1. Portable.. you can take your knitting with you most places and quietly go about your business.

2. Social. If you are unafraid to knit in public you will find that people are keen to stop and chat. You can also join a knitting social group, like a book club, to learn new skills, be inspired or just gossip and drink wine! As I said, just like a book club!

3. Support the Wool Industry and Sheep farmers. Ideologically I love the idea that Wool is a natural resource, we wont delve too far into the chemical processing in China that happens with almost all Australian wool. However it is still possible to support small scale wool farmers on a local level, such as Tarndie and Ton of Wool.

4. Creativity. Even if you don't consider yourself to be particularly creative, with a little perseverance I'm sure anyone could knit a scarf and show it proudly to your friends and family. (Of course the holes are meant to be there!) The What Jane Knits kits are a great place to start.

5. Constantly learning. Once you have mastered the basics of knitting it's not a far stretch to learn new skills and techniques. In fact create an account on Ravelry.com and you will soon find your self inspired, if only to make that gorgeous brioche beanie! Note: Brioche knitting and brioche pastry are not the same.. but both are fairly enticing!

6. Sharing skills. It used to be common for the older generation to hand down skills such as knitting to the youth. These days technology has kind of kicked those old school skills to the curb and the kids are teaching Grandparents how to set up their Facebook page on the new iPad. Learning to knit or teaching someone else to knit is a great way to bridge the generation gap.

7. Gift giving. People often tell me I'm good at finding presents for people. My reply to that is it is because I actually enjoy giving gifts, I take time to think about what that person might like and will seek out a store or try to find it. I think the key to giving a good gift is listening for clues throughout the year. So with knitting it is a matter of setting that process up with a longer lead time. Remember most people don't want knitted things all the time, but once in a while is nice.

8. Family heirlooms. Creating a special garment or knitted piece usually takes a long time and the expense of the yarn is often a surprise to a non knitter. Therefore taking care of those pieces to hand down to other family members is to be encouraged.

9. Relaxing. Once you have mastered the basics, knitting is very relaxing. The repetitive nature of plain and purl stitches can calm your thoughts. In fact I often find myself very sleepy knitting in the evening.

A cotton racer back top I knitted, which my daughter thought was cool enough for teens! Who would have thought?

10. Joy and pride. The joy of wearing a garment you have created or watching someone else wear something you created. It's a pretty awesome feeling.