Knitting Archives - Creative Restoration

Reflections: Sketchbook Circle Series, Part 4

by Dr Paula Redmond | May 30, 2025 | Creativity, Knitting, Sketchbook Circle Series

This month’s prompt for the Sketchbook Circle was “Reflections”. This idea immediately connected with my professional identity as a psychologist, as “reflecting” feels like a core part of my work. When I Googled what it means to reflect, two definitions came up: “to...

Using Knitting in Talking Therapy – European Wool Day 2025

by Dr Mia Hobbs | May 20, 2025 | Knitting, Therapy

I was pleased to be invited to speak at European Wool Day 2025, hosted by the European Wool Exchange in Rome on 6th April 2025. The theme of the event was Wool 4 Health, with a special focus on mental health. My talk focused on Using Knitting in Talking Therapy. I...

Messages: Sketchbook Circle Series, Part 3

by Dr Paula Redmond | Apr 28, 2025 | Creativity, Knitting, Sketchbook Circle Series

I had a lot of fun creating these knitted pieces for the prompt of “Messages”. What immediately came to mind was the way knitting was used during the Second World War to send coded messages. Knitting as espionage Women were often underestimated (as they still are) and...

Why I Knit Q&A (Bonus episode)

by Dr Mia Hobbs | Apr 10, 2025 | Knitting, Podcast, Wellbeing

Join Paula and I as we answer your questions about the field of knitting and mental health in this bonus Q&A episode of the Why I Knit podcast. Apologies that the audio quality isn’t as good as usual for this episode, we tried out a new method of recording and had...

Journal Club: Promoting health through yarncraft

by Dr Mia Hobbs | Mar 27, 2025 | Knitting, Podcast, Research, Wellbeing

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 is the ultimate activity for mental health microgains

by Dr Mia Hobbs | Mar 25, 2025 | Knitting, Wellbeing

I recently recorded an episode of ‘The Adversity Psychologist Podcast’ with Dr Tara Quinn-Cirillo. Our conversation turned to the concept of mental health microgains, and it dawned on me that knitting is a perfect example and illustration of the power of microgains....