Why I Knit

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-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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.-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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.-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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 BurnoutIf 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-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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 nursesPaper 2 relates to using knitting to reduce anxiety in nursing students-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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 KatyaWebsite: Working Well DoctorInstagram: @theworkingwelldoctorFacebook: @theworkingwelldoctor-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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 UnaInstagram: @theneurodivergentcraftclubSubstack: neurodivergentcraftclub-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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 ElizabethInstagram: @tunnizzeFacebook: @tunnizzecreations-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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-joyConnect with AllisonWebsite: Champage & QiviutInstagram: @champagneandqiviut-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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 HealthInstagram: @drcaryssonnenbergYouTube: Two Doctors Chat MenopauseTikTok: Carys SonnenbergConnect with Dr Sarah BallWebsite: Health in MenopauseInstagram: @drsarahmollyballConnect with Sharon HartmannInstagram: @sharonhartmann-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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.-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmondConnect with MartynYouTube: Knit365Substack: Knit365Instagram: @welsh_tenor

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 BethWebsite: adaptive knitterInstagram: @adaptiveknitter-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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

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 DavidsonMia has read 'Craft Psychology' by Dr Anne KirketerpIf 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.-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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.-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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#abstractIf 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.-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond

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 hereI refer to the interview with Betsan Corkhill which you can listen to here: Betsan CorkhillIf 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.-------------🧶Join us at our next webinar Knitting for Attention and Focus. We will explore how knitting and crochet can support concentration, attention and mindful awareness, particularly for people who struggle with restlessness, distractibility or overwhelm.🧶 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 knittingUnravelling Burnout where we look at how we can use knitting as a tool to prevent burnoutHere's how to stay in touch:💌 Sign up to the Creative Restoration newsletter📲 Follow us on Instagram at @knittingistherapeutic and @drpaularedmond