Why I Knit

Jessica Hendrickson is the Creative Design Director at Lion Brand Yarn. As a teenager she had such a strong desire to make and wear her own clothes, that she told her parents she had to attend a school without a uniform. She continues to use knitting and crochet to express her identity, but over time she has also used them to help find her way through post-natal depression and to help her focus. J...

Dr Kaman Hansford is a GP who joined us on one of our retreats for healthcare professionals. She has lived experience of using mental health services and knitting is now a crucial part of her wellbeing plan. Kaman speaks about feeling that she can use knitting as an early warning sign if her mental health is deteriorating, and also that it is one of the tools she uses daily to access some calm. I...

Kesha Evans learned to knit 11 years ago when her son was born prematurely and was in the NICU. She was approached by Carol Caparosa from Project Knitwell who offered to teach her to knit. Despite not considering herself creative at all, Kesha agreed to learn and ended up feeling that the visits from Carol were as important to her as those of the doctors and nurses. Today Kesha is on the board at...

Jude generously joined me to speak about how he found knitting and the knitting community during a difficult time, and how knitting was a crucial part of putting himself back together. He also speaks about the death of his parents last year, and how he continues to feel connected to them both through the memories held in knitted items, and also in the other new hobbies and skills that Jude has dis...

Dr Shona Mason is a dentist and teacher who encourages her students to develop interests outside of dentistry to prevent burnout and encourage them to have a positive work-life balance. As part of this mission she runs a knitting group for students, one of whom got in touch with me and suggested that she'd make a great interviewee for the podcast! Shona Instagram: @shonamasonmakes ------------- 🧶...

I am so sorry that it has taken much longer than planned for Series 5! However I am pleased to announce that episode one will be available this Thursday 15th June. In the meantime you can listen to all the previous episodes here or on your favourite podcast app. Mentioned in this episode: Join us to learn more about the mental health benefits of knitting!` We are running our popular webinar The He...

It was a joy to spend time with Marceline to hear her reflections on her relationship with knitting, how this has changed over time, and how she aims to be more intentional in her making. Marceline speaks about tuning in to what she needs from her crafts at a given time in her life, and how connecting to 'the old way' of doing things has helped her to navigate the times when something needs to be...

Andrea is a physical therapist and passionate knitter who is perfectly placed to provide professional advice on what to do when we suffer pain when knitting, and how to prevent it in future. Andrea speaks about how she returned to knitting as a new mum, and how it helped her to find a few minutes each day to do something for herself. She also shares her reflections as a physiotherapist on her impo...

Kaleb decided to return to knitting during the pandemic as a way of managing anxiety and to feel connected to his mum who had been a prolific knitter. Kaleb speaks about finding that knitting allowed them to slow down, feel calmer and connected to a different community of people. Kaleb Instagram: @all_things_kaleb ------------- 🧶 We are hosting a LIVE version of our webinar The Healing Power of K...

I knew I wanted to interview Lisa for the podcast when I heard her speaking about her experience of having ADHD on Irina Shaar's 'Humans of Westknits' series during the recent Westknits mystery knit along. As someone who isn't great at just sitting and watching TV or listening to something, I feel knitting improves my ability to sit and focus and was interested to hear how Lisa felt about this. Li...

Ailie hosts the Thoughtful Knitter YouTube channel. She speaks about returning to knitting in recent years as her health problems meant that she wasn't able to connect with friends and family in the same way. Ailie speaks about her journey from a slightly reluctant knitter to someone who knits every day and focuses more on the process than the end product. Ailie YouTube: The Thoughtful Knitter Ins...

You can tell by the way Irina Shaar interviews knitters and other fibre artists that she loves connecting with people and finding out how they tick, so it was brilliant to hear her story and to get the chance to find out what she has learned from interviewing hundreds of knitters about their craft. Irina You can watch Fiberchats on YouTube here: Fiberchats Instagram: @Fiberchats ------------- 🧶 W...

Ellen is a pretty inspiring 16 year old! She sews and knits and already seems to have figured out how to use these crafts intentionally to manage the times when she is struggling with low mood or anxiety. She also speaks about how craft helps her connect to family members and has been passed down through the generations in her family. Ellen Instagram: @sewandinspire Etsy shop: Sew and inspire ----...

Series 4 is coming on 15th December! Sorry for the long wait and thanks for your patience. I am looking forward to sharing these 7 new conversations with you. If you have guest suggestions, please send me an email at mia@therapeuticknitting.org or message me on Instagram where I am @knittingistherapeutic You can also sign up to my mailing list to find out more about my work at www.therapeuticknitt...

Sylvia Watts-Cherry is a knitwear designer and teacher who is probably best known for her colourful intarsia designs. I love listening to other people talk about knitting, and was really drawn to Sylvia's description of her Paragon sweater design as being a 'happy knit' and the idea that intarsia feels therapeutic for her as she doesn't have time to think....something I relate to! I also loved hea...

Dr Jen Unwin is a clinical and health psychologist who after retiring from her NHS role is now working with people with food addictions. She is a lifelong knitter who has herself found that knitting is an important part of her own self-care and because of this has also used knitting to benefit others as part of her work. You can find out more: Dr Jen Unwin Instagram: @Jen_unwin Twitter: @jen_unwin...

Eileen has been a knitter since she was a child, but returned to it recently during a challenging time in her life. She discovered a new love for knitting and has now started to create her own designs. Eileen speaks about how knitting has been a form of self-expression, and how she rarely keeps the things she knits, but she loves planning the perfect gift for someone....even if she has never met t...

Dr Paula Redmond is a clinical psychologist who specialises in working with healthcare professionals who have experienced burnout or workplace trauma. Paula and I met through the world of psychology, and I was delighted to meet another clinical psychologist who knits, and also speaks about creativity, including knitting, in her work. Paula speaks about her personal journey with knitting and how it...

This week I am joined by Liz McNeil. Liz is a knitting coach who works for Knit Chats where she helps knitters with their knitting dilemmas and teaches classes about different techniques. Liz speaks about how knitting has helped her through the challenges of having small children, when finding tiny pockets of time for herself was particularly difficult. She also speaks about how knitting allowed h...

Although Carol Caprosa doesn't consider herself to be an 'expert knitter' she, along with the many volunteers working on behalf of Project Knitwell have brought the gift of knitting to thousands of people during stressful times in their lives. It was amazing to hear the origin story of Project Knitwell, how returning to knitting when her daughter was very unwell as a newborn baby gave Carol the id...

It was such a pleasure to meet Karie and speak to her about how she learned to knit and dressmake out of necessity as a very young child in rural Denmark. Then many years later, knitting helped her to recover from a serious illness and returning to it eventually lead to her career as a knitwear designer, teacher and writer. I loved hearing about the importance of storytelling in Karie's designs, a...

Series 3 is coming on 23rd June! I am so looking forward to sharing another series of 6 conversations with knitters, designers and even another psychologist. You can catch up on all the previous episodes at the website: Podcast | Why I Knit Podcast (therapeuticknitting.org) Mentioned in this episode: Join us to learn more about the mental health benefits of knitting!` We are running our popular we...

CW: discussion of cancer, loss of fertility and depression Liz O'Riordan is a breast surgeon who has herself experienced cancer, twice. She now works as a speaker, author and podcaster providing high quality and accessible information about cancer from her expertise as both a doctor and a patient. Liz is also a lifelong knitter and more recently a sewer. Although Liz said that she often thinks tha...

Clare is a knitting pattern designer and design mentor. She learned to knit as a teenager and studied knitwear design but after working in the commercial fashion industry has found her niche designing patterns and helping other people learn to make their designs into reality. It was great to hear the perspective of a pattern designer, as Clare loves being able to turn her ideas into tangible objec...

TW: Cancer and bereavement Susan Yaguda is passionate about knitting as a form self-care. She is an oncology nurse who has used knitting with both staff and patients at the Cancer Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina. These have included setting up a knitting group for people who are receiving chemotherapy and developing a study into whether knitting can help with the symptoms of 'chemobrain' (p...