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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🧶 We are hosting a LIVE version of our webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on 14th July at 7pm BST followed by a Q&A

🧶 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:

How to support the podcast

Thank you so much for listening. If you value the podcast and would like to support it, here's how: 1. Sign up to our monthly newsletter here: https://creativerestoration.org/newsletter/ 2. If you've enjoyed the podcast please leave us a rating and a review to help others hear about it. 3. Please consider sharing the podcast on social media or send it to a friend who might enjoy it. Thank you so much for your support, we really appreciate it.

How to support the podcast

Thank you so much for listening. If you value the podcast and would like to support it, here's how: 1. Sign up to our monthly newsletter here: https://creativerestoration.org/newsletter/ 2. If you've enjoyed the podcast please leave us a rating and a review to help others hear about it. 3. Please consider sharing the podcast on social media or send it to a friend who might enjoy it. Thank you so much for your support, we really appreciate it.

Join us to learn more about the mental health benefits of knitting!`

We are running our popular webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on Tuesday 14th July 2026 at 7pm BST and we'd love you to join us. Click the link below to find out more: https://creativerestoration.podia.com/the-healing-power-of-knitting-live-webinar-july-2026

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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🧶 We are hosting a LIVE version of our webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on 14th July at 7pm BST followed by a Q&A

🧶 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:

How to support the podcast

Thank you so much for listening. If you value the podcast and would like to support it, here's how: 1. Sign up to our monthly newsletter here: https://creativerestoration.org/newsletter/ 2. If you've enjoyed the podcast please leave us a rating and a review to help others hear about it. 3. Please consider sharing the podcast on social media or send it to a friend who might enjoy it. Thank you so much for your support, we really appreciate it.

Join us to learn more about the mental health benefits of knitting!`

We are running our popular webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on Tuesday 14th July 2026 at 7pm BST and we'd love you to join us. Click the link below to find out more: https://creativerestoration.podia.com/the-healing-power-of-knitting-live-webinar-july-2026

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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🧶 We are hosting a LIVE version of our webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on 14th July at 7pm BST followed by a Q&A

🧶 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:

How to support the podcast

Thank you so much for listening. If you value the podcast and would like to support it, here's how: 1. Sign up to our monthly newsletter here: https://creativerestoration.org/newsletter/ 2. If you've enjoyed the podcast please leave us a rating and a review to help others hear about it. 3. Please consider sharing the podcast on social media or send it to a friend who might enjoy it. Thank you so much for your support, we really appreciate it.

Join us to learn more about the mental health benefits of knitting!`

We are running our popular webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on Tuesday 14th July 2026 at 7pm BST and we'd love you to join us. Click the link below to find out more: https://creativerestoration.podia.com/the-healing-power-of-knitting-live-webinar-july-2026

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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🧶 We are hosting a LIVE version of our webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on 14th July at 7pm BST followed by a Q&A

🧶 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 us to learn more about the mental health benefits of knitting!`

We are running our popular webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on Tuesday 14th July 2026 at 7pm BST and we'd love you to join us. Click the link below to find out more: https://creativerestoration.podia.com/the-healing-power-of-knitting-live-webinar-july-2026

How to support the podcast

Thank you so much for listening. If you value the podcast and would like to support it, here's how: 1. Sign up to our monthly newsletter here: https://creativerestoration.org/newsletter/ 2. If you've enjoyed the podcast please leave us a rating and a review to help others hear about it. 3. Please consider sharing the podcast on social media or send it to a friend who might enjoy it. Thank you so much for your support, we really appreciate it.

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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🧶 We are hosting a LIVE version of our webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on 14th July at 7pm BST followed by a Q&A

🧶 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:

How to support the podcast

Thank you so much for listening. If you value the podcast and would like to support it, here's how: 1. Sign up to our monthly newsletter here: https://creativerestoration.org/newsletter/ 2. If you've enjoyed the podcast please leave us a rating and a review to help others hear about it. 3. Please consider sharing the podcast on social media or send it to a friend who might enjoy it. Thank you so much for your support, we really appreciate it.

Join us to learn more about the mental health benefits of knitting!`

We are running our popular webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on Tuesday 14th July 2026 at 7pm BST and we'd love you to join us. Click the link below to find out more: https://creativerestoration.podia.com/the-healing-power-of-knitting-live-webinar-july-2026

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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🧶 We are hosting a LIVE version of our webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on 14th July at 7pm BST followed by a Q&A

🧶 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 us to learn more about the mental health benefits of knitting!`

We are running our popular webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on Tuesday 14th July 2026 at 7pm BST and we'd love you to join us. Click the link below to find out more: https://creativerestoration.podia.com/the-healing-power-of-knitting-live-webinar-july-2026

How to support the podcast

Thank you so much for listening. If you value the podcast and would like to support it, here's how: 1. Sign up to our monthly newsletter here: https://creativerestoration.org/newsletter/ 2. If you've enjoyed the podcast please leave us a rating and a review to help others hear about it. 3. Please consider sharing the podcast on social media or send it to a friend who might enjoy it. Thank you so much for your support, we really appreciate it.

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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🧶 We are hosting a LIVE version of our webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on 14th July at 7pm BST followed by a Q&A

🧶 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 us to learn more about the mental health benefits of knitting!`

We are running our popular webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on Tuesday 14th July 2026 at 7pm BST and we'd love you to join us. Click the link below to find out more: https://creativerestoration.podia.com/the-healing-power-of-knitting-live-webinar-july-2026

How to support the podcast

Thank you so much for listening. If you value the podcast and would like to support it, here's how: 1. Sign up to our monthly newsletter here: https://creativerestoration.org/newsletter/ 2. If you've enjoyed the podcast please leave us a rating and a review to help others hear about it. 3. Please consider sharing the podcast on social media or send it to a friend who might enjoy it. Thank you so much for your support, we really appreciate it.

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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🧶 We are hosting a LIVE version of our webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on 14th July at 7pm BST followed by a Q&A

🧶 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 us to learn more about the mental health benefits of knitting!`

We are running our popular webinar The Healing Power of Knitting on Tuesday 14th July 2026 at 7pm BST and we'd love you to join us. Click the link below to find out more: https://creativerestoration.podia.com/the-healing-power-of-knitting-live-webinar-july-2026

How to support the podcast

Thank you so much for listening. If you value the podcast and would like to support it, here's how: 1. Sign up to our monthly newsletter here: https://creativerestoration.org/newsletter/ 2. If you've enjoyed the podcast please leave us a rating and a review to help others hear about it. 3. Please consider sharing the podcast on social media or send it to a friend who might enjoy it. Thank you so much for your support, we really appreciate it.