Explore every episode of the podcast Why I Knit

Game of Wool finalist and knitwear designer Ailsa Stephen joins me for the final episode of Series 10.

Ailsa speaks about learning to knit as a young child and returning to it during the pandemic, and how this soon turned into her love of knitting vintage patterns. Ailsa talks about her experience of appearing on Game of Wool, and how she was surprised to be chosen to appear on TV as a quiet person who uses her knitting to express herself.

Find out more about Ailsa on Instagram and Ravelry

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our community on Patreon!

We'd love you to join us on Patreon - you can support the podcast while accessing perks such as early access to new episodes, our weekly behind the scenes videos and join our monthly online knitting circle.

Dr Hannah Barham-Brown is a GP and lecturer living in rural Scotland. Hannah speaks about learning to knit during lockdown around the same time she was diagnosed with ADHD, and found that this was something productive she could do with her hands.

Hannah speaks about bringing knitting to board meetings and as a lecturer, and advocates for this as a reasonable adjustment to help with focus. She talks about using knitting to access ‘active rest’ which has been particularly important during recovery from burnout, and how wearing handknits has helped her to avoid the small-talk that she hates!

Find out more about Hannah on Instagram, TikTok and Threads

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Knitting coach Nessa Hubbard joins me to discuss her own journey with knitting and crochet, going from being taught to knit as a very young child to help her to sit still to teaching other people to knit and crochet, and helping them to boost their skills and crucially also their confidence.

As someone with ADHD, Nessa speaks about feeling that knitting helps to hold her brain in a way that nothing else does and allows her to access immediate calm She also speaks about the sense of community that she has found through knitting.

To find out more about Nessa visit her website nessahubbard.com

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Tommy gurumi on instagram

This week on the podcast I am delighted to be joined by Thomas, who is known online as Tommygurumi. Thomas talks about learning to knit accidentally on a long car journey to impress someone, and then finding his own particular love for creating knitted models of characters. Probably unlike most knitters, Thomas usually knits things that don’t have an existing pattern, which means that he has to do a lot of trial and error and figuring things out himself, which is a big part of the process that he enjoys.

It was a pleasure to hear Thomas’s enthusiasm for knitting and to hear how it allows him to access both a sense of calm for a busy mind as well as recreating a type of wonder and joy that he remembers from childhood.

I really hope you enjoy this episode.

Find out more about Thomas on Instagram or TikTok

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Salina Jane is an artist and knitter who brilliantly captures the feelings many of us have about our knitting in her art work. It was a pleasure to speak to Salina about her experience of using knitting throughout her recovery from a recent period of illness, and how she uses both knitting and visual art to tell human stories.

You can find out all about Salina's work at her website Salina Jane Art or on Instagram or Ravelry.

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Join our community on Patreon!

We'd love you to join us on Patreon - you can support the podcast while accessing perks such as early access to new episodes, our weekly behind the scenes videos and join our monthly online knitting circle.

This week I am delighted to be joined by yarn dyer and yarn shop owner Kitey, who is also known as The Yarn Whisperer. Kitey speaks about his journey from crochet to knitting, and how dying yarn unexpectedly brought together lots of different parts of his heritage.

He also reflects on the importance of keeping some craft projects for himself as someone who works in the yarn industry, and the creative collaboration that happens when we combine yarns with a pattern and then add our own interpretation of it.

To find out more about his yarns and shop visit The Yarn Whisperer or follow him on Instagram

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Series 10 returns for a series of interviews exploring why we knit and how knitting benefits our mental health. This week I am joined by Lydia who is the Co-founder of Weku Yarn which she runs alongside her sister Hannah. You may also know Lydia as one of the finalists from the first series of Game of Wool.

Lydia joins me to speak about how she learned to knit, how her relationship with knitting has changed and evolved over recent years, including the times that high levels of stress has meant that she didn’t feel able to pick up her knitting needles.

It was a pleasure to hear Lydia’s journey from knitting for pleasure into a business, and then her reflections on her time as a contestant on Game of Wool.

You can find out more about Lydia’s yarn at @wekuyarn on Instagram or at her website

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Join our community on Patreon!

We'd love you to join us on Patreon - you can support the podcast while accessing perks such as early access to new episodes, our weekly behind the scenes videos and join our monthly online knitting circle.

Series 10 is on the way, and with it a new and exciting development! We have created a Patreon Community and we'd love you to join us there - the perks for supporting the podcast will include early access to episodes, our behind the scenes weekly videos and you can join us at our monthly online knitting circle.

We are really looking forward to growing the community element of Creative Restoration so we really hope to see you there. Find out more here: Join the Community

Series 10 of the podcast will return on Thursday 10th September with a series of 7 new interviews. We can't wait to share them with you.

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

In this Journal Club episode Dr Paula Redmond joins me to discuss a journal article about using knitting in a center for drug and alcohol rehabilitation. This is a narrative of a knitting group within a rehab center for women living with addiction.

The paper is here:

Duffy, K. (2007). Knitting through recovery one stitch at a time: Knitting as an experiential teaching method for affect management in group therapy. Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 2(1), 67–83. https://doi.org/10.1300/J384v02n01_04 [1, 2]

Unfortunately the full text is not available for free, but anyone in the UK can access it via a local library.

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

This week Dr Paula Redmond joins me to discuss how knitting can help with depression and low mood. We've chosen three episodes of the podcast in which my guests have discussed using knitting as a strategy to help with low mood, and we discuss our reflections and themes from these conversations.

The episodes we listened to were:

Series 4 episode 1 with Ellen of Sew and Inspire

Series 1 episode 3 with James McIntosh

Series 5 episode 6 with Kathryn Vercillo

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

This week Paula and I discuss the journal article investigating whether knitting can reduce anxious thoughts in people diagnosed with anorexia nervosa.

Find the article here: Clave-Brule, M & Mazloum, A & Park, Rebecca & Harbottle, E. (2009). Managing anxiety in eating disorders with knitting. Eating and weight disorders : EWD. 14. e1-5. 10.1007/BF03354620.

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

In this bonus book club episode Paula joins me to discuss two great books about art, health and well-being. Both books take a deep dive into the research into how the arts impact on our health, well-being and education.

Mia has read the New York Times bestselling book: Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross. This is a summary of research across different areas of the arts and how the impact on health, welll-being and learning.

Paula has read Art Cure by Daisy Fancourt who has conducted a huge amount of research in the field of arts and health.

We share our thoughts on these books and how the relate to knitting and what might be happening in our brains when we knit.

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

For this journal club episode we discuss the commonly made claim that knitting can reduce blood pressure. We discuss the origins of this claim in the research and look at a new paper which examines the impact of a creative handicraft group, which included knitting, on a group of older adults living in a residential home.

You can find a link to the abstract and reference here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/psyg.70044?af=R

To find out more about Self-Care One Stitch at a Time: an audio course

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

This is our first bonus relisten episode where Paula and I choose 3 episodes on a theme and relisten to them and give our reflections.

This month we are listening to 3 episodes with knitters who discuss their experiences of ADHD and how they use knitting to benefit their well-being as an ADHD knitter.

If you'd like to listen back, the episodes we discuss are:

Una S8E8

Madison Siegel S6E4

Lisa Silver S4E4

If you'd like to see the full list of episodes featuring discussions of ADHD you find them on the blog

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

This week Paula and I discuss a research paper about knitting and attention in children.

Sonnier F, Lussiana E and Gueraud S (2023) Boosting inhibition control process by knitting at school. Front. Psychol. 14:1062001. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1062001

This study is specifically focussed on whether knitting can affect our executive function skills, and found that primary school children had significant better scores on a test of inhibition after 20 minutes of knitting compared to spending 20 minutes at recess. They also found that knitting reduced the impact of emotion on response times.

You can read the full text here

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

For the final episode of series 9 I am joined by Simon, also known as Veteran Knitter and one of the contestants from Game of Wool, the knitting and crochet based TV show in the UK.

Simon speaks about how he first came to pick up some knitting needles and his journey from a secret knitter who handed out hand knit gifts to his surprised friends and family, to going public on Instagram and then taking his knitting onto our TV screens.

We speak about his experience of telling his work colleagues on a building site that he is a knitter, and how he uses knitting to help him bring his focus into the present.

Connect with Simon on Instagram and TikTok

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

This week I am delighted to be joined by Annah of Needle and Feather. Annah is a designer of colourwork knitting designs often inspired by nature and if you follow me on Instagram you'll have seen that I am enjoying knitting her Year by Piece blanket which is made up of a square inspired by each month of the year.

Annah speaks about turning to knitting during a period of anxiety when she needed a small achievable creative project to keep her brain busy and to give her a sense of acheivement.

Connect with Annah:

@needleandfeather on Instagram

Needle and feather on Ravelry

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Clinical Psychologist and author Nicole Nehrig joins me this week to discuss her own relationship with knitting and how this lead to writing the book 'With Her Own Hands: Women Weaving Their Stories' in which she explores the meaningful role that textile work has played in so many women’s lives.

Find out about Nicole Nehrig

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Joining me this week on the podcast is designer Theodora Burrow.

Theodora is a knit and crochet designer who taught herself to knit and crochet from books, way before there was an internet. After her ADHD diagnosis at the age of 50 she realized just how important knitting and crochet had been in her life, and how it both soothes and sparks creativity in equal measure. She creates knitting and crochet patterns with a playful and whimsical twist, with colour as a source of dopamine.

Instagram: @theodora_goes_wild

Website: www.theodoragoeswild.com

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Maya is the owner of Knit With Attitude, one of the longest running yarn shops in London. She speaks about using knitting as a strategy to manage her own health difficulties, and about the sudden change that lead her to speak about knitting and mental health on a daily basis in her shop.

Maya is also running the Knit Calm Retreat on Sunday 22nd February where both she and Mia are speaking. For information on how you can join us click the link.

Find out about Knit With Attitude Shop

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Series 9 kicks of with a conversation with Lauren Aston, the founder of Lauren Aston Designs. I first came across Lauren when looking up some of Claudia Winkleman's excellent knitwear on the second series of The Traitors UK. I was delighted to find Lauren's knitting pattern behind one of them!

Lauren speaks about the phenomenon that is 'The Claudia Sweater' and the challenge of continuing to get well-being benefits from knitting once it becomes your job. She also speaks about really realising how much she gained from knitting when a hand injury meant that she couldn't knit for several weeks.

You can find out more about Lauren's designs here

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

For our last episode of 2025, Paula and Mia reflect on their own knitting and craft projects over the past year, and the ways in which they have used knitting as part of their self-care.

They also look back at the new developments in Creative Restoration over the past year, and share their thoughts on the TV show Game of Wool.

They share their plans for their own knitting and for Creative Restoration for the coming year including news on the next season of the Why I Knit Podcast which returns in January, and they announce their next webinar on knitting for focus and attention.

Thanks to everyone for listening and supporting the podcast this year.

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

For this bonus book club episode we have read the brilliant bestselling book 'Wintering' by Katherine May and speak about how it links to burnout. Wintering takes us through living through personal and seasonal winters and how knitting can be a brilliant activity to accompany us through both types of winter.

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

For this bonus episode I am joined by Dr Paula Redmond who specialises in working with health professionals experiencing burnout.

Paula speaks about her own journey into this work during Covid, and how creativity in her personal life has encouraged her to bring this into her work.

We talk about what burnout is, and who might be more likely to experience it, and why knitting is a great tool to prevent burnout. We'll be going into this in much more detail in our webinar, Unravelling Burnout

If you'd like to find out about Paula's clinical work in the area of burnout, or download her free Burnout Toolkit you can visit her website here: Dr Paula Redmond

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Join Clinical Psychologists Dr Mia Hobbs and Dr Paula Redmond as we discuss two research papers about knitting and mental health.

These papers both relate to nurses and supporting them with the challenges of their role.

Paper 1 relates to using knitting to reduce compassion fatigue in nurses

Paper 2 relates to using knitting to reduce anxiety in nursing students

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

For the final episode of series 8 I am delighted to be joined by Dr Katya Miles of The Working Well Doctor. Katya works as a Coach and Trainer for health professionals and people in high stress professions.

She speaks about turning to knitting during the Covid pandemic when she was self-isolating with covid and how she now associates knitting with healing and soothing, and it is part of her own toolkit for managing stress or high demand situations.

We talk about recovering from perfectionism and give our views on why so many health professionals are attracted to knitting and needlecrafts.

Connect with Katya

Website: Working Well Doctor

Instagram: @theworkingwelldoctor

Facebook: @theworkingwelldoctor

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

I was delighted to be joined by Una, also known as @TheNeurodivergentCraftClub on Instagram. Una speaks about how knitting has been helpful in recovering from burnout, but has also been a really useful way to find out what her brain really needs - both to find some moments of focus and to feel settled and satisfied.

It was so interesting to talk to Una about her experience of being a neurodivergent knitter and the reasons she believes that many neurodivergent people are attracted to knitting.

Connect with Una

Instagram: @theneurodivergentcraftclub

Substack: neurodivergentcraftclub

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Elizabeth is a knitting teacher based in Nigeria, and she has made it her personal mission to teach 20,000 children to knit and 'think with their hands'. It was a pleasure to speak to Elizabeth about her own journey to becoming a knitting teacher, and how she has personally used knitting to help her to cope with grief and loss. Elizabeth also speaks about her experiences of teaching children to knit and why she believes this is a valuable addition to their education.

Connect with Elizabeth

Instagram: @tunnizze

Facebook: @tunnizzecreations

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Allison Thistlewood is a creator of community in the knitting world. She has had various roles in and around the yarn industry, and the common thread in all of these roles is that she brings knitters together: at yarn festivals, for yarn crawls and on retreats and trips.

Allison joins me to talk about her experience of moving to the UK from Canada, and how knitting was instrumental in helping her to make connections with new friends, and how she has continued to want to bring this opportunity to other knitters.

Allison's yarn event Make Joy is returning to Woolwich Works on 8th November - you can find more info on her website and sign up to her newsletter to be informed when tickets go on sale: https://champagneandqiviut.com/about-make-joy

Connect with Allison

Website: Champage & Qiviut

Instagram: @champagneandqiviut

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Adam is behind the successful Instagram account @CleevelyKnits where he shares his funny and creative adventures in yarn. Most recently these have included videos on wine-pairings for yarn, and attempting to knit a usable QR code! There is a very strong theme of Adam being someone who thinks outside the box, which is illustrated by the fact that he hasn't knitted from a pattern for several years.

Despite only starting knitting in 2022, something about it hooked Adam in and he has progressed from beginner to a dabbling designer very quickly.

We speak about Adam's experience of using knitting, alongside therapy and medication, to support his journey in managing depression and about how it was able to offer him tangible results that he wasn't able to access in his previous career as a CEO. Recently Adam has knitting a colourwork sweater that is designed to promote conversations about mental health.

You can follow Adam on Instagram here: @cleevelyknits

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

In the second of two episodes, this week I speak to Dr Zoe, a GP specialising in menopause. Zoe's colleagues joined me last week to speak about knitting a blanket for her following her recent cancer diagnosis.

Zoe speaks about her long history of using knitting to benefit her mental well-being, how she is using it now during her cancer treatment and how knitting has allowed her to find spaces where being an introvert is celebrated.

We also talk about Zoe's views that knitting is a particularly helpful tool during the menopause when we all rely more on our daily coping strategies to manage this transition.

To connect with Zoe:

Instagram: @manchestermenopausehive

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

This week I am joined by Sharon Hartmann, Dr Sarah Ball and Dr Carys Sonnenberg who are all health professionals working in the field of menopause. They have come together to create a shared knitting project in support of two of their colleagues who are going through treatment for cancer. This is the first of two episodes featuring menopause specialists and their colleague Dr Zoe, who is one of the receipients of these special blankets joins me next week.

While Sharon is a returning knitter, Sarah and Carys are new to knitting and they all join me to speak about their experience of their joint knitting project. We also discuss their work in the field of menopause and their reflections on how knitting can be particularly beneficial to our mental wellbeing at this time of life.

Connect with Dr Carys Sonnenberg:

Website: Rowena Health

Instagram: @drcaryssonnenberg

YouTube: Two Doctors Chat Menopause

TikTok: Carys Sonnenberg

Connect with Dr Sarah Ball

Website: Health in Menopause

Instagram: @drsarahmollyball

Connect with Sharon Hartmann

Instagram: @sharonhartmann

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

This week I am delighted to be joined by Martyn, host of the Knit365 YouTube channel. I loved speaking to Martyn about his journey from beginning as an accidental knitter, having made an off-the-cuff promise to his grandmother, to a daily knitter with a successful YouTube Channel about his adventures in yarn.

It was great to hear how Martyn has discovered the therapeutic benefits of knitting along the way, how he loves the satisfaction of making progress and completing things, and how he now has a knitting project within easy reach wherever he is. It was really interesting to hear how he intentially uses knitting to manage stress and to get his reflections on being a man who knits.

-------------

🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Connect with Martyn

YouTube: Knit365

Substack: Knit365

Instagram: @welsh_tenor

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

To kick off series 8 I am deligted to be joined by Beth Gorishek who is also known the Adaptive Knitter. Beth was born with a limb difference and through teaching, speaking and workshops helps knitters to learn how to make adaptations to their knitting practice so that it works for their body.

Beth believes that makers are well placed to be adaptive as this is part of the creative process of making and that adaptation is creativity. I also particularly loved Beth's approach to using knitting to carve out small pockets of time for her self-care and to create something meaningful in those moments.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Connect with Beth

Website: adaptive knitter

Instagram: @adaptiveknitter

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

This month we are discussing a paper published in Scientific Reports (part of the prestigious Nature group of peer-reviewed scientific journals) about the impact of crochet on attention.

You can read the full paper here.

This is a study by neurologists into how crochet impacts on attentional networks. It combines brain imaging with an interesting experimental design. It is a complex read, involving a lot of neuro-speak but we've tried to summarise it in a way that hopefully makes it easy to understand the methods and findings. We have also created a blog to help illustrate the methods and design used, which you can find here.

Citation: Rossi Sebastiano, D., Muscio, C., Duran, D. et al. Crochet increases attention through a requiring motor skill learning. Sci Rep 15, 4141 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-88777-9

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

I am delighted to announce that Series 8 will be live next month!

I have had some really interesting conversations with my guests this series and I can't wait to share them with you.

In the meantime, if you'd like to be kept up to date on all the latest news you can sign up to the Creative Restoration Newsletter which is a montly round up of all our events, workshops, podcasts and blogs, along with an update on our own knitting projects!

You can sign up here: creative restoration

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

In our first book club episode, Paula and Mia each discuss a book they have read on the subject of the psychology of craft.

Paula has read 'Craftfulness' by Arzu Tahsin and Rosemary Davidson

Mia has read 'Craft Psychology' by Dr Anne Kirketerp

If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

-------------

🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Join Paula and I as we answer your questions about the field of knitting and mental health. Apologies that the audio quality isn't as good as usual for this episode, we tried out a new method of recording and had a few technical issues.

We'll be back at the end of the month with a Book Club episode!

If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

This month Dr Paula Redmond and I discuss another research paper into knitting and mental health.

The paper we discuss is: Joanna Nordstrand, A. Birgitta Gunnarsson & Greta HäggblomKronlöf (2024) Promoting health through yarncraft: Experiences of an online knitting group living with mental illness, Journal of Occupational Science, 31:3, 504-515,

The full text of this article is available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14427591.2023.2292281#abstract

If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

This is our second bonus episode for anyone wanting to know or read more about the research into how knitting can benefit our mental well-being.

Fellow clinical psychologist and knitter, Dr Paula Redmond and I will be reading one research paper a month and discussing it in our journal club podcast.

We are also planning a Question an Answer episode, so if you have any questions about the research into knitting and mental health or how we use knitting in our work please do email me on mia@therapeuticknitting.org to let me know and we'll try to include as many as we can.

This month we are discussing: Riley J, Corkhill B, Morris C. The Benefits of Knitting for Personal and Social Wellbeing in Adulthood: Findings from an International Survey. British Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2013;76(2):50-57.

Unfortunately the full article isn't available for free, but options for access are here

I refer to the interview with Betsan Corkhill which you can listen to here: Betsan Corkhill

If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

This is a bonus episode for anyone wanting to know or read more about the research into how knitting can benefit our mental well-being.

Fellow clinical psychologist and knitter, Dr Paula Redmond and I will be reading one research paper a month and discussing it in our journal club podcast. This month we are discussing Healing Stitches: a scoping review of the impact of needlcraft on mental health and well-being. The full-text of this article is available here: Healing Stitches

I refer to the interview with Betsan Corkhill which you can listen to here: Betsan Corkhill

If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Have you ever stressed yourself our by overcommitting to gift knitting? Do you end up being exhausted by the festive season? Then we have a bonus episode for you! Subscribe to the Creative Restoration newletter here to receive our bonus episode as soon as it is released on 14th November to help you keep your self-care on track during Christmas, and continue to use knitting to benefit your mental wellbeing.

This is the final episode in series 7 - thank you so much for listening!

Joining me this week is Kristina LaVenia who is a senior lecturer in leadership at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. She has collaborated with Project Knitwell on research delivering knitting workshops for staff in educational settings.

Kristina speaks about her own journey using knitting throughout the pandemic, and her experience of offering this as an intervention to others.

You can follow Kristina on Instagram here: @klavenia

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Carole Wyatt is a cancer doctor who has been diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. She speaks about using knitting to cope with the difficult days, and also to create a handknitted legacy to pass down to her future grandchildren.

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Tamanna is a nurse practioner and multi-crafter who works in the field of mental health. Tamanna joins me to speak about her own journey to knitting, sewing and embroidery, how this connects her to family traditions and her values of sustainability and ethical production of clothing.

She also speaks about she uses fibre arts to benefit the mental health of herself and others.

Tamanna Rahman

Instagram: @slow.work.sewing

Website: slow.work.sewing

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Whitney is a plus size knitter and YouTuber who is passionate about taking back the power to create clothes she loves in colours she enjoys. She speaks about how knitting has helped her to love the body she has, rather than feel that she to change her body to fit the clothes she can buy.

Whitney Swinimer

Whitney's website: knittedbywhitney

YouTube: Knitted by Whitney

Whitney's article on how knitting helped her to fall in love with her body

Instagram: @knittedbywhitney

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Elena Lo Presti is the founder and director of Craft Forward, which is a not-for-profit organisation that provides accessible, creative, experiences suitable for everyone, regardless of their skills and background. Their aim is to disrupt the current elitism within the arts and crafts world and open creativity to all through workshops with a clear social impact.

Elena joins me to speak about her own personal story learning to knit as a way of connecting with her grandmother during the pandemic, and tells the story of how she turned this new passion into Craft Forward.

Craft Forward

Website: https://craftforward.com/

To donate to the Blankets for London campaign (before 10th November 2024): Blankets for London

Instagram: @craft_forward

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Christina Socorro Yovovich is a writer, knitter and multi-crafter. Christina speaks about how since being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she had struggled to access joy without worrying about whether this was a sign that she was becoming unwell. She explains how returning to knitting has allowed her to access a safe and more grounded form of joy in her daily life.

Christina Socorro Yovovich

website: Christina Socorro Yovovich

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DesertAgaveFiberArts .

Instagram: @cyovovich

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Victoria Marchant is an inclusive knitwear designer who puts size inclusivity at the heart of all her designs. Her latest design, the Padstow Cardigan will be released on October 18th.

Victoria Marchant

Website: www.victoriamarchantknits.com

Instagram: @victoriamarchantknits

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

Samantha Moore is a filmmaker and animator who directed the BAFTA nominated animated film 'Visible Mending' which is about the ways we repair ourselves through knitting.

If you haven't seen Sam's brilliant film, you can watch the film at Sam's Vimeo channel here: Visible Mending

Follow Sam on Instagram: @sammooreanimate

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration

In this bonus episode Dr Claire Plumbly, Clinical Psychologist and EMDR specialist joins me to discuss what the theory behind EMDR can tell us about why we find the hand movements of knitting so therapeutic.

Claire Plumbly

Buy her book: https://www.drclaireplumbly.com/burnout-book

www.drclaireplumbly.com

Instagram: @drclaireplumbly

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🧶 Come and join our new community on Patreon! Perks include early access to podcasts, weekly behind the scenes videos and a monthly online knitting circle. This will enable us to connect more meaningfully with you all, grow the podcast and share more resources about knitting, creativity and wellbeing.

🧶 If you'd like to learn more about how to use knitting for your self-care, check out our course Self-Care One Stitch at a Time.

🧶Catch up on our on-demand webinars:

The Healing Power of Knitting where we take a deep dive into the mental health benefits of knitting

Unravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnout

Knitting for Attention and Focus. We explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.

Here's how to stay in touch:

💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter

📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

Mentioned in this episode:

Join our first Knitting Circle on 21st October at 7pm

We'd love you to join us at our first online Knitting Circle event - find out more at Patreon.com/Creative_Restoration