say it didn’t work [B]this[/B] time. You will try again another time. Always end with maybe next time.

Congratulations to all of the other quitters out there and good luck to those that are trying. You can do it.