According to Wikipedia : Cabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in, for an extended period. Symptoms include restlessness, irritability, forgetfulness, laughter, and excessive sleeping. The word is also used humorously to indicate simple boredom from being home alone. The term was first recorded in 1918.
It's a symptom many of us who live in a cold/snow region are experiencing right now, including me! So to enter my 500th post contest, leave a comment by February 7, telling me what you do to help combat 'Cabin Fever'. And yes, you can enter even if you live in sunny Florida or California or even Hawaii - I'm sure many of you suffer from your own form of cabin fever!
I had been trying to decide on a prize for this contest, when I turned to the January 31 page in my "Never Not Knitting" Calendar where the Yarn Harlot suggested that I spend the weekend 'stash culling'. So, I'm going to take her up on that, and the result of my culling will become the prize for this contest - a box of ???? yarn to the winner of the random drawing.
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53 comments:
count me in grammie!
Congrats on 500 posts! Cabin Fever: to combat it. I walk to the post office, yes be it icey cold or whatever, I bundle up good and walk the 2.5 blocks. I tend to give into the sleep.... And I used to cast on a new pair of socks or some funky project to keep me entertained... this winter time for such things has been limited as my little one keeps me busy! This year I take the time to read up on a few of my favorite blogs! Makes me feel good :)
Thank you for the contest! They are always great fun!
Hmmm combating cabin fever...
Well you starve the COLD and feed the FEVER... I recommend feeding the FEVER with FIBER. Yeah that always works for me.
I never used to get bad cabin fever when I lived in Vermont -- even it had been in the minus 10s and 20s for weeks -- because I still loved going outside for walks in the cold. And anyways, I loved the feeling of bundling up in front of a fire with a lapful of cat and/or fiber.
Now that I've moved to Arizona, though, the summer cabin fever is horrible!! I get up at 5 in the summer to walk my dog before the sun comes up, and then I'm stuck inside until it drops below 100 late at night. I haven't figured out how to deal with this kind of cabin fever yet ...
p.s. I posted about your contest on WiKnit (knitting contest blog)
Now that we live in our motorhome & can change the climate where we live, I don't have to deal with cabin-fever much. Since our lifestyle is not for everybody, I can't advocate it as a cure. LOL
I do suggest doing some redecorating, if only to move furniture a little, put up new or different curtains, something to change your environmen. Even swapping curtains, pillows & rugs from one room to another gives you a fresh feel.
I do my best to get out and moving, if it's sledding or skiing or walking all bundled up. Adding color to my life helps, or changing the routine in a small way to give you a reward.
I have a 3 and a 5-year old, so it's pretty hard to get cabin fever. We had a giant snowfall that kept us in the house for a couple of days, and we got out the sleds and sent the kids down the neighbour's front lawn, which is a long hill. That was 2 hours of fun all by itself!
If it was just me indoors, I'm pretty much a homebody anyways, and I have a couple of years worth of knitting in my yarn stash, and a bunch of movies that I've been meaning to watch (some again).
I would try a new hobby... yarn dyeing might be fun...
Congrats on 500 posts! I'm generally a hermit so being stuck inside for days or weeks really wouldn't bother me as much as some people (I know this because I've done a month in my house without leaving when I was sick and wasn't bored or anything). Perhaps its the knitting, spinning, sewing, and other crafting that keeps me from being bored? I suspect that I am just really really comfortable in my house. Though if not for Chris going into the outside world during that month we would have quickly run out of food.
Way to go with the number of posts! Cabin fever really never strikes me, but if it does, tag along with my hubby as he feeds the cows. I get to be outside AND have company...perfect!
Cabin fever antidote: the first Saturday in February is Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. Invite all your friends & neighbors. Have tons of toppings. The only rule is you must start eating the ice cream before noon. (can you tell I grew up in a wintry place?)Spend all of this week planning - hot fudge or chocolate? Walnuts or sprinkles?
Whatever the weather, I go out and walk just about every day. I put on my handknit sweater, hat, scarf, socks (can you tell I've been knitting a long time?) and waterproof snow boots - oh yeah and a jacket. I put my i-pod inside my mitten (if it's below freezing they don't work - I've learned the hard way) And I just go and do it. It feels so good to be back inside - any hint of cabin fever is gone.
First off congrats on the 500th post!! I can tell you that after living in hawaii for 13 years moving to WA was a shock that first winter...i had forgotten cabin fever! I have noticed that about this time i start cleaning, spring organizational cleaning...and starting to stroll through seed catalogs with lots of ideas! These seem to help a little for me, and honestly get me ready for when spring actually arrives!
Congratulations on your 500th post! I that the best way to combat cabin fever is to knit!!! knit!!!! knit!!!!
I know about cabin fever because I just got out of the house for the first time in 11 days because during that time the temperature here was from negative 4 to negative 24 below zero. I combat cabin fever by reading lots of blogs, visiting Ravelry.com often, and doing lots of knitting. I also baked quite a few things this week. Best part of being housebound is all the money you save by not going to the stores!
Chrissy at knittodayAThotmailDOTcom
congratulations! 500 posts. that is a lot of blogging.
how do I combat cabin fever?
My all time fave is going to tanning salons during January and Feb. Also come March we start to haunt the local greenhouse.
I'm a homebody and would love to have more time to myself indoors, to watch dumb movies and knit/crochet until my eyes pop out of my head !
Otherwise, on the rare occasions when I was getting sick of staying inside and seing nobody, I'd just go outside to the main plaza to just "see some people" and even saying "hello" to a couple people I vaguely know felt like a huge relief ! :-P
I go online and research "someplace else". I may not be able to vacation right then, but I get to "see the sights" and learn something, too. It's like looking up something in the encyclopedia, and finding yourself still enjoying other entries an hour later!
When we lived in Anchorage, every February there was a state wide celebration, Fur Rendezvous. Historically, all the trappers and miners would come together to trade goods and stories, get drunk and dance. It was something to look forward to and got everyone outside to look at ice sculptures and stuff like that.
Here in Arizona, we don't have that problem. I'm naturally a hermit, too, preferring the safety of home but I don't go stir crazy so not a sufferer of Cabin Fever.
I spend as much time outside as I can - it's cold here, but rarely so cold that you can't dress for the weather.
Well, this year I'm starting a garden on my balcony. I bought a great container gardening book and reading and planning my future plants has lifted my spirits.
When we were snowed in this winter the kids and I had a picnic in the living room, pulled out extra crafts, and spent lots of time playing in the snow in our yard.
I personally worked on my spinning and dug up some old WIPs - frogged one, finished 3!
Congrats on 500 posts, a momenteous achievement indeed! It's funny that this contest is about cabin fever, since I am nursing my 82yo Mom thru a broken wrist right now. She's used to getting out at least once a week, and working in her garden a lot. Now it has been almost 4 weeks that she's shut inside. To break the bordom I brought up the present she got me for Christmas last year - 42 Charlie Chan movies on dvd. I also had to being the dvd player because she doesn't have one!
Congratulations on 500 posts! Coming from Norway myself, i have had lots of experience in the cabin fever area... For me there are two main solutions. One is to go to a place where there is amazing views, and feel the view and nature and wonderfulness of being. The other is to indulge at home with hot chocolate, playing games and having some extra nice snacks and meals.
Friends can be fantastic when it's too cold to do anything.... Game nights are always amusing.
I usually go to a website that has live streaming webcams of whatever location I want be at right then. If it is hot I look for snowy locales if it is snowy I look for tropical locales! Here is a site that has a few cams listed http://www.twopears.com/islands.shtml
Playing with the kitties (so fun to get them hopped up on 'nip), using iTunes to find new music, actually doing oft-neglected housework to newly discovered dance music, and lets not forget all the books I've been ignoring to knit. Good luck staying sane! :)
Hi, Jane....
I'm going to make your stash worse....but I hope it helps with the cabin fever.... see my blog post today ;-)
Not many cabins, or snow here in Sacramento, but when life in general closes in, I make a cup of tea and read a good book. Or, a trip to the LYS is always a good cure, too!
I never get cabin fever. I have so many things on my to-do list, I almost hope the weather stinks so I'm stuck in the house to try to catch up. Also, I cruise the web looking for knitting blog contests :-)
Ugh. Cabin Fever. I am a long-time sufferer! Thank goodness my grandmother taught me to knit about 8 years ago. :) That definitely helps.
You may think I am crazy, but I go to Walmart when I start feeling so crazy that I could scream. The crafts department and the kitchen gadgets aisle are usually pretty empty, and you can just wander around Walmart for hours and no one would even notice. There's even a little restaurant if I get hungry! I always feel a little more relaxed after getting some walking exercise and playing with gadgets and yarn!
Wow! 500 posts and I read that from the Yarn Harlot too. I should clean out the stuff that I won't ever use either.
Anyway, to beat Cabin Fever, I settle in and do things like bake (bread) or make meat loaves and meatballs for the freezer, reading a good book, sewing or knitting or, God forbid, cleaning.
Congrats on 500 posts. I think that's amazing!
Beating cabin fever isn't difficult if you have a million things that need doing. Like sitting and reading and knitting or as the last poster said, God forbid, cleaning.
My SAD isnt kicking in this year due to so much sunshine out here in CA (now dont you all be jealous - cause that means we are way too dry and desperate for greyness and rain!). But usually when it hits, I withdraw into starting a new knitting project that I deep down inside know I will not finish and read read read!!!!!
Since there is no SAD to blame it on, this year I totally intend to finish my February Lady sweater!!!!!!!
Knitting and chocolate is the cure for everything. Trust me.
For me, the only way to deal with cabin fever is to be very active. That generally involves any sort of manual project when the weather outside is too bad: knitting, woodwork, even cleaning. Get up and DO something!
Happy Happy 500 posts! I get horribly sad when I get cabin fever, so I try not to let myself get that way, so I lay under a sun lap for a few minutes every few days. If it does get really bad I go to a tanning bed and it works each time.
Go outside and make snow angels in the snow. That did it for me. I was stuck at work (a hospital, and I am a nurse, so they would not let me go home) for 5 days during a blizzard. On the 3rd day I reached the end of my rope and went out to the park across the street. I amde snow angels and stomped through the snow for a while and felt much better.
I re-arrange furniture, or the items on the kitchen counter, change the shower curtain to the alternate one, things like that, if I am stuck inside I change the inside!
What, am I the only one who looks forward to early darkness, long nights, and cold? That's knitting time for me!! ( Feel free to remind me I said that in March-April, when I'm drooling and twirling my hair.)
cabin fever??... working full time sure does combat that fever... actually I really wouldn't mind a bit of cabin fever...lol
;)
Hi! I discovered your blog through Georgi's To Knit and Write, when she blogged about your contest, and I'm always seeking new knit blogs to read.
It's hard for me to offer suggestions for combatting cabin fever, when I live in northeast Texas, and the worst weather we get is one or two ice storms per year. We usually get at least one piddly little snow of maybe an inch at most, but this year, we've not even had that, and I'm not a happy camper!
Knitting is the only thing I can think of to combat the fever, but, like DUH, you've already thought of that one! ;-Þ My friends who live in New Brunswick, ME, use a full spectrum lamp for a coupe of hours each day in the winter.
That's all I've got. ;-)
My cure so far has been to start some tomato seedlings inside... we'll see! :)
My cure to cabin fever is to get outside for at least a little whil every day. I live in Alaska, so it's real cold and not much daylight, so I have to take advantage while I can. thanks for the contest. Debbie
Hi, and congrats! Georgi sent me.
For me cabin fever is a mental state (emphasis on the mental for me) and can hit any time. Usually the month of February is really bad. I sleep more, I drag, I mope, I cry. This year I seem to have gotten it out of the way in September and October, for some reason.
Tanning beds help my mental state and they keep people from asking me if I'm sick, because I'm so very pale. This year, though, there's just not money in the budget for it.
Let's see; my husband lost his job in early November, which shook me out of my too-early blues. That'll shake you to the bone. Two weeks ago I let him shave my head. That was a real change! (He needed something to cheer him up, and he's been begging to do it for years. And you know what, I like it!) And wine ALWAYS works for me.
Knitting anything at all helps, too, though when I'm really down, I can't motivate myself.
Thinking of warm climates helps; my daughter lives in Florida, so I get my fix by talking to her and my grandkids.
Reading, taking photos, going to music shows all help, too. We've got one set for Feb. 14.
I usually start organizing areas of the house, tossing old or unused stuff - like an early spring cleaning. Then when spring really gets here, I can spend more time outside!
We also have at least one amaryllis every year - the bright colored (and HUGE) flowers are so cheery!
Together, DH and I go through all the seed catalogues (that start coming around Thanksgiving!) and pick out new flowers and veggies for the garden.
For supper, I start rooting through the freezers and basement shelves for stuff I put up from the previous season's garden - "fresh" veggies in the middle of winter are always tasty!
And...I start using all the wax melty tarts I have that are springlike or cleansing with their scent - new mowed grass, fresh linen, etc.
Lastly, I just keep my fingers crossed for an early spring, LOL! ~ Valerie K
Congratulations on 500 posts wow oh wow oh wow.
Well since I sell Avon I don't get to have too much cabin fever as people want their "stuff" and Avon doesn't give us that much time to deliver it and give them their money. LOL So out I go like the mail person neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail, shall keep the Avon rep from delivering your items.
AND when i get back home I knit knit knit and stare at the idiot box.
I would love to se enough snow to have to saty home and worry about cabin fever! It's warm and dry in Texas1
I'd get some good movies from Netflix, stock up on hot chocolate, put on some cozy knitted socks, and get busy on some of those knitting projectss that I never seem to have enough time to start.
Joan in West TExas
Cabin Fever? Hum... read blogs! I know I feel better now getting caught up with you and see that funny picture in the last post!
But seriously, congratulations on your 500 posts, as well as winning the contest in the newer post you mentioned, woot, and extra special win when you didn't even know you had been entered in it!!!!
Kudos to you Jane. I actually like winter and often wish I could be home alone. Still the weather can be a bit relentless (esp. when we have freezing fog) so I try to indulge in a little arm chair traveling. So cook something from a different culture/warmer climate such as huli huli chicken (Hawaii) or a nice Curry and then watch a movie from that place.
I get cabin fever so easily! I think it's because I've always been on acreage and am outside a lot, so when I have to be stuck indoors I get really restless. To fix it, I go outside and play with the animals or go out to the garden, regardless of the weather. Just 15 minutes of activity outdoors is enough to hold me over for a day.
I would perscibe full seasons of shows or 7hr to 11hr long audio books. I am not a big tv watcher but thats mainly because I dont like being on a set schedule. So I have been downloading many seasons of shows. I am currently watching S1-5 of stargate atlantis and Californication.
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