Brain Fog and Crochet: How Crafting Helps me Feel Clearer (Even when I'm not)

Living with Chronic illness means living with a LOT of brain fog. Those heavy, hazy days when words slip through your fingers and even simple tasks feel like puzzles. It's frustrating, isolating, and honestly? sometimes a little terrifying. But more than anything, crochet always helps me feel more grounded and like I know what I'm doing. It's not a cure, it doesn't magically lift the brain fog. But, it brings shape to the shapeless, routine to the chaos, and sense of clarity when everything else feels a little muddled or confusing.

Today, I want to share how crafting, especially crochet and knitting, helps me survive and sooth the brain fog days, and why it might help you too!

What Brain Fog Feels Like (If you didn't know!)

Brain fog isn't just "being tired" or "being distracted". It's like trying to think under water. Like your thoughts are sticky or floating just out of reach. Like someone turned your brain to the static channel and handed you a to-do list in another language.

For me, brain fog might look like:

• Forgetting what I'm trying to say mid-sentence

• Forgetting what I'm doing or what I came into the room for

• Losing track of conversations or tasks.

• Struggling to focus on "easy" tasks

• Feeling disconnected from myself and my surroundings, which usually makes me feel very anxious.

• Getting extremely overwhelmed by tiny decisions (like what I want to eat from somewhere I've eaten 100 times without looking at the menu, or what I want to wear).

• Forgetting small things that I do daily and don't know why I forgot them.

It's not about motivation. It's about my mental access. There's quite a few days where I can't think straight, so I need something tangible. something I can hold, see, and do without overthinking.

Crochet as a Grounding Tool

Here's why crochet is magic for my foggy brain!

1. Repetition = Safety

The rhythm of the hook, yarn, stitch, repeat is like a lullaby for my nervous system. When my brain is super scattered, crochet gives it a predictable, repetitive, and countable pattern to follow. The constant "1,2,3" of making a stitch is the most important part of helping me calm down and settle in. that counting is what soothes my brain the most. But most of all, I don't need words, I don't need the sharp focus that other things (like blog writing) may take. I just need my hands and a skein.

2. Tactile Cues Bring me Back

   When I'm dissociating or mentally drifting, TEXTURE. IS. EVERYTHING. The feeling of the yarn between my fingers is physically grounding and it brings me back to my body without demanding as much effort from my brain. Plus, fiber feels good. It's a gentle, nonverbal comfort, and if the project is big enough, the weight of the project itself on my lap is extremely comforting.

3. Visual Progress Helps Me Feel Capable

Brain fog often steals my sense of accomplishment. I often forget what I've done or don't feel like I've done "enough". But with crochet and knitting? I can see my progress. Even a few rows of a new bag or a sweater can remind me that I did something today. I made something. I'm not completely useless, I'm just unwell and that's a big difference. I can sit down and make an entire outfit with some string and a hook. There's very few people that are in my personal life that can do something like that, which is really cool to me.

Low Spoon Crochet Practices that Work for me!

Because brain fog comes with a lot of physical fatigue, and not just the "I'm tired" fatigue but the "holy crap my body feels like it's 90 more pounds than it was yesterday and I feel 90 times weaker than I was yesterday". So to help with that, I keep these low-effort practices ready!

• Make Scrunchies - These are my fastest project with my thickest yarn available right now, so they're pretty mindless and easy to make. I love to work on these when I'm not feeling well!

• Repetitive patterns - a lot of my patterns are essentially just repeats of the same rows over and over. While it may be boring for other people, that's on purpose. Not only does it allow me to remember what I'm doing without having to revert back to a pattern every time I start a project, but it also allows uniformity for all sizes in each of the clothes, and it makes it so much easier to do the same things over and over again.

• "Comfort" projects - My absolute favorite mindless project are the Dragon Egg Dice Bags. They're the same 2 rounds repeated over and over for as long as you need, and then a few more rounds of regular stitching, then make a string. I have really learned to come to love making these when I feel like I don't have the energy to make much else. The same goes for Hair and Pet bandanas, they are so much fun and so easy to make!

• Stretching Sessions - If I'm planning on sitting and crocheting for a while, I'll keep an eye on the clock and just about every half hour - hour, I try to make sure that I get up, walk around, stretch, go to the bathroom, whatever I need to do, so then I don't create more of an issue with being in added pain.

• Work-in-Bed kits- My Grandmother got me a yarn bag for Christmas, that has a little pencil pouch on the side. That yarn bag holds whatever I need for the project I'm on, even the one pound balls of yarn, and the pouch holds a few stitch markers, a tube of darning needles, my hook and a spare hook, scissors, and a stitch counter, and I'm all set to go!

I also give myself full permission to unravel, redo, or abandon projects if I mess up or lose steam. I can always frog my pieces and get the yarn back! Crochet isn't about productivity, it's about your presence and thought put into each piece.

The Mental Health Side:

There's something really healing about creating while fogged out. It's almost like I'm reminding myself "You are still here, and you are still capable." my hands remember what my brain forgets in crochet, like they do for music and guitar too. My creativity isn't gone, it's just moving more slowly. Crochet becomes an act of self-trust and reliance. Even on days when I feel like I can't write, plan, or even hold much of a conversation, I can crochet. As slowly as I want, as quickly as I want. without pressure. And really, that gives me hope. Not only has it given me hope, but Crochet in and of itself has helped my anxiety so much. That repetitive motion, counting, nothing ever changing unless I make it, it's made my anxiety a lot more manageable.

It Doesn't Have to be The Best Piece to be Powerful

Some of my favorite pieces came from my foggiest days. That's where I came up with the idea for the t-shirt dresses! They're not perfect. Some have uneven tension, a missed stitch, or maybe a color combination I wouldn't have grabbed from the store with a clearer head. But they're honest. They carry the energy of survival of slowness, and of showing up with what I had. If you live with brain fog, I hope you find your own version of this. it doesn't have to be crochet. It can be knitting, painting, beading, gardening, maybe it's just doodling in a notebook. WHat matters is finding something that your body can do when your brain can't. Because you're still worthy of expression, even when your thoughts are tangled. You're still a maker, even if it's slow, and your fog doesn't erase your light, it just softens it. So, here's to soft yarn, slow stitching, and quiet moments of clarity- one loop at a time!

Peace, Love, and All the Above: Ella Marie <3